Customer Reviews

Day of the Eagle: The Best of Robin Trower

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Robin Trower, as great as he is, probably does not get the recognition he deserves as a guitarist and songwriter. The original guitarist for Procol Harem set out on his own in 1971 to pursue a different direction. Often criticized for his overt Hendrix influence, Trower, not necessarily shaking the comparisons, has earned his place as an original and inspired player that few can match. Trower's greatest moment is, arguably, his 1974 release "Bridge of Sighs" which seems to showcase all of his winning attributes better than any of his other releases, perhaps even the compilations, including this one.

What you get here is a 17 song summation of Trower's work spanning from 1973's "Twice Removed From Yesterday" through 1980's "Victim's of the Fury." These were obviously his peak years as far as popularity is concerned but it does a disservice to the rest of his catalogue, which really has not waned in quality as one may suspect. The remastering of classics like "Day Of The Eagle," "About To Begin," and "Caravan To Midnight" all sound incredible with much added depth to the original recordings. However, the tracks selected from his live work from 1976's "Robin Trower Live" can, at times, lean towards sounding a little muddy. Unfortunately one of his best songs, "Too Rolling Stoned" from his "Bridge of Sighs" is represented here in a live version. Hey, it still smokes but wouldn't a 17 song compilation want to throw on the most well known version of a classic? In addition, the songs are not in chronological order but depending on your preference, this may not matter. All of this aside, there are some amazing recordings here that sadly many people are not familiar with. As an added bonus fans of Trower will be pleased to see the rare "Take a Fast Train" included, as it was originally the b-side to "Twice Removed From Yesterday" from his debut album of the same name. Speaking of which, where is THAT song? Well, it's not here.

Obviously this retrospective is meant as an introduction to a fabulous artist and to perhaps convince you to dig deeper into his often overlooked catalogue. Just be aware in doing so that there is so much more to hear from Robin Trower, whose career did not end in 1980, but continues to this day. If you like your blues rocking and are not familiar with Trower's post Procol Harem material you owe yourself the favor to pick this up. While you're there, grab a copy of "Bridge of Sighs." You can thank me later.

I totally agree with the other reviewer, Robin Trower never has received the recogniton he deserves, and he's as good as Clapton, Beck, Page, Townshend, Alvin Lee, Ritchie Blackmore, Toni Iommi,Stevie Ray Vaughan, and all the other familiar guitar heroes over the years, and so what if he was influenced by Jimi Hendrix, so were thousands of other guitarists, including the ones mentioned above! Even the great blues guitarist Buddy Guy said he was influenced by Jimi's playing, and said Jimi was doing things on the guitar that to this day no guitar player has figured out how he made certain sounds, and noboby has come close to duplicating that sound! Trower I don't believe "copied" Jimi's overall sound, just a similarity, but he was a huge fan, but Trower's style is not EXACTLY like Jimi Hendrix, and nobody's style is the same as Jimi's, never will there be anyone close in my opinion. I've been playing guitar myself for over 46 years, and I wish I could play half as good as Robin Trower or any of the guitarists I've mentioned.

This collection of songs is very good and covers stuff from all through his years after he left Procol Harum.

Although his debut album in my opinion really didn't have much of the "Hendrix" influenced sound, if you're just getting into Robin Trower, the album/CD to get is without a doubt "Bridge Of Sighs" from 1974, his masterpiece, and absolutely one of the greatest albums of all time, and certainly the best album of 1974!---Glenn Signal Hill, CA USA

DAY OF THE EAGLE: THE BEST OF ROBIN TROWER is a great anthology of Robin Trower's work from 1973 to 1980. However, it should be purchased with BRIDGE OF SIGHS and THE ESSENTIAL ROBIN TROWER, because both of those have the studio version of "Too Rolling Stoned", whereas this one has a live version. The comparisons to Jimi Hendrix are totally unwarranted, because NOBODY could clone Jimi, and Robin was, and is, a great guitarist in his own right. Despite a few missteps (where's "Twice Removed From Yesterday"?), this anthology deserves five stars.

This was a perfect walk on memory lane! I'd almost forgotten how much I loved Robin Trower's silvery, ethereal guitar and James Dewar's golden-throated, soulful voice. Day of the Eagle has many of the iconic Trower songs, and I listened to it several times, then loaded it on my mp3 player for any time I need a "fix". No other guitar player today has the same sound; Robin Trower is truly an original. A must-have for all Trower fans and those who love guitar legends.

This is an excellent collection of Robin Trower tunes. Next to 'Too Rolling Stoned', 'Day of the Eagle' is one of the greatest Trower songs ever recorded. The remaster on it makes it the ultimate version. 'Alethea' is a text book on the wah wah - the live version here even includes the drum solo. I remember hearing 'Bridge of Sighs' for the 1st time - wondering how he got the magical guitar sound (swirling univibe). Take a Fast Train was the B side of Man of a world now available for the 1st time. Of course for the die hard fans, there is always discussion of songs that should have been included that were left out. I only give it a 4 because they left off a few my favs - live versions of 'Lady Love', 'Little bit of Symphathy', and 'Rock me Baby' to name a couple. But just go get the Robin Trower LIVE cd and you will have all of those great tunes. For those who do not have all of Robin Trowers cd's (shame on you...), this is a great place to start. So get this one NOW- then buy all his other stuff. He is a legend you know!

I love Robin Trower. He's my favorite guitarist of all time. But this compilation does a very poor job of representing this master of the Stratocaster. I give it three stars for the simple fact that it's Trower (and 70's Trower to boot), but this collection leaves out critical cuts in favor of much less important material.

None of the following are included:
Twice Removed From Yesterday
The Fool And Me
Little Bit Of Sympathy
Lady Love (preferably the live version)
Shame The Devil
A Fine Day
Messin' The Blues
Further On Up The Road (which has my favorite Trower solo ever)
Into The Flame

Not to mention the lack of anything after 1980 (including some fine work with Jack Bruce).

Any of the above songs is more worthy of inclusion on a greatest hits collection than the following weaker cuts:
Man Of The World
It's About To Begin
In City Dreams
Caravan To Midnight

At this point, Robin really deserves a TWO-disc "best of" set. It seems impossible to limit his greatness to just one CD.

So, to repeat myself somewhat, this collection misses several key tracks, includes several weaker tracks, and overall seems a little pointless given the existence of a much better collection, "The Essential Robin Trower."

Besides - everyone ought to know by now that the best possible introduction to Robin Trower is the Bridge of Sighs album, or perhaps (for those who especially enjoy live recordings) the 1975 classic, "Live".

I originally bought this for "Bridge of Sighs", an old rememberance from long ago.
I found some other songs that I didn't remember at all and was quite pleased to have found them. I played the CD pretty much non stop in my vehicle for 3 weeks.
Unfortunate that the lead singer, James Dewar is gone. It puts a lot of the work in a different light. Some real Bluesey tunes on there.

Not the best selection of his music but expected for the price I suppose.
Am not really happy with it at all.

Robin Trower is one of the finest guitars of all time and this compilations contains some of his best songs,Buy this with BRIDGE OF SIGHS.

This is a great disc.
I think everyone should have this in
their Music collection.