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Rating: James "Jimmy" Dewar (born in Glasgow in 1942, died in the same city in 2002) is a musician quite well-known in rock circles but not really famous. It happens when you have a special talent but an ordinary face and a shy and humble character, when you possess an incredible voice but no penchant for showmanship and extroversion, on stage as with the media. For rock blues insiders and enthusiasts, however, Dewar is, without distinction, one of the greatest.
Jimmy started in the sixties as a guitarist, switching to bass and singing almost out of necessity: with a gregarious and non-competitive nature, he began to be noticed behind the microphone only when he had to temporarily replace the band's singer who occasionally dropped out. Trower had a great intuition not to bet on a professional frontman to entrust the bassist with all the vocal duties in the new band he put together to relaunch his career in a new setting, that of guitar rock, after all those years reluctantly accompanying the omnipresent, admirable but invasive keyboards of Procol Harum.
This is the album of redemption for the London guitarist: after a first release in 1973, equally valid but with little buzz and minimal success, this work of the following year inexplicably takes a different path from the start and even breaks through in America, where, for example, Procol Harum had not managed to achieve anything with six albums. The trio Robin Trower, completed by the black drummer Reg Isidore, became one of the most requested and followed acts around the world, filling, better than all similar epigones, that craving for instinctive and spirited Hendrixian rock blues generated by the untimely demise of the Seattle genius.
But if Trower is the leader, the inspirer and the beacon of the situation, Dewar is the invaluable added value for the fortunes of this band. The black masters Ray Charles and Otis Redding taught this, their umpteenth excellent student from the cold but passionate northern UK, how to let their soul fully resonate through two vocal cords, make it echo inside the nose, and modulate it in the oral cavity, finally revealing it in a rich, deep, sandy, lush, satisfying singing.
Without the slightest flourish or affectation, completely instinctively and naturally (but it obviously requires, apart from a great heart, attention and application) good Jimmy envelops the (otherwise very ordinary) lyrics of the repertoire with pathos as if they were Homeric passages. The texture of his voice is much like that of the far more famous, fortunate and, of course, seven years younger Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company, Queen), but... it's better! More sulfurous and penetrating, less fussy and complacent.
The classic repertoires contained in this work, which are still mandatory for Trower to perform in concerts lest the audience boo, are three. The first is the opener "Day Of The Eagle", presenting one of the most ingenious and driving riffs in rock (in C sharp!... an awkward key for the guitar). So beautiful that the band does a complete instrumental round, verse, and chorus before Jimmy breezes through the first verse on the microphone. Robin rages Hendrix-like with the firm and analytical timbre of the central magnet of his Fender Stratocaster, perfect for his style. The rhythm is obsessive and galloping, then the song veers into a final dilated slow tempo, fading with the last gasps of the lead guitar.
The second classic is the song that titles the record, a blues paced by a sublime guitar riff that has the slowness and relentless inescapability of a lava flow. Trower's fingers seek the nitpick on the fretboard, exploring high-caliber temporal microlags and microtonal vibratos. For him, touch is the absolute priority: no note should be taken in passing or consumed in a cushion shot to reach another... He wants to mount on each one, make it his own and mold it according to the mood of the moment. The song is made for Dewar's voice, deeper than ever as he "sighs" the lyrics, honoring the title ("Bridge of Sighs").
The third focal point in the setlist is the exhilarating "Too Rolling Stoned". The bass and guitar riffs, different from each other, intersect magnificently in a very happy rhythmic groove. The track rolls fast and dynamic for a few minutes, then undergoes a new, drastic slowdown carried forward by a brand-new riff and the usual instrumental coda.
"In this Place" is again a slow and sparse piece, this time in the (unusual for rock) three-four time signature. The guitar arpeggio is fertile, and the bass player's throat vibrations are ancestral, and so on... "Little Bit Of Sympathy" is instead funky and will also enjoy, over time, the esteem and trust of the guitarist who will play it a lot in concert.
This old master of the six strings, pioneer of sublime sounds and touches, has dealt with other singers throughout his long career that still proceeds (the legendary and moody Jack Bruce, then Dave Bronze, Davey Pattison...), but the inimitable voice of the Robin Trower Band remains the great Jimmy Dewar. These few lines are also, and above all, in his memory, and more generally in honor of all those greats who have never put on airs and still don't (entirely against the musical and artistic trend in general), but have done and still do a great deal of good to the people who know how to listen to them, to music lovers, to all those with their hearts connected first to their ears rather than to their eyes, as it should always be to truly define oneself as a music enthusiast.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Day of the Eagle (05:02)
I saw a light, just up ahead
But I couldn't seem to rise up from my bed
I'm not alone, than I am
People seem to think I'm superman
But I watch for the love
I'm living in the day of the eagle, the eagle not the, dove
Its like a weight, that brings me down
If I don't move, I'm on the ground
Its in my mind, Its in my soul
Its telling me the things I can't be told
Its a watch for the love
Living in the day of the eagle, eagle not the, dove
Another day, another night
I want to love, they want to fight
I need the time, I got to be alone
I got to meet a lover on my own
I watch for the love
Living in the day of the eagle, eagle not the, dove
02 Bridge of Sighs (05:01)
The sun don't shine
The moon don't move the tides,
to wash me clean
Sun don't shine
The moon don't move the tides,
to wash me clean
Why so unforgiving and why so cold
Been a long time crossing Bridge of Sighs
Cold wind blows
The Gods look down in anger,
on this poor child
Cold wind blows
And Gods look down in anger,
on this poor child
Why so unforgiving and why so cold
Been a long time crossing Bridge of Sighs
03 In This Place (04:30)
In this place, filled with empty space
Your love holds the key, baby sympathize with me
I need you
Before I lost, your touch of life and grace
I knew that your sweet face could always comfort me
I love you
In this place, full of empty space
Your soft and tender love will always shine for me
I love you
Now I know, what it means to have you gone
I'm down on my knees baby see by me
I love you
04 The Fool and Me (03:55)
Traveling that wind and laugh at the crowd, ummm the fool and me
Howl at the moon baby yeah out loud, the fool and me
And ohh oh, where ever we go
We keep the spirit free
Ohh nobody knows
No one but the fool and me
Stretching on out and feeling fine, the fool and me
Two fools dancing on the hands of time, yeah
The fool and me
And ohh oh, where ever we go
We keep the spirit free
Ohh nobody knows
No one but the fool and me
Running like the wind and laugh at the crowd, the fool and me
Howl at the moon yeah out loud loud, the fool and me
And ohh oh where ever we go
We keep the spirit free
Ohh nobody knows
No one but the fool and me
05 Too Rolling Stoned (07:33)
Oh a stitch in time, just about saved me
From going through the same old moves
And this cat is nine
He still suffers
He's going through the same old grooves
But that stone just keeps on rolling
Bringing me some real bad news
Takers get the honey
Givers sing the blues
Too many cooks yeah spoil such a good thing
I know I laughed out loud but that was then
Ain't it funny, a fool and his money
Always seemed to find was those real good friends
That stone just keeps on rolling
Bringing me some real bad news
The takers get the honey
The givers sing the blues
Well that stone keeps on rolling
Bringing me some real bad news
The takers get the honey
The givers sing the blues
A stitch in time, helps to unfold me
Circus starts at eight so don't be late
Please be so kind not to wake me
I think I'll just sit this one out
Well I'm too rolling stoned
I'm too rolling stoned, yeah
Like a rolling stone
Just, just, just like a rolling stone
Rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling stone
Yeah, too rolling stoned
Oh just like a rolling stone
06 About to Begin (03:48)
If you stand in the light, you get the feel of the ride
And the music that plays in your ears
In your head you can hear, a voice so sweet and clear
And the music that plays in your head
As it flows up from the ground
Taking all who hear that sound
Close your eyes, its about to begin
Hardly daring to breath, a new life you perceive
You try hard not to break the spell
While at once it seems both, so far and yet so close
If you reach out to touch, it will be gone
As it flows up from the ground
Taking all who hear that sound
Close your eyes, its about to begin
Close your eyes, its about to begin
Close your eyes, its about to begin
Close your eyes, its about to begin
08 Little Bit of Sympathy (04:19)
The light is strong and the man is weak
And the world walks in between
So rise above on the wings of love
See and let yourself be seen
See and let yourself be seen
So fill your cup and drink it on up
For tomorrow never comes
If you weild the rod, answer to your God
But me I'll be up and gone
I'll be up and gone, gone
I'll be up and a gone
If the sea was glass and the land all gone
Would you still be a friend to me
When my time has passed, is it to much to ask
For a little bit of sympathy
Just a little bit of sympathy lord
A little bit of sympathy
A little bit of sympathy lord yeah
Little bit of sympathy
Little bit of sympathy
A little bit of sympathy
A little bit of sympathy
A little bit of sympathy
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