Robin Trower - 1975 [1995] BBC Radio 1 "Live In Concert"

BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert album for sale by Robin Trower was released Jul 26, 1994 on the Griffin label. Recorded live on January 29, 1975. BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert buy CD music Includes liner notes by Elouise Rafferty. BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert CD music contains a single disc with 10 songs. 

I never knew who Robin Trower was, until a friend of mine had an extra ticket to an Aerosmith concert sometime in the mid-70s. Some band / person I had never heard of called "Robin Trower" opened for them that Friday night in Houston, Texas. Well, to put it in simple terms... Trower blew Aerosmith off the stage! End of story. This awesome collection is the next best thing to being there again. Day Of The Eagle sets the stage with some power riffs by Robin. He then breaks into a soulful rendition of Bridge Of Sighs, as he literally pours his emotions into the his Strat. Other classics like the the out of this world Twice Removed From Yesterday and Daydream transport you back to the land of felt posters, incense, blacklights and lava lamps. This album has it all and is a must for any diehard Trower fan!

I've had this album since it was first released and consider myself lucky to have found it that soon. I have been a Trower fan since the early '70's when they guest starred on a local late night Philadelphia television program as an "unknown" artist.
Up until that time Bridge of Sighs was considered, by most, the definitive Trower album. Me? I've always been a fan of "live" albums and this one is among the best of the era. For Trower fans, I'd put it right up there with The Allman Bros. "Live At The Fillmore East."
Sonically, from a production standpoint the first track, Day of the Eagle, is not the best this album has to offer. Like many other British produced live albums it seems to take the sound/recording people some warm up time to get everything right. This collecton is no exception but at least it's honest about it. No studio tricks were used to fix the thin but clear sound on that first track.
And, this performance also let's us know why Robin Trower was not the lead vocalist in the band from the title track of the first album Twice Removed From Yesterday.
You won't find a lot of jamming in this performance as the band plays it pretty straight.
In spite of these minor glitches, this is still a fantastic example of a '70's band, and Trower, at it's very best. All the Trower standards are here with a few not as often heard.
While "Day" and "Bridge" are still terrific selections, I, as a Blues fan, found myself warming up to Gonna Be More Suspicious sliding into Fine Day. But this album, as in the bands music in general, is mostly blues based material.
The mysterious and haunting Alethea is another good bit of lesser-known Trower.
The album culminates in a Trower version of B. B. King's Rock Me Baby. I could live without this one, but oh well....
Listening to "Live At BBC" makes me wish they could do a reunion tour/album (Jimmy DeWar died several years ago, and as the band's voice is irreplacable) and relive the memories all over again. Maybe they would even create some new memories.
If you're a long time Trower fan, or just discovering how overlooked they were back then, and you don't have this in your collection, BUY IT, RENT IT, or STEAL IT, but LISTEN to it!!! You won't be sorry.

Here is just a killer piece of incredible guitar history from Robin Trower! "BBC Radio One Live," is a testament to Trower's prowess as a guitarist, who is to often maligned as being a Hendrix clone. Though Trower was greatly influenced by Hendrix, "BBC Radio One Live," documents that Trower was indeed his own animal, taking Hendrix ideas, expanding on them, & in many cases, even transcending them. This is also a document of the immense power of Trower's three piece. James Dewar thumping the bass like a blacksmith hammering hot iron! Dewar's soulful singing, one of the greatest & most underrated singers in all of rock! Dewar's vocals are the glue to cement these songs in you mind! Bill Lordan, smashing his drums like giant boulders falling off a cliff, shattering in a thousand pieces of raging rhythmic cascades, anchors the cement of Dewar's bass. All three musicians together, creating a spectacular fortified wall of heavy, heavy, blues rock, or more correctly, heavy metal! Yet all musicians turning it down effortlessly when they need to, in all the right places, in a show of masterful dynamics, that prove heavy metal, especially 70's heavy metal, to be a multi-dimensional genre. There is an energy here that is not tapped in Trower's studio recordings, though I love them every bit as much, "BBC Radio One Live," is a band performing at the height of their immense capabilities, performing where they play best, in front of a live audience! 

 Track Listings

  1. Day of the Eagle
  2. Bridge of Sighs
  3. Gonna Be More Suspicious
  4. Fine Day
  5. Lady Love
  6. Twice Removed from Yesterday
  7. Daydream
  8. Alethea
  9. A Little Bit of Sympathy
  10. Rock Me Baby

Personnel:

Robin Trower (guitar, vocals),
Jimmy Dewar (bass, vocals),
Bill Lordan (drums)