Robin Trower
Earth Jams 74
London
Sept 74

Preparations for For Earth Below album and tour

Lineage: portable tapedeck > unknown transfer CDR > to flac > me >you

1. Jazz-Rock Fusion Instrumental (with Matthew Fisher on keyboards) 2. Slow Keyboard Blues-Jazz Instrumental (w/ Fisher on keyboards) 3. Fast Tempo Guitar Jam Instrumental 4. Lady Love Instrumental Jam 5. I Can't Wait Much Longer Instrumental Jam 6. Bass-Drum Instrumental Workout 7. Hendrix-styled Slow Instrumental 8. Guitar-Drum Instrumental Workout 9. Twice Removed From Yesterday Instrumental Jam

1. Gonna Be Suspicious Intro Instrumental   2. Gonna Be Suspicious Early Version Instrumental Jam   3. Hendrix-styled Wah-Wah Slow Mood Instrumental   4. Guitar Shuffle Instrumental   5. Slow, Moody Jazzy Guitar Instrumental   6. Slow Univibe Mood Instrumental #1   7. Fine Day Instrumental Jam #1   8. Funk-Rhythm Instrumental Workout   9. Funky Guitar Tempo Instrumental Workout #1 10. Funky Guitar Tempo Instrumental Workout #2 11. Slow Univibe Mood Instrumental #2 12. Fine Day Instrumental Jam #2 13. Fine Day Instrumental Jam #3 14. R&B Instrumental #1 15. R&B Instrumental #1 16. Fine Day Instrumental Jam #4 17. Fine Day Instrumental Jam #5 18. Fine Day Early Rough Vocal Run Through

return

After Robin Trower finished up his UK dates in mid-August 1974, in support of Bridge of Sighs, he fired drummer Reg Isidore. Trower and bassist/vocalist James Dewar then flew to Los Angeles to audition new drummers. Trower had decided he wanted an American drummer with a distinctively American feel. After auditioning several drummers, Trower got a call from Bill Lordan, formerly of Sly Stone's band. Trower later told an interviewer that Lordan phoned him up and boasted that he was the best man for the job and to look no further. Lordan more than backed up this bold claim during his audition and immediately clinched the gig.

In September 1974, Trower, Dewar, Lordan, and producer Matthew Fisher (keyboardist in Trower's old band, Procol Harum) assembled in London and rented a church to rehearse in and jam. The London rehearsals were designed to work out a new sound for the band, to help the new lineup gel, and to firm up ideas for their third album, For Earth Below, which Fisher was producing.

In a very informative interview posted at Steve's Place (an excellent Trower website BTW), Trower drummer Bill Lordan recalls: "I went to England in September of 1974 to start rehearsals . .  the rehearsals were in an old Victorian Church in London. It wasn't an abandoned church, but it wasn't being used for services. It had a great acoustical sound for us. After rehearsing for a few weeks, we returned to Los Angeles to start recording For Earth Below at The Record Plant [Hollywood], with Matthew Fisher producing. We cut the album and it seems like we went right on tour and I remember that the first gig was in Rochester, NY, November 4th, 1974." For Earth Below was released in February 1975.

All of the material here comes from those September 1974, jams and rehearsal sessions at the old Victorian church in London. None of these are studio outtakes or different mixes from the album. All of the numbers here are jams and rehearsals. They were recorded on a portable machine in the rehearsal room, and are not professional studio tracks. These numbers have a rough, jam feel. This material is very special because it shows us a view of the Trower band that few have ever seen. Included are great jazz-rock fusion jams. These present a very unusual side of Trower. Matthew Fisher even joins in and plays keyboards on several of these wonderful jazz-rock and jazz-blues jams.

In this material, we get the treat of listening to the band's creative process, as they work out ideas and experiment, doing some old numbers from the first two albums and working out new ideas for their third album. We also here the newly formed lineup having fun and letting go in a rehearsal room. Trower's guitar work is fabulous. The quality is excellent but remember, this was done on a portable tape machine. This material comes from a very clean, low-gen tape of those jams.