Robin trower pictures biography discography michael jackson

Robin Trower discusses his musical career and the 50th anniversary release of ‘Bridge Of Sighs’. Robin shares insights into its recording process, working with Geoff Emerick, and the inspiration behind its songs. He also talks to Jason Barnard about his time in Procol Harum, subsequent solo career, collaborations with Jack Bruce, and his upcoming live shows.

‘Bridge of Sighs’ has been re-released a few times but this seems to be the most definitive.

Yeah, I think they wanted to make a big deal about it because of it being 50 years.

Tell us about the background behind the period that ran up to ‘Bridge Of Sighs’, because the recording started at Olympic Studios before moving to Air.

Yes. We did two or three tracks at Olympic, and then we were lucky enough to get into Air London with Geoff Emerick engineering. So that was, that was a big deal.

You were in the classic line-up with James Dewar and Reg Isidore. You&#;d been playing live a lot, so you must have been well honed.

That&#;s right, the original lineup. Playing added a tremendous amount to ‘Bridge Of Sighs’ being the second album, where we&#;d done a lot of touring, especially in America. I think we&#;d already played a couple of them live. So that was a good thing as well, which added to the confidence.

It was an album that was hugely popular. There&#;s so many different styles and shades on there and accessible for the mainstream. It’s typified by ‘Lady Love’ which was a very commercially sounding track.

Yeah, a happy accident. We actually laid the original down at Olympic. I&#;m pretty sure it was that one and ‘Little Bit Of Sympathy&#;.

The title track ‘Bridge Of Sighs’ has that power trio heaviness.

Yeah, a lot to do with the way that track sounds is down to Geoff Emerick because he came up with a unique way of recording the guitar. That adds to the mystique of the sound of it. So he was instrumental in getting a bigger, bolder sound. As far as I know, he was t

Robin Trower is one of the great players to have created reference quality guitar tone, to have harnessed the power of tube amps pushed hard into the red zone in search of enriching harmonic content, and maybe – what the heck – adding a Uni-Vibe in front for kicks. 

As he joins GW  for a quick chat about first songs learned, first gigs played – and of course his most embarrassing moments onstage (this is the Inquirer section, after all), we have to say that we were not surprised one bit to learn that the English Stratocaster master’s amp blew up aflame onstage – not after what Buzz Osborne of the Melvins told us about Trower being the loudest player he had ever seen. 

What was your first guitar?

“A Rosetti cello F-hole guitar. My dad bought it for me for Christmas when I was It cost him seven pounds, 10 shillings. Eventually I got a pickup for it, so I plugged it into the back of the radio and started to play through it. So that radio was my first amp.”

What was the first song you learned to play? 

“I think it might've been an Everly Brothers song that I tried to work out, but I don't think I ever got it. My mind never ran in that way, where I was learning other people's songs. I was just fooling around on the instrument until I was That’s when I started to get songs off and play them through completely, together with a friend of mine, Chris Copping.”

What was your first gig like?

“Chris and I did a tiny little gig to about 10 people with my brother Mick singing. I think it was maybe in some sort of bar or something. It was a long, long time ago. The first proper gig, though, was when I had my band, the Paramounts, in the early '60s with Gary Brooker, Chris Copping and Mick Brownlee.”