In Conversation With Colin: Robin Trower

Robin Trower is one of the most justly-acclaimed of British Rock music’s elder statesmen, he releases his latest album entitled Come And Find Me on May 16th 2025.

The unassuming Robin Trower has, over the past fifty years since his departure from Procol Harum, assembled an incredible body of work, from his commercial high water mark with the epochal Bridge of Sighs album in 1974, through to his latest offering Come And Find Me. His music has never attempted to make concessions to commercial demands, and his improvisational skills have consistently raised the bar in terms of blues-soaked inspiration and intensity. Trower remains one of the most talented musicians that the UK has ever produced.

Colin Palmer sat down with Robin for Newport City Radio’s ‘Rock Vault’ and chatted to him about songs from his brand new album and also his previous Joyful Sky with powerhouse vocalist Sari Schorr.

Robin Trower spent the early 60’s playing guitar in various London based bands, the most successful one being The Paramounts. They specialized in mostly covers, but managed to issue several singles between 1963 and 1965 and were a favourite band of the Rolling Stones. It wasn’t until 1967 that Trower received his big break when he joined Procol Harum. Trower was a member of Procol Harum until 1972.

Trower released his solo debut, Twice Removed From Yesterday in 1973. The album barely left a dent in the charts, but that would rapidly change with his next release, 1974’s Bridge of Sighs. The album skyrocketed into the top ten and sold a million and a half copies, it still sells 15,000 copies a year worldwide even to this day.

Although Bridge of Sighs was to be his most popular solo release, Trower’s stock continued to rise throughout the mid 1970’s, as he became an arena headliner on the strength of such hit albums as For Earth Below, Robin Trower Live and Long Misty Days, plus 1977’s In City Dreams. Further releases followed in the 80’s, and a brief union with ex-Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce spawned a pair of releases, B.L.T. and Truce before Trower returned back to his solo career.

During the early 90’s,Trower returned back to Procol Harum for a brief reunion for Prodigal Stranger, before backing Bryan Ferry on a few releases – 1993’s Taxi and 1994’s Mamouna, for which Trower earned a co-producer credit. The rest of the decade saw Robin consistently touring the USA with his power trio.

Robin Trower is a consummate musician who is still perfecting his craft into his eighth decade on earth. He is a master at what he does and refuses to rest on his laurels. Here Robin talks about some of his favourite songs from his last two albums Joyful Sky and Come And Find Me:

Songs from Come And Find Me:

A Little Bit Of Freedom. “I chose A Little Bit Of Freedom to be the opening track on the album for two reasons. I liked the subject that the lyric is talking about which is that I think we’re being over nanny-stated. There’s too much of a nanny state going

on where so many rules and red tape it’s making it hard to think freely anymore. But the main reason I like that is because it’s funky.”

Tangled Love. “This is one of my favourite tracks on the album. I came across Jess because her band was opening up for us last year when we were touring the UK and I just thought to myself if I get a chance I’m going to try and use Jess on a song. I tried her on Tangled Love and fantastic, she’s really great. On this album I’ve taken more time on every track, I think I’ve just put a little bit more thought and work on it.”

Come And Find Me. “The middle solo I actually did that three different times just trying to find exactly the right tone for that. Its things like that, just taking extra, extra time and pushing it until it really hurts basically. I build tracks up, I come in with a guitar arrangement and then put that down to computer drums and build it up from there, I’ll put the bass part on and then put the guide vocal on it and build it up gradually and get the guys in, Chris Taggart comes in and does the drums. When the backing track is more or less there we get Richard Watts to come in and sing it or whoever is going to do the vocals. It’s kind of long winded but the end product is that I get everything exactly how I want it and I’m always much happier with how it finishes up.”

Time Stood Still.

“This is in actual fact a song I recorded and finished it must be four or five years ago and I always loved it but I could never fit it into the two albums that have passed since then. It didn’t suit the one I did with Sari because it had Richard on it, it’s such a beautiful vocal actually from Richard on that and it’s one of the reasons I love it. I’m chuffed that it’s on this new album because it’s a song that I’ve always loved.”

One Go Round. “My favourite track on the album is One Go Round. I really love it because I think it’s one of the few tracks that shows off my Howlin’ Wolf influences. The other reason I like it is because I get to free-form the lead guitar on it and I really love doing that, it’s just a very natural feeling piece of music altogether.”

Songs from Joyful Sky (with Sari Schorr):

“It was great fun to do because it was something a bit different for me, I had to arrange music in her keys as it were, and Sari has a fantastic range there’s no doubt about it but I put the songs in keys where I liked the sound of her voice and she was great to go along with that. She’s a dynamite vocalist so it was a lot of fun.”

I’ll Be Moving On. “My favourite track and I think that’s the most successful one on there for me. Some of the songs on that album I had already written and then adapted for Sari, ‘I’ll Be Moving On’ is one I actually wrote with her in mind and it’s just got such a lovely vibe about it and it’s got a very soulful vocal and I think that’s probably why it’s my favourite on there. I do love Burn the opening track and the other great song on there, and I feel one of the best songs I’ve ever written is the title track Joyful Sky.”

Burn. “That’s a song that I had already recorded with Richard doing the vocals and I thought it would be interesting to adapt it and change the key and everything to suit Sari and I think it just turned out great, really excellent. Wonderful performances all around from everybody. Sari came in well prepared and it didn’t take much to get a master vocal from her.”

Joyful Sky. “I love the title track, I think it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever written, it’s got a great mood about it and I like what the lyric is saying as well. It’s sort of going through problems in the world and it ends on a very upbeat sentiment as it were so all round I really love that song. I think it’s quite a thoughtful song so obviously I was at the time maybe concerned about things that were going on in the world, but I think that’s pretty much a constant with me. That concern does feed into a lot of lyrics that I write but what I like about Joyful Sky is that it ends on a joyful feeling to it.”

Bonus Song from Bridge Of Sighs:

Day Of The Eagle. “I love to play it live, people love it and it’s still as potent today for me as when we first recorded it. The song has a fantastic guitar riff and I think that’s the underlying strength of it and quite an exciting track to play with very good energy to it and people still like to hear it there’s no doubt about that.”

Colin Palmer

Excerpts of this interview were broadcast on ‘The Rock Vault