Robin Trower – TIME & EMOTION

Robin Trower
TIME & EMOTION
Manhaton Records

Low Down, Gritty, Dirty and the Real Deal From Classic British Bluesman.

As I wasn’t a fan back in the day, and his recent offerings have sort of passed me by I never thought I would see the day when I raved about a Robin Trower album, but hey…..this has won me over.
In all fairness it was opening track The Land of Plenty that did it; Trower slows things down to a stroll on a song that immediately reminded me of one the formative albums of my teenage years, Blues Obituary from the Groundhogs.
While Trower’s fretwork is as astonishing as you’d expect; for once it’s his voice (and the song itself) that captures the imagination.
Sounding as rough and gruff as you’d expect from a man his age; Trower enters brand new territory on the slow burning Chicago inspired numbers like Bitten By The Snake and the sultry and bittersweet Make Up Your Mind, with the latter taking it’s lead more from John Lee Hooker than Hendrix for once.
The all pervading shadow from Hendrix does make an appearance on You’re The One; but it’s the mellow end of the Jimi spectrum; than on previous outings; and again for me the song itself wins out over the subtly spectacular guitar playing that many will be thrilled with.
TIME & EMOTION is the type of album that will not just appeal to Rock fans looking for ‘come down’ music at the end of the night (and it works perfectly in that format) but actual bona-fide Blues snobs; with Returned In Kind, If You Believe In Me and What Was I Really Worth To You crossing divides in a way I’ve not heard since The Cream’s halcyon days 40 years ago. Mmmmmm….maybe that’s it; a lot of the songwriting on this record does remind me of those gorgeous Jack Bruce/Pete Brown collaborations I pored over in my bedroom….as did millions of others around the globe.
As you’d expect from an elder statesman like Robin Trower, this is an old fashioned Long Player; in as much as there aren’t any obvious ‘singles’ here (where would they get played anyways???) but there are two truly outstanding songs here; the smooth title track Time & Emotion which closes the record and the actual RMHQ ‘Favourite Song’ the spine-tingling love song You’re The One, which has such a strong set of lyrics that it could be from the heart of a love struck teenager or; as in this case a septuagenarian looking at his lover, still with a twinkle in his eyes.
While fans of Robin Trower’s guitar playing will still find plenty to enjoy here; TIME & EMOTION is an album full of exceptionally written and ‘sung’ songs with Robin Trower sounding more like a classic Chicago Bluesman than the majority of household names ever did.
Love it – from start to finish.

https://www.trowerpower.com/
Released UK 4th August 2017

Released USA May 6th 2017