Another Robin Files Solo

Pug faced Robin Trower does not look like a rock and roll star until he gets up on stage. There, joined by bassist-vocalist James Dewar and drummer Reg Isidore, he grips his battlescarred guitar, squints his equally battle-scarred face and lets loose with some of the densest, distorted licks heard since Jimi Hendrix first set the world (and his guitar) on fire in Monterrey during psychedelia’s embryonic years. Standing almost awkwardly in the middle of New York’s Felt Forum, former Procol Harum member Trower sends his newfound audience into throes of soulful ecstasy as he launches into tunes from his two existing LPs, Bridge of Sighs and Twice Removed From Yesterday. The set ends with a thunderous chord, the audience goes bonkers and Robin and company slip off into the night.

Later, slumped in a hotel room, the decidedly un-foppish Britisher marvels over his newly acquired popularity. “It wasn’t always like this,” he muses.