Trower & Bruce

[uwe]

Nothing new or exciting about this, but it's well-done and tasteful, they are genuinely enjoying themselves too. And Trower's hendrixy (I know he's tired of hearing that) guitar complements Bruce's work perhaps even better than Clapton's style of today does (I know it's popular to knock Clapton for everything post-Cream or at least post-Layla here, but I'm not among those, he could have made bucketloads of money heading a power trio in the seventies, but chose the bluesy songwriter route which was not that commercial at the time).

Bruce sings his quirky, hardly commercial vocal melodies extremely well on this.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgidBkqP4SM&feature=player_embedded#

[Barklessdog]

He still is using his EB-1 1

I thought he would have only used it for the Cream reunion.

[uwe]

He's been playing that for a while. It started when he played with Ringo's All-Star(r) circus and wanted a Beatlish-looking bass, but did not like the Höfner.

[Barklessdog]

I never liked his fretless Warwick tone much.

[sniper]

looks like he is using the old Bakelite pup with a Schaller 460 

[gweimer]

Very cool.  I'm still wondering why Bruce is using Hartke amps.  I don't really care for them myself.  He's looking REALLY old these days.  It's gonna be a sad day when his time comes.  And I agree with Uwe.  Clapton did what he wanted, never left the blues behind, and people have shown that they loved what he did all along the way.

[Dave W]

Hopefully the liver he got a few years ago will keep him around longer.

[uwe]

I actually think he looks a lot better than at the Cream reunion.

I don't think that Bruce's sound is affected much by either what instrument he plays or what amplification he uses. He sounds middish with mellow distortion on anything he plays, vintage short scale or battery powered state-of-the-art long scale. Combining a "clean" Hartke rig with an ultra-vintage sound EB-1 sounds weird, but makes sense. You may like or dislike Hartke (I'm ok with the alu cone sound, don't find it too sharp, just very clear and true to the individual bass' sound), but they prevent Bruce from sounding too muddy as he undoubtedly would with an all-tube amp and larger speakers. I distinctly hear an EB-1 sound here, largely untainted by the Hartke rig which to me is pretty neutral sounding. I've never owned one and I hate those graphic equalizers, but when I last had to play one at an audition it took me ten seconds to get the sound out of it I wanted.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Dinosaur Rock is alive & well!!! 

[Grog]

This reminded me of an old album I picked up used years ago. It's from 1981 "BLT" (Bruce Lordan & Trower).
Is this the first time they've played together since BLT?

[Freuds_Cat]

I have that album Grog, and play it regularly. IMHO its a well above average album.

[Grog]

I just purchased it on CD, found it on ebay. It's a double album. The second album is a group called TRUCE, Trower Bruce & Isidore? Never heard of this one. Another album I never thought I'd see on CD!

[Freuds_Cat]

I have transfered BLT from the LP so I can play it in the car but that Package looks tempting. How does the TBI album compare?

[uwe]

I never heard the first two which are a while back but the clip is from the tour of the more recent one "Seven Moons" which has also spawned a live album. It's music you have to listen for a while because Bruce's vocal melodies are not immediately accessible, but it grows on you and sounds nicely organic. And fuller than modern day Cream (again not knocking Clapton who has just moved on from his power trio sound of yore and did not rejuvenate it for the reunion).

[Grog]

I've never heared the TBI album, I can let you know when it comes. The people that reviewed it, didn't like it as well as BLT. Another album that I liked, was BBM. Bruce Baker & Moore. Gary Moore was a good fit for that power trio sound. I think it was recorded about 1995.