- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Robin Trower is one of rock music’s premier guitarists and one of the few who has the chops, as well as the guts, to follow the path of Jimi Hendrix.
Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs (1974): Robin Trower is one of rock music’s premier guitarists and one of the few who has the chops, as well as the guts, to delve into the territory laid out by Jimi Hendrix. Trower started with the blend of blues-rock and psychedelic rock pioneered by Hendrix, but he shortly developed his own unique style on the guitar. Robin Trower had his first break when he was offered the guitar slot in Procol Harum by Gary Brooker; they had been in an R&B band together years earlier called the Paramounts. A touring band was being assembled for Procol Harum once they had their first hit song, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. Robin Trower stayed with Procol Harum through their first five albums but realized that there was limited room for his guitar work in that band.
After hearing one of Jimi Hendrix’s last concert performances in September 1970 at a festival where Procol Harum was also playing, Robin Trower discovered the Fender Stratocaster guitar and began gathering equipment for the kinds of effects that Hendrix was creating. He amicably split with Procol Harum in 1971 and assembled a power trio, with James Dewar on bass guitar and vocals, and Reg Isidore on drums. Robin Trower released his first solo album in 1973, Twice Removed from Yesterday, with limited impact on the record charts. His second album the following year, Bridge of Sighs was a major hit, reaching #7 with a run of 31 weeks on the Billboard album charts. The title song “Bridge of Sighs”, preceded by “Day of the Eagle” is the high point of the album; but the rest of the songs are just as enjoyable. Along with these signature works, two other songs on the album, “Too Rolling Stoned” and “Little Bit of Sympathy” are staples in Robin Trower’s concert performances; and several of the songs on the album have been covered by other artists. While Bridge of Sighs is the high point of Robin Trower’s career, he remained an arena headliner on the strength of the five consecutive Gold albums that followed this one. Early pressings of Bridge of Sighs with a green album cover mistakenly have the image upside down. The “Bridge of Sighs” is an enclosed white bridge over a canal in Venice, Italy dating from the 17th Century that connects Palace interrogation rooms with the prison. Thus, the “sighs” are not something evoked by the sight of the bridge, but rather from their last view of Venice before prisoners are taken to their cells. Robin Trower took the album and song name from a racehorse by that name that he read about.