Robin Trower Twice Removed From Yesterday Review by Gary Hill
Robin Trower has always been an exceptional guitarist. His band was one of the coolest power trios out there. They always had a style and finesse that just worked exceptionally well. This is one of their trademark albums and would be a fine introduction to the music of Trower and company.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2010 Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
I Can’t Wait Much Longer
A killer slow blues motif leads this off and they build it out from there. They turn it to a harder edged power trio sound for the scorching guitar solo section.
Daydream A mellower piece, there is (appropriately) a bit of a dreamlike element to this piece. The chorus hook to it might be what many know this track by “We were spellbound.” It’s a Robin Trower classic. Trower does include a fiery guitar solo later, though.
Hannah Even harder rocking and bluesy than the opener, this is another top-notch cut. You really can’t go wrong with Robin Trower. It’s that simple. Mid track they power this out into a groove based jam that’s almost space rock in its texture. It’s also one of the highlights of the disc.
Man of the World Perhaps more mainstream, this is essentially a hard rocking tune. It’s got some good guitar soloing, but is almost like Robin Trower does Aerosmith. Of course, again, you just can’t go wrong with Trower.
I Can’t Stand It There’s a definite Jimi Hendrix kind of vibe on this cut. It’s trademark Trower, too, but more along the lines of Mr. Hendrix.
Rock Me Baby The most purely blues oriented cut on show here, this is closer to Buddy Guy than rock music. It’s a real screamer.
Twice Removed From Yesterday The title track makes me think of Jimi Hendrix in some ways, but I can also make out some Captain Beyond – and of course, classic Robin Trower. It’s one of the proggier cuts here and has some territory in common with “Third Rock From the Sun,” but is more straight ahead than that.
Sinner’s Song While in some ways this isn’t all that different than a lot of the other music here, it never feels formulaic or repetitive and there’s a killer bass driven jam mid-song. Trower solos over this and again I’m reminded quite a bit of Jimi Hendrix.
Ballerina The mellowest piece on show here, this is intricate and pretty. It works out to more rocking territory as it carries onward. It’s a good track, I’m just not convinced that it was the best choice to close the set.
