Generational Blues
Robin Trower (and Joanne Shaw Taylor), The Arches, Glasgow, 4th April 2015
Robin Trower (and Joanne Shaw Taylor), The Arches, Glasgow, 4th April 2015
As opening act choices for a blues rock based show go Joanne Shaw Taylor and band isn't too shabby a choice; something that wasn't lost on an enthusiastic and receptive crowd as Taylor, Tom Godlington (bass) and Oliver Perry (drums) power trio’d their way through a feisty and blues rockin’ seven-song set at The Arches underneath Glasgow Central Station.
Songs featured from all four of Joanne Shaw Taylor's four studio albums including a truly blistering performance of 'Watch ‘em Burn' from debut release White Sugar.
Taylor fired off some searing notes on the extended middle section of the big ‘n’ beefy blues shuffle while Godlington and Perry drove the rhythm with a pile-driving power that did everything but bring the roof off The Arches and the 19.50pm Glasgow to Gourock train in with it.
For all the blues power on display from Miss Taylor and band her rendition of Frankie Miller’s 'Jealousy' (with a vocal akin to a controlled Janis Joplin) and 'Tried, Tested and True' were bring-it-down highlights of a high-energy forty-minute set.
While opening acts are still cited as "Support" on many a tour or gig, the term "Special Guest" is becoming more commonplace and is quite apt for performers such as Joanne Shaw Taylor, who has long since shaken off the shackles of support act.
And if musical justice is served it shouldn’t be too long before the bonniest blues rocker currently recording and performing is headlining venues such as The Arches.
As Robin Trower’s classic and most successful early 70’s to mid-80’s era came to a close, Victims of the Fury of ever-changing musical fashions, Joanne Shaw Taylor was still a few years away from being born.
That’s quite the generation gap but the blues, and Robin Trower’s particular fusion-laced brand, transcends all musical eras and is as relevant now as it was then.
Not that Robin Trower is any sort of nostalgia act – far from it.
Having first been applauded and cheered on to the stage with a roar that was as much about respect as it was a traditional Weegie welcome, Robin Trower and his band opened up with 'Somebody Calling' from 1977’s In City Dreams, the song driven by a big, rhythmic groove from Richard Watts (bass, vocals) and Christopher Taggart (drums).
It was a classic era start but the eighty-five minute set was peppered with songs from the legendary six-stringer’s more recent catalogue including a beefy rendition of 'Something’s About to Change,' the title track of Trower's latest album, and a pulsating 'See My Life' from previous release Roots and Branches.
While his studio voice has become comfortable around newer material Robin Trower has never been the greatest of singers; Trower took lead vocals on the aforementioned numbers but Richard Watts was in fine mid-tenor voice for the majority of the set.
It may have been a surprise and even a disappointment for some of the audience (this reviewer included) that more numbers from the predominately slow blues album Something’s About to Change didn’t feature, but to no-ones surprise or disappointment five songs from the uber-classic Bridge of Sighs did.
Robin Trower’s distinct and genuinely unique distorted Stratocaster tones floated across the audience during a superb rendition of 'Bridge of Sighs,' turning back the years to those Long Misty Days (ironically the only one of Trower’s first five albums not to feature) of forty years ago.
While distortion, wah and overdrive pedal effects are part and parcel of the trademark Trower sound, the seminal six-stringer can captivate an audience with just his fingers and the strings and fretboard of his signature Stratocasters, as evidenced when he stood centre stage, dressed in black and sporting his Arctic White Fender Strat for striking contrast, during 'Daydream' (the introduction of which brought on the biggest roar of the night).
As Robin Trower’s musical shapes and tones coloured the beautifully crafted and classic fusion blues number "we were spellbound" – and in awe of the note-bending masterclass front and centre.
Bringing the captivated audience back to the 21st century were the back-to-back fusion blues rockers 'The Turning' and 'Not Inside - Outside' from 2010’s Playful Heart before a 'Little Bit of Sympathy' closed out an over-all-too-soon set.
'Too Rolling Stoned' kicked off the encore almost before the audience had a chance to shout for one, what with a tight curfew having to be strictly adhered to on the night (The Arches is one of the many city centre venues that doubles as a dance/ night club at the weekends).
Robin Trower, at seventy years young, is putting players half his age to shame but then this is a musician who, like a fine wine or a quality single malt, is getting better with age.
And, based on the evidence of his latest studio release, Robin Trower is playing – and feeling – the blues as well as anyone.
Something's About to Change? I sincerely hope not.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
photo credit: Simon Lowrey.
Songs featured from all four of Joanne Shaw Taylor's four studio albums including a truly blistering performance of 'Watch ‘em Burn' from debut release White Sugar.
Taylor fired off some searing notes on the extended middle section of the big ‘n’ beefy blues shuffle while Godlington and Perry drove the rhythm with a pile-driving power that did everything but bring the roof off The Arches and the 19.50pm Glasgow to Gourock train in with it.
For all the blues power on display from Miss Taylor and band her rendition of Frankie Miller’s 'Jealousy' (with a vocal akin to a controlled Janis Joplin) and 'Tried, Tested and True' were bring-it-down highlights of a high-energy forty-minute set.
While opening acts are still cited as "Support" on many a tour or gig, the term "Special Guest" is becoming more commonplace and is quite apt for performers such as Joanne Shaw Taylor, who has long since shaken off the shackles of support act.
And if musical justice is served it shouldn’t be too long before the bonniest blues rocker currently recording and performing is headlining venues such as The Arches.
As Robin Trower’s classic and most successful early 70’s to mid-80’s era came to a close, Victims of the Fury of ever-changing musical fashions, Joanne Shaw Taylor was still a few years away from being born.
That’s quite the generation gap but the blues, and Robin Trower’s particular fusion-laced brand, transcends all musical eras and is as relevant now as it was then.
Not that Robin Trower is any sort of nostalgia act – far from it.
Having first been applauded and cheered on to the stage with a roar that was as much about respect as it was a traditional Weegie welcome, Robin Trower and his band opened up with 'Somebody Calling' from 1977’s In City Dreams, the song driven by a big, rhythmic groove from Richard Watts (bass, vocals) and Christopher Taggart (drums).
It was a classic era start but the eighty-five minute set was peppered with songs from the legendary six-stringer’s more recent catalogue including a beefy rendition of 'Something’s About to Change,' the title track of Trower's latest album, and a pulsating 'See My Life' from previous release Roots and Branches.
While his studio voice has become comfortable around newer material Robin Trower has never been the greatest of singers; Trower took lead vocals on the aforementioned numbers but Richard Watts was in fine mid-tenor voice for the majority of the set.
It may have been a surprise and even a disappointment for some of the audience (this reviewer included) that more numbers from the predominately slow blues album Something’s About to Change didn’t feature, but to no-ones surprise or disappointment five songs from the uber-classic Bridge of Sighs did.
Robin Trower’s distinct and genuinely unique distorted Stratocaster tones floated across the audience during a superb rendition of 'Bridge of Sighs,' turning back the years to those Long Misty Days (ironically the only one of Trower’s first five albums not to feature) of forty years ago.
While distortion, wah and overdrive pedal effects are part and parcel of the trademark Trower sound, the seminal six-stringer can captivate an audience with just his fingers and the strings and fretboard of his signature Stratocasters, as evidenced when he stood centre stage, dressed in black and sporting his Arctic White Fender Strat for striking contrast, during 'Daydream' (the introduction of which brought on the biggest roar of the night).
As Robin Trower’s musical shapes and tones coloured the beautifully crafted and classic fusion blues number "we were spellbound" – and in awe of the note-bending masterclass front and centre.
Bringing the captivated audience back to the 21st century were the back-to-back fusion blues rockers 'The Turning' and 'Not Inside - Outside' from 2010’s Playful Heart before a 'Little Bit of Sympathy' closed out an over-all-too-soon set.
'Too Rolling Stoned' kicked off the encore almost before the audience had a chance to shout for one, what with a tight curfew having to be strictly adhered to on the night (The Arches is one of the many city centre venues that doubles as a dance/ night club at the weekends).
Robin Trower, at seventy years young, is putting players half his age to shame but then this is a musician who, like a fine wine or a quality single malt, is getting better with age.
And, based on the evidence of his latest studio release, Robin Trower is playing – and feeling – the blues as well as anyone.
Something's About to Change? I sincerely hope not.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
photo credit: Simon Lowrey.