THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
Wednesdoy, July 10, 1974
Robin Trower: Fresh
breeze to capacity crowd
By RON LANGDON
To produce a whole album
or a musical set of exciting and
diversified music from only
three instruments and one voice
is quite a challenge in rock
music. To freely admit that one
has taken his inspiration frnm
Jimi Hendrix, and th-t one as-
pires to follow in his form, is
still quite another.
On his second album, Bridge
of Sighs (Chrysalis, 1057), Ron-
in Trower, formally of Procul
Harum, has done a suberb lob
in both these endeavors, but in
concert, unfortunately, his tal-
ent is obscured behind the otnl-
gia of the ultra-decibels.
His LP comes as a fresh
breeze in a music field that is
becoming increasing ove-vown
with technique and engiecciring.
It is a simply composed album
with the emphasis on sound and
economy. In a three niece band
there is no room fsr dead
weight, and there *s none
amongst these mosic-ians:
Trower, on guitar; James De-
war with bass and vocals, and
percussionist Reg Isad sre.
Trower's current American
tour, and this second album, of
which at least four cuts are now
receiving regular airpnly, re-
present a great personal suc-
cess for Trower, who at one
time rode near the 'bak sear
of the old Procul Harum, behiid
Gary Brooker's piano and Mat-
hew Fischer's mournfully roll-
ing organ tones ("A Whiter
Shade of Pale"). When onstage
at that time, Trower assumed
the demeanor of gawky, bean-
pole immobility, devoutly pick-
ing out his then characreistic,
scooping one-line leads that
howled and sighed near hysteria
over Fischer and Brooker's ma-
jestically moribund keyooard
progressions.
It was a different Trower who
came on stage last mon-b in De-
troit to perform for a .aplcity
crowd at the Masonic. The
young audience greeted him as a
hero, cheering ecstactically cod
chanting "Trower Power,' as
he stepped out and smiled, in
his creamy white pants and
Robin Trower
fringed jacket, and situa'ed him-
self between his four colu-n
amplifiers and the wah-wah ned-
dies. He caressed a few prelim-
inary riffs out of his guitar, and
then broke into his opening num-
ber, "Lady Love", his lips
pulsing, and his mouth silently
forming the sounds that his
hands were producing. Siting
in the fourth row, I found the
music painfully loud, sot no-
body else seemed to notice. The
appreciation of the audience was
tumultuous throughout, to a
point that even Trower seemed
a little amazed.
At least in the studio, even
in the earlier years when lack-
ing technique, Trower has al-
ways possessed a sense of mu-
sical discipline; a sense t h at
serves him even better now lbat
he has developed an instrumen-
tal prowess. As best evidenced
in his title cut from "Bridge
. . . he can create a haunt-
ingly rich and meaningful sound,
and then carry it over with the
passion and deliberateness of
one who knows and understands
what he is doing.
That Trower should have fol-
lowed so closely in Hendrix's
path may be disturbing to some.
Perhaps it would be more so
were Hendrix still alive. What I
find phenomenal is the extent to
which Trower has seemingly
carried the essence of Procul
'arum with him in leaving the
group. These lyrics could have
been written by Keith Reid, ex-
cept that they are more concise,
in a blues tradition:
"Cold wind blows/ The gods
look down in anger on
this poor child
God so unforgiving/ And
so cold
Been a long time crossing/
This bridge of sighs."
Similarly, he has put togerser
melodies and progressions on
this album that Brooker and Fis-
cher could be proud of. It is
worth noting that Fischer, who
phased out of the original group
around the time they were put-
ting together Salty Dog, produc-
ed this album for Trower, as
well as his first solo effort,
Twice Removed from Yester-
day.
In short, the form of Trawer's
band and his music resembles
Hendrix, but the feeling and
theme is very much an exten-
sion of the Procul Harum that
he used to be a part Af.
The result is one very fine
album.
Michigan Daily
Arts.
Anthony Newman, Festival
Chorus together at Hill
Anthony Newman, harpsichordist and
organist, and the Festival Chorus of the
University Choral Union, conducted by
Donald Bryant, will give the second con-
cert in Summer Fare -the July Concert
Series at The University of Michigan
at 8:30 p.m. tonight in Hill Auditorium.
The concert is under the auspices of
the Universtiy Musical Society.
Devoted to Bach's keyboard music and
Schubert's songs the program will be:
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by
Bach, played on the Frieze Memorial or-
gan by Newman, followed by three
groups of Schubert songs - songs for
women's voices; "Serenade," "The Lord
is My Shepherd, God in Nature"; songs
for men's voices: "The Gondolier,"
"Clear Night," "Contradiction"; a n d
songs for mixed voices: "Prayer,"
"Chorus of Angels," "God in the Storm,"
and "God the Creator." Newman then
will return to perform on the harpsichord
Preludes and Fugues Nos. 1-7 from The
Well-tempered Clavier, Book II, by Bach,
and then again on the organ, Prelude
and Fugue in E Minor ("The Wedge")
by Bach.
Tickets for this concert only will be
$2.50 general admission. They are avail-
able at the University Musical Society
office in Burton Tower or- at the Hill
"uioru -"o"x acehun"n"" nt 7 "'
Born in Los Angeles 32 yearm: ago,
Newman discovered music at age five
when, he recalls, "Bach just wildly turn-
ed me on." First he studied the piano
then, when his legs grew long er.ough
to reach the pedals, the organ.
After graduating from high school, he
studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger
and Alfred Cortot. Then he retarned to
New York for piano studies with Edith
Oppens. Later, he won first prize for a
solo organ piece in the Nice International
Composition Competition, an M.A. in
composition from Harvard and a doctor-
ate in composition from Boston Univer-
sity in 1967.
That year, Newman made hi, recital
debut at the Carnegie Hall.
Newman teaches at Juilliard and
the State University of New York at
Purchase, has a few private students,
and composes in a style he describes
as a mixture of Luviano Berm,, his one-
time teacher, and Olivier Messiaen. He
is also interested in rock, and plans to
record an album in that medium.
The, Festival Chorus of approximately
100 members chosen from the larger
300-voice University Choral Union was
formed in 1969. It is conducted b,y Donald
Bryant, weho came to Ann Arbor five
years ago'from the post of director of the
Columbus Boy Choir ,which he conduct-
ed for 20 years. The Festival Chorus is
open to students, faculty, and members
of the community by audition. .1