Axe Victim- further reverberations #2
For five years, from 1970 to 1975, guitar shapes were my mirror dance. The raised salute, the floor punch, the spider fingers, the wince, the eyes clamped shut head back abandonment of it all. Then things began to shake my confidence in lead guitarist’s rule. John Mclaughlin in the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Michael Karoli in Can were integral rather than dominant in their playing, they added detail and deft comments, as well as drive and direction. I gradually began to move on from the riff and lick and in the punk purge of 77 shoved them to the very back of my listening wardrobe.
Now years on some guitar music from those times still gets dusted off and re-imagined like well worn vintage shoes. I recognise that the wailing sounds still have a relevance beyond reflections and memories; the power, panache and electricity still tingles.
One record that remains a meaning-maker for me is Robin Trower’s ‘Bridge of Sighs’ (Chrysalis 1974). High brow, low brow, hip, unhip, who cares. This is an elemental enduring statement of three piece blues-rock possibilities. The ex Procol Harum guitarist delivers touches that defy description and those James Dewar vocals just shimmer from some deep epi-centre. The set announces itself with a guitar volley of Shellac proportions (‘Day of the Eagle’) and from then you are just swept along with intensity (‘The Fool and Me’. ‘Too Rolling Stoned’) or rested with swathes of soulful calm (‘Bridge of Sighs’, ‘In this Place’). The closing ‘Little Bit of Sympathy’ howls a lost farewell.
A restorative listen that always rewards immersion and attention….’see by me’.
