Robin Trower
Take What You Need

THE REVIEW

Any Robin Trower album, you can always count on him, has he ever made a bad record in fifty years of business… This one is from 1988 and is his eleventh career album. This divine Fender Stratocaster player is nearing thirty published records and next March he will turn eighty, God bless him. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Robin, you've made and still make me enjoy so much.

His career is divided into three phases, leaving aside the sixties beginnings with the Paramounts which only produced a handful of singles: from '67 to '71 he was with Procol Harum, injecting as much healthy guitar rock blues as possible into the decidedly pianistic and organistic, yet exquisite, textures of that group. Since 1973 he went solo, decisively putting keyboards in the background and relying on excellent, soulful singers to explode his blues rock full of fire and love for the guitar. This trend continued for decades until his fan base gradually shrank to a so-called cult level, he wisely thought of also singing it himself, besides playing it, that wonderful electric blues of his. This third phase started roughly a dozen years ago and continues to this day.

Trower is undoubtedly one of the most beloved gods in my personal musical Olympus; the most credible, respectable, humble, coherent bearer of the open highway, magnificent, opened by Jimi Hendrix for the electric guitar and in general for popular music. Following that way of taking every note in fifty thousand different ways and then immediately carving it, moving it, caring for it to the extreme edge of sound gives me physical pleasure, genuine admiration, gratitude. And the rhythm? No power chords for him, very few hard rock stereotypes, but instead a lot of James Brown, that light and precise scrape on three or four strings that makes the accompaniment agile, pressing, and engaging.

The record is from many years ago, we are still in the height of the second phase according to what was written before and with vocals evolving from Davey Pattison, excellent as well, warm and balanced. It’s pointless to discriminate between one track and another, Robin Trower more than a musician, a guitarist, a group, is a philosophy of life, a passion and love that have become divine sound, a dedication and letting go turned into person, songs, solos, records. Not a single guitar note in this work is taken without total transport, meticulous yet free attention, expert knowledge paired with joy. A luminary.