Robin Trower's searing, powerful lead guitar immediately
grabs the attention of anybody within earshot with "Day of the Eagle"
the first track off of his 2nd, and arguably his most famous, album
"Bridge of Sighs". The very Hendrix inspired guitarist takes you
through psycadelic blues-rock dream that very few people have been able to
create since the untimely demise of Jimi Hendrix. "Day of the Eagle"
fades to silence with a stunning guitar solo that Jimi himself would be proud
of, and quickly the title track of the album "Bridge of Sighs" begins
with a "Voodoo Chile" style opening.
Robin Trower's use of the neck pickup on his fender Stratocaster
and his Univox Univibe shows that not every great rock tone has to be a high
gain amplifier with a humbucker. "Bridge of Sighs" then has a very
nice smooth seamless transition into the slow blues song "In this
place" where he shows the mastery of yet another effect, the wah-wah
pedal.
Still using that sweet singing tone that only a Stratocaster
can achieve, he lets his guitar sing sweetly and softly, until the song fades
to silence yet again. The next song "The fool and me" is a delightful
change to an up-beat rock song with a searing guitar solo starting the song,
and eventually going into some nice funky rhythms. But in my opinion, the best
song on the whole album is "Too Rolling Stoned" which show cases
Robin's real talent while still using that amazing tone. The song starts out
slow and bassy with some wah, and eventually moves into an all-out Cream style
jam session lasting just under 8 minutes.
“About to begin” is slow and bluesy just like "In this
place" and actually sounds pretty similar and is somewhat disappointing
because I wanted to see what else Trower had up his psycadelic sleeve.
"Lady Love" starts out with a cowbell and guitar solo similar to the
famous "Mississippi Queen" and shows off that typical gritty 70's
rock sound. The last song “Little Bit of Sympathy" is a good radio style
rock song that tells that good ol' blues story about the bad woman in the
relationship who never treats her man right. Over all, "Bridge of
Sighs" is a phenomenal album that any guitar player or Hendrix fanatic
should definitely check out if not for the Hendrix feel, definitely for the
awesome guitar playing.
