comhllinen'ts for radio chm.

Robin Troweré‘Bridge ‘* of Sighs’

With this being the last issue of the Cadre for 1974 I thought I'd review an al- bum that was one of the

best releases of 1974. As— ide form being one of the most popular records on the UPEI campus, "Bridge of Sighs" by Robin Trower also spent over 10 weeks in RMP's 'Top Ten Albums' in canada and is correctly numbered

56 of the RPM charts. The album, originally released in April, was extensively played on CIMN during the' summer and was the station's most popular album during that time period.

The group is a soulful power trio consisting of Robin Trower on guitar, Jim Dewar, bass and lead vocals, and Reg Isadoreion drums. Trower is known for his work on the early Procal Harum albums,‘Jim Dewar played bass for the English rock band Stone the Crows.

The group sounds much like the early Jimi Hendrix} Experience only with a more mellow feeling; almost a soulful Cream. Robin Trower admits that he was greatly

influenced by Hendrix, and his guitar riffl are as ex— citing as anything heard since the death of Hendrix. Jim Dewar compliments Trowe ers wailing guitar with a thunderous bass adn very deep, woulful Vocals, after, several listenings, Dewar emerges as the strenght

of the group. Without him,

'In this

the group would be fust an-

‘other high voltage rock

band. Trowers' whining- scorching and drifting leads are tastefully sweetening when added on top of Dewars' bass lines and vocals.

As for drummer Reg Isidore, a recent review of a live performance said that "he drums like a man possessed" Imagine the 3 instruments commected to one brain,

then you can get an idea of the tightness of the Robin Trower Group.-

The album begins with

"Day of the Eagle," a

hard charging rock number with a strong bass, mainical drumming, quick vocals and burning guitar. Towards

the song's end , the 'group suddenly slows the beat into a mellow blues line that fades to the end of the song. Simply incred— ible. But better things

vare still to come. Title cut

"Bridge of Sighs" is a slow song with a haunting, mys- tical quality. The song makes you feel as thought it was written and recorded in the mountains of Tibet, or some far away enchanted place.

“Cold winds blow, and gods

looked down - in anger on this poor child.

why so unforgiving, and why so cold,

been a long time crossing bridge of sighs.”

place" is a slow

bluesy love song that f0]—

' L - ' . W L .. MacLaughlins-The Hete: in our last article, we mentioned that Captain ﬁubmarine did-not want a review. We have since heard~ .from the manager that this ,was a mistake due to a comm— unications gap. As we did

not see the manager directly in our three attempts to-

Secure permission to do the '

review, the onus is partly

Upon us. Since, however, we did request strongly that the staff secure a direct 0Pinion from the managerf. upon this; the blame is not totally“é”£sl"’**

a,

'

“ nun- mu...“

Best M [It

For a change of pace from the snack places, we went to MacLaughlins Motel to sample their well-known ” Island cooking. The first impression we received

was that of the strong Scot- ' tish motif which is the theme

of the Rowan Room where we ate. The eating area is divided into two sections, the other area being the Stanhope room which was done in Maritime sea style app- ropriately/distinguished by an Island mural.

For our meal we chose the.

pork chop dinner which in- Wmﬁ.’ .3" «533‘? .-‘ ~‘ -‘ h ’a‘

The Cadre, Tues. Dec,3,197h, page ll

THE BIG 700 I radio GIMN '

lows, containing some sweet "Jeff Beck style" guitar, a strong vocal performance, and some beautiful search— ing lyrics. ” In this place, full of

‘ empty space,

‘you soft and tender love\

will always shine for me.

’I love you.

Now I know, what it means to have you gone,

l'mdown on my knees baby

see by me, I need you." " The fool and me," which. closes side 1, focuses on Robin Trower in another straight ahead rocker. Trower cuts loose with some Jimi Hendrix guitar, runs that flow with a continuous sharp edge.

Side 2 opens with "Two

'Rolling Stoned" and this is

bassiSt Fim Dewar's master— piece. He lays the founda- tion with a loud,punchy bass» line and amazingly strong ' vocals. Toward the song's end, Trower comes in over Dewar's bass and delivers

a guitar solo that is stand— ard stuff only to an incred- ible talent like Hendrix; and Trower. The background

cludes roll, buiscuit, salad or juice or soup, desert and beverage. We had also the Ocean Salad plate with lob- ster, shrimp and salmon with roll, buiscuit, salad, and beverage. These we must say were the best meals we have eaten to date. What we found though to enhance this exeellent food was that almt_t everything was home— made. Even the pickles which we found to be very tasty were made by "Harry's" sister. ‘

Another facet of the Mac Laughlin establishment we liked so much was highly efficient and extremely personable staff. How nice it is to be served by some" one who seems to actually care if yOu enjoyed the meal or not.

9n top of all this the prices were quite reasonable and well within the range

pisses smash. do. ... . ,

u'. .A

noise suggests that the

'studio tape was left running

and the band decided to jam for a while. If that was the case, engineer Geoff Emerick deserves a round of applause. "About to Begin" is a very slow very mooky, blues number

' Dewar shows great vocal

range here. Very mellow, very nice. "Lady Love is . fast and catchy. It should have been released as a singly. Drummer Isidore is more in the limelight here but still does not steal the lightening from Robin Trower. This is a definite album highlight. "Little bit,of Sympathy" ends it all with the usual mixture of strong bass and drums and exciting lead guitar runs, Trower owns this song; his guitar licks dominate from start to finish.

If the Robin Trower group's next album is any better than "Bridge of Sighs" (or the first album "Twice Removed from Yester— day") they had better fas— ter their seat belts. Robin TROwer has'arrived, and they are about to skyrocket.

Kip Puiia

note however that MacLaugh— lins is open from 7 A{M. to 8 P.M. so that anyone

* planning to eat there should

plan for perhaps dinner or supper.

A point of interest if we may include it, is the clan map of Scotland which hangs in the Rowan room. As it has a number of the Scottish tartans listed, there's a chance your's is there.

ﬂ On the whole we found MacLaughlins to have the best food yet and with the great service we thoroughly recommend it.

Due to exams this will be our last article and we hope that you have enjoyed reading it as we have writ- ing it. To those who have disagreed with us, disagree- ment is the spice of life and we look forward to any suggestions for next term. We'll be back next half.

, Take care.