Neil Young - 80

Four years ago, I wrote in these spaces of my eighty favorite Bob Dylan songs on the occasion of his 80^th birthday. Four years later, I’m going to give the same treatment to Neil Young, I started to like his music during my freshman year in college. Most of the people in my dorm had the same classes so we all took our exams together. Our tests would often be in the evenings. One guy on my floor was a Neil Young fan, and before every exam he would play Like a Hurricane from Live Rust. It stuck with me ever since. My first Neil Young concert was a solo acoustic show at McNichols Arena in Denver, January 1983. The next time I saw him was with Crazy Horse at Arco Arena in Sacramento. It was January 1991, and specifically it was the night Desert Storm started. The show started with Jimi Hendrix’s version of the Star-Spangled Banner while one of the roadies was hoisting a giant microphone stand that was adorned with a large yellow ribbon. I saw him one final time with Crazy Horse in Virginia in 1996. Since then he has been target-fixated on saving the planet, and he started to preach. I have no use for preaching, but I can enjoy what came before.

Like that Dylan blog from four years. I’ll list my Top 10, then the remainder in the order they were recorded. This list is heavily weighted toward the 1970s [and for good reason]:

1.      Down By The River [NY & Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, 1969]

2.      Cinnamon Girl [NY & Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, 1969]

3.      When You Dance I Can Really Love [NY & Crazy Horse, After the Gold Rush, 1970]

4.      Ohio [CSNY, single, 1970]

5.      The Needle & The Damage Done [NY, Harvest, 1972]

6.      Revolution Blues [NY, On the Beach, 1974]

7.      Like A Hurricane [NY & Crazy Horse, American Stars ‘n’ Bars, 1977]

8.      Cortez The Killer [NY & Crazy Horse, Zuma, 1976]

9.      Powderfinger [NY & Crazy Horse, Rust Never Sleeps, 1979]

10.    Rockin’ in the Free World [NY, Freedom, 1989]

The rest:

1.      Down to the Wire [Buffalo Springfield, Decade, 1977 (recorded 1967)]

2.      Mr. Soul [Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield Again, 1967]

3.      Broken Arrow [Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield Again, 1967]

4.      Expecting to Fly [Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield Again, 1967]

5.      I Am a Child  [Buffalo Springfield, Last Time Around, 1968]

6.      Sugar Mountain [NY, Decade, 1977 (recorded 1968)]

7.      The Loner [NY, Neil Young, 1968]

8.      I’ve Been Waiting for You [NY, Neil Young, 1968]

9.      The Old Laughing Lady [NY, Neil Young, 1968]

10.  Tell Me Why [NY, After the Gold Rush, 1970]

11.  After the Gold Rush [NY, After the Gold Rush, 1970]

12.  Only Love Can Break Your Heart [NY, After the Gold Rush, 1970]

13.  Don’t Let It Bring You Down [NY, After the Gold Rush, 1970]

14.  Southern Man [NY & Crazy Horse, After the Gold Rush, 1970]

15.  Birds [NY, After the Gold Rush, 1970]

16.  Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing [NY, Carnegie Hall 1970, 2021]

17.  Flying on the Ground is Wrong [NY, Carnegie Hall 1970, 2021]

18.  On The Way Home [NY, Live at Massey Hall 1971, 2009]

19.  Out On The Weekend [NY, Harvest, 1972]

20.  A Man Needs A Maid [NY, Harvest, 1972]

21.  Old Man [NY, Harvest, 1972]

22.  Alabama [NY, Harvest, 1972]

23.  Soldier [NY, Decade, 1977 (recorded 1972)]

24.  Walk On [NY, On the Beach, 1974]

25.  For the Turnstiles [NY, On the Beach, 1974]

26.  On the Beach [NY, On the Beach, 1974]

27.  Ambulance Blues [NY, On the Beach, 1974]

28.  Tonight’s The Night [NY, Tonight’s the Night, 1975 (recorded 1973)]

29.  New Mama [NY, Tonight’s the Night, 1975 (recorded 1973)]

30.  Albuquerque [NY, Tonight’s the Night, 1975 (recorded 1973)]

31.  Lookout Joe [NY, Tonight’s the Night, 1975 (recorded 1973)]

32.  Tonight’s the Night Part II [NY, Tonight’s the Night, 1975 (recorded 1973)]

33.  Vacancy [NY, Homegrown, 2020 (recorded 1975)]

34.  Barstool Blues [NY & Crazy Horse, Zuma, 1976]

35.  Don’t Cry No Tears [NY & Crazy Horse, Zuma, 1976]

36.  Winterlong [NY & Crazy Horse, Decade, 1977 (recorded 1975)]

37.  Fontainebleau [The Stills-Young Band, Long May You Run, 1976]

38.  Goin’ Back [NY, Comes a Time, 1978]

39.  Comes a Time [NY, Comes a Time, 1978]

40.  Look Out for My Love [NY & Crazy Horse, Comes a Time, 1978]

41.  Lotta Love [NY & Crazy Horse, Comes a Time, 1978]

42.  My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) [NY, Rust Never Sleeps, 1979]

43.  Thrasher [NY, Rust Never Sleeps, 1979]

44.  Pocahontas [NY & Crazy Horse, Rust Never Sleeps, 1979]

45.  Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) [NY & Crazy Horse, Rust Never Sleeps, 1979]

46.  Southern Pacific [NY & Crazy Horse, Re-ac-tor, 1981]

47.  This Note’s For You [NY, This Note’s For You, 1988]

48.  Crime In The City (Sixty To Zero Part I) [NY, Freedom, 1989]

49.  Eldorado [NY, Freedom, 1989]

50.  On Broadway [NY, Freedom, 1989]

51.  Too Far Gone [NY, Freedom, 1989]

52.  White Line [NY & Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory, 1990]

53.  F*!#In' Up [NY & Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory, 1990]

54.  Love and Only Love [NY & Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory, 1990]

55.  Unknown Legend [NY, Harvest Moon, 1992]

56.  From Hank to Hendrix  [[NY, Harvest Moon, 1992]

57.  War of Man [NY, Harvest Moon, 1992]

58.  All Along the Watchtower [Live] [NY, “Bobfest,” 1992]

59.  Driveby [NY & Crazy Horse, Sleeps With Angels, 1994]

60.  Change Your Mind [NY & Crazy Horse, Sleeps With Angels, 1994]

61.  Blue Eden [NY & Crazy Horse, Sleeps With Angels, 1994]

62.  Safeway Cart [NY & Crazy Horse, Sleeps With Angels, 1994]

63.  Act Of Love [NY, Mirror Ball, 1995]

64.  Peace And Love [NY, Mirror Ball, 1995]

65.  Big Time [NY & Crazy Horse, Broken Arrow, 1996]

66.  Slip Away [NY & Crazy Horse, Broken Arrow, 1996]

67.  Goin’ Home [NY & Crazy Horse, Are You Passionate?, 2002]

68.  No Wonder [NY, Prairie Wind, 2005]

69.  Psychedelic Pill [NY & Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill, 2012]

70.  Walk Like a Giant [NY & Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill, 2012]

Happy Birthday, Neil!

  

Tony's Favorite 1990s Albums

When in doubt, make a list. I subscribe to several YouTube channels, some of which are run by amateur online music critics. As is their wont, they too make lists – top ten prog rock albums, top 10 Deep Purple albums, etc. You get the idea. Thus inspired I thought I would list my Top 10 albums from the 1990s, which to these ears is the last good musical decade. To be clear, this isn’t a “best of” list, because any such pronouncements by anybody are completely subjective. These are “favorites,” so opinions [like recollections] may vary. Without further ado:

U2 - Achtung Baby (1991) – After The Joshua Tree [1987] and Rattle and Hum [1988], U2 faced an existential crisis. The Joshua Tree was their big artistic statement. To punctuate that statement, they decided they would film their subsequent tour. They envisioned a U2 version of A Hard Day’s Night. Rattle and Hum was more like a home movie, four guys looking to discover American music, and a joyless home movie at that. The reviews of Rattle and Hum were scathing, and the guys in the band were a bit shell shocked. Up to this point they were critical darlings and weren’t used to people telling them they weren’t perfect. And they [most especially Bono] had gotten too caught up in their own self-importance. Bono’s wife Ali summed it up best – she told him “you’ve gotten so serious.  The boy I fell in love with was so full of mischief, so full of madness.  You were a much more experimental character – what’s happened to you?” They went away to re-invent themselves, but in the process discovered they weren’t on the same page musically, hence the existential crisis. They pulled themselves together and re-invented themselves. They exorcised the “preachy” U2 [for a while, anyway], stopped Bono’s posturing and hectoring for social justice, and became rock stars that could make music that was fun. Achtung Baby is my favorite U2 album by far.

Rush - Counterparts (1993) – After a five-album run where all kinds of keyboards served as the focus of Rush music, Alex Lifeson finally re-emerged from the shadows with a vengeance. Rush started out as a guitar band, but after Moving Pictures [1981] they moved further and further away from that ethos to the point that Alex Lifeson became a musical afterthought.  There were just too many damn synthesizers for my liking, and the songwriting was pretty weak after Grace Under Pressure [1984]. Counterparts is the album for which I waited nine years. Keyboards were relegated to the background, and Lerxst’s guitar was finally front and center again. Of the eleven songs on the album [one is an instrumental: Leave That Thing Alone], nine are strong, while the remaining songs are merely “ok.”  Once again, Rush was a fire-breathing beast, and I couldn’t be happier as a fan.

R.E.M. - Out of Time [1991] and Automatic for the People [1992] – I’m cheating a little bit here because I think of both of these albums as two sides of the same coin. Both are mostly acoustic, and unlike the louder album that preceded them – Green [1988] – they have aged very well. They don’t sound dated. I admit I didn’t get into these guys at the time, as ubiquitous as they were in the late Eighties/early Nineties. But with the passage of 32 years, and with Carol passing away, I was nostalgic for a happier time and thus I did a reappraisal. For the most part, I haven’t a clue about what Michael Stipe was singing about. I don’t think he had any idea, either. But there is a moment of clarity on Man On The Moon, an elegy for Andy Kaufman. It proved to me that if he wanted to, Michael Stipe can make complete sense. And he had a sense of humor. With that said, I cut him some slack on the rest of his lyrics, which can be very obtuse and impenetrable. At a time when grunge and alternative music were all the rage [some of which I like very much], these two statements, released nineteen months apart, were outside the norm. Instead of loud, detuned guitars, there are mandolins, acoustic guitars, pianos and bouzoukis. There’s a lot to be said for going against the grain, and R.E.M. are to be commended for it. I appreciate them now – better late than never. But when I think I’ve had enough of quiet music, I’ll throw on Dirt or Superunknown.  Speaking of which…

Alice in Chains – Dirt [1992] – A long time ago, MTV had this show on Saturday nights called The Headbangers Ball. It was on this show that a video caught Carol’s eye. It was made by a band from Seattle. The singer was going on about being buried in his own shit. Carol didn’t impress easily, but she liked what she heard and told me “you’ve got to hear this.” The band was Alice in Chains, and the song was Man in the Box. The song was from their debut album, Facelift [1990]. We were both immediately hooked. A couple of years later, I saw a movie called Singles [1992]. It takes place in Seattle and is about the love lives of twentysomethings, with the burgeoning grunge movement serving as the backdrop for the story. It was here that I got a preview of the next AIC album. Their new song, Would? [an elegy for Mother Love Bone vocalist Andrew Wood], featured in the movie. Dirt, the album from whence it came, is a musical 2x4 across the forehead. Jerry Cantrell’s riffs were dark and sludgy, very Sabbathesque but recorded a helluva lot better. Though not a concept album per se, this harrowing album has drug addiction as its theme for the last half of the album. Layne Staley, in a vice grip of heroin addiction that just wouldn’t let go, articulated his own downward spiral and self-destruction. The album also includes themes of mortality, relationships, and depression, with a tribute to Cantrell’s father [a Vietnam vet] thrown in for good measure. Of note, they began recording Dirt during the LA riots in the summer of 1992, which only added to the album’s vibe of doom. Alice in Chains have recorded some stellar music since 1992, but Dirt remains their magnum opus. It still remains in heavy rotation for me.

Soundgarden - Superunknown (1994) - Of the four big bands to come out of Seattle in the early 1990s [Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden], Soundgarden was the first to get a major label record deal, but the last to get the big break. They got people’s attention with Badmotorfinger (1991), but in 1994 Superunknown launched them into the stratosphere. Superunknown opens with a thunderous one-two punch of Let Me Drown and My Wave. Fell On Black Days which follows slows the pace and is dark and very moody. Mailman is one of Matt Cameron’s songs. As the title says, it’s about a mailman, who is about to “go postal.” Kim Thayil pours the sludge on thick with his detuned guitars in a grinding riff, and Ben Shepard’s bass makes the sludge even thicker. I have no idea what Superunknown [the song] is about, and I don’t care. It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s brutal in its intensity, and it’s relentless. Black Hole Sun is the monster hit, which is more of a mood than a song, but that’s ok. Spoonman is another fast one…and another hit. It’s all good. Carol and I saw them at Red Rocks in 2011, and they played most of this album. To date, it’s the loudest concert I ever attended. We lost some hearing that day.

Pink Floyd- The Division Bell [1994] – The last real Pink Floyd album. I don’t count The Endless River because there’s only one real song on it, and not a very good one. As much as I like 1987’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason, it’s really a David Gilmour solo album in all but name. It has more in common with Gilmour’s About Face [1984] than it does with Pink Floyd. Rick Wright didn’t play much on it, and Nick Mason didn’t play at all. But that album served its purpose. In the aftermath of Roger Waters’ 1985 departure, it proved the band could function without him, much to Waters’ distress. After touring AMLOR for two solid years, Wright and Mason were back in playing shape. Wright has five songwriting credits on The Division Bell and sang on a Pink Floyd album for the first time since Dark Side of the Moon. Unlike AMLOR, this sounded like a Pink Floyd album. David Gilmour isn’t a lyricist, and he isn’t big on the whole “concept album” thing. But in contemporary interviews, he did say the underlying theme of the album was the inability of people to communicate. Both he and Rick Wright opined that The Division Bell sounds more like Wish You Were Here [the favorite of both Gilmour and Wright] than anything else in Pink Floyd’s canon. For me, it took just one listen to Keep Talking to know that this album was going to be a good one. But, the emotional center of the album is the final song, High Hopes. It is a wistful look back on happier times in Cambridge before fame. Carol and I saw two shows on this tour. They were the best shows we had ever seen, with film clips playing on a giant screen behind the stage, flying pigs, lasers, and a giant mirror ball that illuminated everything during Comfortably Numb. The music was pretty good, too. 😊

Deep Purple - Purpendicular (1996) – One can’t discuss Deep Purple without talking about the interpersonal drama of the players. They shocked the rock world by reuniting the classic Mark II lineup [Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice] in 1984 with the album Perfect Strangers. The House of Blue Light [1987] followed, but the disagreements between Blackmore and Gillan that led to their 1973 split resurfaced. Soon, Gillan was fired in 1989, to be replaced by Joe Lynn Turner. The resulting album, Slaves and Masters [1990] sounds like a bad Rainbow album. Blackmore was happy, but the rest of the band wasn’t. They wanted Gillan back, so he returned in 1992. They recorded The Battle Rages On [1993], and it was Ritchie’s turn to be unhappy. The band toured in Europe and played their last show [Helsinki] in November 1993. In three weeks hence, they were supposed to go to Japan, but Ritchie tore up his visa and left the band. The band had to honor the Japan dates, and somehow, they got Joe Satriani to fill in for Ritchie. They had a world tour ahead of them and they played the dates with Satriani, but there was a hitch. Satriani had his own career and couldn’t stay with Deep Purple. Deep Purple needed a new guitar player [or, as Gillan would say, a “banjo player”]. Each member made a list. The only player on everyone’s list was Steve Morse. Morse turned out to be an enlightened choice. He’s nothing like Blackmore, and that’s the point. If one doesn’t hire someone to sound like Ritchie Blackmore, the less likely people are going to make comparisons to him, other than to say “he doesn’t sound like Ritchie.” With Morse, they could afford to take a fresh approach, to exercise the musical muscles that had atrophied and get away from making generic hard rock albums. Morse’s own work before joining Deep Purple spanned a variety of styles, genres and moods. This is what he brought to Deep Purple, and to their credit they embraced the change. This album swings like no other Deep Purple album. Ian Paice gets to do more than just a 4/4 bash like he had to do from Perfect Strangers onward. The rest of the band was able to write and contribute more than they had when Ritchie was the musical director. The result was Purpendicular, which would be their most experimental album since before Gillan and Glover joined the band in 1969. This album proved that there was life after Blackmore, so much so that the Morse-Purple marriage lasted twenty-eight years. Highly recommended.

Gov’t Mule - Dose (1997) – The Allman Brothers Band reunited in 1989 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the band founded by Duane Allman. Guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody were the new guys. After the success of the Dreams tour, the band decided to create new music. The new album, Seven Turns [1990], was their best album since Brothers and Sisters [1973]. Subsequent albums [Shades of Two Worlds (1991) and Where It All Begins (1994)] were almost as good. To occupy themselves during ABB downtimes, Haynes and Woody had formed power trio Gov’t Mule with Matt Abts, who played with Haynes in Dickey Betts’ band before the 1989 reformation. It was going to be a busman’s holiday, like what Hot Tuna started out to be vis-à-vis the Jefferson Airplane. They recorded one self-titled album in 1995. The plan was just one album, but the ABB was a dysfunctional unit. Gregg Allman had his substance abuse issues, and Dickey Betts was in and out of the band due to his own substance abuse issues [to be charitable, he was a mean drunk]. The interpersonal dynamic was a bit toxic. Haynes and Woody decided they had enough and left the Allman Brothers in 1997, and they didn’t look back. The Mule would be their full-time gig. Dose is jam band music at its finest. This album spawned three (!) sprawling, monster classics – Blind Man in the Dark, Thorazine Shuffle [known in some spiritual circles as the “Thorazine Clusterfuck”], and Game Face. Throw in two instrumentals [Birth of the Mule and Thelonious Beck], the folk blues of Son House’s John the Revelator, and a jam take on the Beatles She Said She Said, you have a classic.

Bob Dylan – Time Out of Mind [1997] – At the conclusion of the 1980s, Bob Dylan released an outstanding album, Oh Mercy, about which I have already commented. As he had more than enough songs for that album, he rerecorded those leftovers [and a handful of newer songs] for the next album, Under the Red Sky [1990]. This wasn’t a bad album, but in the wake of Oh Mercy it was a bit of a letdown. Afterward, he went silent. Not for the first time, many began to doubt whether he could still be creative. The man himself had his doubts, wondering aloud whether he had enough songs to sing and stop writing. He went back to his folk roots and cut two albums - Good as I Been to You [1992] and World Gone Wrong [1993] - that were traditional folk songs, performed by him alone with only an acoustic guitar and a harmonica to accompany him. It took him until 1996 to find the inspiration to write new material. His new songs addressed love, heartbreak, betrayal and loss, old age and mortality. For his sound, Dylan found his inspiration in the blues. When in doubt, go back to the source. I’ve waxed poetic about 2001’s “Love And Theft” in these pages before and how I thought [and still think] that album was the best he had done since Blood on the Tracks. I had done a Top 10 list of Dylan albums. I had Time Out of Mind at #6, Oh Mercy at #3, and  “Love And Theft” at #2. Thanks to a remix of the entire Time Out of Mind album as presented on the Fragments box set [released in 2022], I may have to rethink the order of things. Time Out of Mind is truly extraordinary.

Tom Petty – Wildflowers [1994] – Tom Petty had a new record deal with Warner Brothers, but there was a catch. He was still signed to MCA, and he wanted out. His relationship with MCA was tempestuous. MCA had originally rejected Full Moon Fever. They butted heads over his compensation, artistic control and album prices. The price for his freedom was a greatest hits compilation, but it had to include two new songs. One song turned out to be Mary Jane’s Last Dance. Tom wasn’t done with making clean breaks. After recording Mary Jane’s Last Dance, he fired drummer Stan Lynch. In his place he hired Steve Ferrone, an inspired choice. They didn’t get along anymore, and Tom thought it was time for a change. No change was more drastic for him than his marriage. His 22-year marriage to Jane Benyo was falling apart. Daughter Adria took one listen to Wildflowers and knew immediately that her parents’ marriage was over. Welcome to middle age. Another break Petty made [though not permanent like the rest] was with Jeff Lynne. Lynne produced Petty’s first solo record, Full Moon Fever [1989] and Into the Great Wide Open [1991]. For Wildflowers he worked with Rick Rubin at Mike Campbell’s suggestion. For this record, Petty said that after spending almost twenty years making records with the Heartbreakers, he wanted to branch out and work with others in order to learn and grow. He credited Rubin with guiding him back to a musical place where he would feel very comfortable. At this point in his life, Petty got more comfortable making music that wasn’t just loud rock ‘n roll. To be sure, there is plenty of loud rock ‘n roll on this record, but there are also folky, confessional moments as well. The album alternates between the loud and the quiet. Originally, Petty planned Wallflowers to be a double album. He wrote twenty-five songs for it, but when he finished it and played it for Warner Brothers, they said it was too long. He pruned Wildflowers to fifteen songs. Some of the leftovers came out for his soundtrack to the movie She’s The One. Others remained unreleased until the Wildflowers & All the Rest box set came out in 2020. There was quantity as well as quality. He wanted to revisit the whole Wildflowers thing after his final tour, but fate had other ideas. Wildflowers is Tom Petty’s masterpiece.

Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs

I made the trip to Warner Robins last week to do yet another software test. One of the guys I was working with (he’s in his 30s) asked me if I listen to anything whenever make the drive up here from Florida. I told him that sometimes I listen only to podcasts (to save my hearing), sometimes I listen to music. I told him this time I had Alice in Chains on blast for most of the trip. He voiced his approval. I told him when I tired of Alice then I played Robin Trower’s Bridge of Sighs. He said he wasn't familiar with that because it's a little before his time. I told him “it's a little before mine too, because the album came out fifty years ago.” From that exchange a blog entry is born.

The 1970s had its share of great guitarists – Jeff Beck. Jimmy Page, Rory Gallagher, Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Dickey Betts, David Gilmour – just to name a few. One guitarist who usually isn’t mentioned as often as these guys is Robin Trower. People first heard of him as the guitarist for Procol Harum. The only problem with being the guitarist in that band is that it was very keyboard centric. There’s not much room for a guitarist in a band with a piano AND a Hammond organ. But somehow, he managed some ‘look at me!” moments:

• Repent Walpurgis [Procol Harum, 1967]
• Cerdes (Outside the Gates Of) [Procol Harum, 1967]
• The Devil Came From Kansas [A Salty Dog, 1969]
• Long Gone Geek [B-side of A Salty Dog, 1969]
• Crucifiction Land [A Salty Dog, 1969]
• Whisky Train [Home, 1970]
• Whaling Stories [Home, 1970]
• Simple Sister [Broken Barricades, 1971]
• Memorial Drive [Broken Barricades, 1971]
• Song For A Dreamer [Broken Barricades, 1971] – Robin Trower’s tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The Hendrix/Trower comparisons start here.
• Poor Mohammed [Broken Barricades, 1971].

By the time of Broken Barricades [1971], Trower had more ideas than could fit on a Procol Harum album, so he went solo. At first he had a group named Jude, but nothing ever became of it. However, the bass player was a Scot named Jimmy Dewar who, not only was he pretty good on the bass, could sing like Paul Rodgers. Having Jimmy Dewar as his singer was a masterstroke. Trower sang a few songs with Procol Harum. As a vocalist, Trower is an excellent guitarist. With the addition of drummer Reg Isidore, a power trio was born. They released their debut album, Twice Removed From Yesterday, in 1973. It didn’t sell much, but it did provide the blueprint for what was to come next. First, he cracked the code of the Hendrix sound. Second, the power trio format was going to work for him. He got as far from Procol Harum’s sound as he could. He had a career. He was no longer somebody's sideman.

Trower cited Scottie Moore, Albert King, B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix as his primary influences, but he especially felt a connection with Jimi Hendrix. He saw one of Hendrix’s last shows in 1970 and was transfixed by what he saw. After Hendrix’s death Trower wrote Song for a Dreamer, which appeared on Broken Barricades (1971). Trower fell in love with the Fender Stratocaster after he played one of Martin Barre’s Strats during a soundcheck. Armed with a Strat, a Univibe pedal and a wah-wah, Trower had the tools to get a close approximation of Hendrix’s sound.

Day of the Eagle has Trower and company storming out the gate. This high-energy opener bears a striking resemblance to Hendrix’s Crosstown Traffic (from Electric Ladyland). It's not a carbon copy of the Hendrix song, but if you do a side-by-side comparison the resemblance is unmistakable.

Next is the title track. Bridge of Sighs put Trower on the proverbial map, and for good reason. Opeth did an excellent cover of the song on their album Watershed (2008). This shows how one can capture the spirit of Hendrix without slavishly copying him. Opening with some spaced-out chimes that signal to the listener that a cosmic trip is about to begin, the echo-drenched riff is trance-inducing and gloomy. This is psychedelic blues in all its glory. The riff is relentless, giving way to a solo that even I could play it. Sometimes it’s the most simple of things that works the best. As Trower solos, a “cold wind blowing” is added, which serves to link to the next song, In This Place, without breaking the mood. In This Place is a slow blues like the Bridge of Sighs, just as moody, twangy, slightly jazzy, and slightly psychedelic. Both songs are of a piece, such that I usually can't hear one without the other.

Of the eight songs on Bridge of Sighs, I like seven of them. To these ears, the only clunker of the bunch is The Fool and Me, which closes Side One (if you're listening to vinyl). While it quickens the pace after the two songs that preceded it, I don't think it works. Others can and will disagree, but this song just doesn't do it for me. Here Trower grabbed an idea for a solo and ran it into the ground. He just wouldn't let go, and the sound is just plain irritating. Maybe if Trower played a different solo I could like it, but alas he didn't.

Kicking off Side Two is Too Rolling Stoned. Here is proof that white English people can be funky. A relentless tour de force (which still remains in Trower’s setlists to this day), Trower gives the wah-wah quite a workout. Halfway through, the song comes almost to a halt and changes tempo and gives us an extended instrumental fadeout. It sounds like two songs are smashed together, but that’s ok – it works. Trower said he had the crew in the studio to clap along, giving the song a party atmosphere (like Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile).

About to Begin is another slow one. Like the title track, Trower demonstrates that sometimes “less is more.” The guitar is delicate and tasteful. A waltz, the song is both haunting and dreamy, like a lullaby. Producer Matthew Fisher, like Trower an alum of Procol Harum (the organ on A Whiter Shade of Pale is his), adds a celestial bit of Hammond to the song.

Lady Love is the most commercial sounding song on the album (complete with a little cowbell). It's also the shortest. Little Bit of Sympathy closes the album just as strongly as Day of the Eagle opened it.

A couple of months ago, Chrysalis released a Bridge of Sighs 50th anniversary package. It includes a remaster of the album (which is a slight improvement on the 2007 remaster), another disc with extended versions of the original, instrumental versions of all the songs, outtakes and alternate takes, and a 10-song set recorded live in May 1974 at the Record Plant in Sausalito. There were no extra songs lying “in the can.” These are nice to have if you're a Robin Trower obsessive, but not essential. The treasure lies in the fourth disc, which is the album mixed in Dolby Atmos, DTS 5.1, and LCPM 24-bit stereo. These mixes sound better than the remaster. 

I hope next year Chrysalis gives Bridge of Sighs’ follow-up, For Earth Below, the same treatment as was done here. Not quite as good as Bridge of Sighs, For Earth Below is almost a carbon copy, and that's not a bad thing.