AMG Review of Tale Untold: The Chrysalis Years 1973-1976

Hal Horowitz
All Music Guide

Only half the name to this 2011 collection rings true. The words "A Tale Untold," also a Robin Trower song title, imply that this is a set of rare or unreleased music, when actually this is a tale often told. These five albums -- arguably Trower's finest and certainly his most commercially popular -- have remained the nucleus of his fame despite a hefty catalog that has stayed mostly the province of his devoted cult fan base. Following a similarly styled Ten Years After collection, EMI UK has remastered these '70s rock classics and squeezed them onto three CDs, adding a few single edits, one hard to find B side, and even a surprisingly striking unreleased track from 1976's Long Misty Days sessions that really should have been included on that album. Still, like the TYA package, this is a missed opportunity. There are virtually no liner notes, graphics that border on amateurish, and plenty of room for more material. That's especially frustrating because 2007's reissue of Bridge of Sighs features eight bonus tracks recorded live from BBC sessions, none of which appear here. While Trower's official live 1976 release is present, there are no extra performances from that tour, which would have made a logical addition. Otherwise, this is terrific bang for the buck, with the best remastering yet (by acclaimed Abbey Road sound veteran Pete Mew) of this material and a bargain price. Musically, Trower had nailed his blues-based, spacy Hendrix-influenced sound on his astonishingly mature debut and pretty much stayed within those boundaries for the next three years. In singer James Dewar he found a vocalist every bit the equal of Paul Rodgers in terms of soul, dynamics, personality, and sheer lung power. He was equally adept as a convincing blues and soul singer, two aspects of Trower's approach that were as seminal to these songs as the flashy (yet never overly ostentatious), flowing, psychedelic, heavily reverbed guitar work. Hearing the albums together, it's remarkable how solid and consistent the material is over this short yet productive period. The more R&B slant of 1976's underappreciated Long Misty Days with "Caledonia" and "Some Rain Falls" is the equal of anything in the rest of his catalog, and the lovely ballad "I Can't Live Without You" from that set remains a lost R&B gem. This is the cream of Trower's output, and although there were plenty of other quality albums that followed throughout his long and, as of 2011, still active career, these stand as his most impressive and often moving musical statements.