DOORS 6:30PM • SHOWTIME 7:30PM
Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre • Basie Center Campus • 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank
Following his departure from 1960’s baroque rockers Procol Harum, the exceptionally gifted guitarist Robin Trower set sail on forging a solo career and in doing so assembled a new band bringing in James Dewar on vocal and bass duty, and Reg Isidore on drums. The new power trio set the tone on Robin’s 1973 debut solo LP Twice Removed From Yesterday, but it was the follow up, 1974’s Bridge of Sighs that would catapult Trower into an international guitar hero.
Recorded in just over 2 weeks at Olympic and Air studios in London under the auspices of Trower’s former Procol bandmate, producer Matthew Fisher, Bridge of Sighs also benefited greatly from the presence of famed Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick who brought with him a whole array of recording techniques that greatly inspired Trower. “He came up with a way of recording the guitar I don’t think had been done before,” Trower says. “It was a big room and he had one mic in close, one mic set in the middle distance, and one mic set fifteen feet away to get the sound of the room. That was a very big factor in how the song and the whole album sounds.”
Bridge of Sighs is a titanic sounding rock album featuring some truly mesmerising guitar from Trower. The title track and gems such as ‘Day of the Eagle’, ‘Too Rolling Stoned’, ‘In This Place’ and ‘Little Bit of Sympathy’ and the exquisite ‘Lady Love’ are outstanding numbers with Trower’s guitar playing right up there with the most celebrated guitar gods of the era. Toto’s Steve Lukather observes ““In 1974, I got the album Bridge of Sighs and it blew my mind. I was devouring everything guitar based as I was an up-and coming player, and the sound of Robin’s guitar hit my soul. The tone-touch and feel was so incredible”.
Critically applauded upon release, Bridge of Sighs became a radio staple in the US, where the album reached No. 7, and helped establish Trower as one of the big touring attractions of the mid-‘70s.
50 years later, the recordings have been newly mixed from the original tapes, with an unedited stereo mix being revealed for the first time. Chrysalis are proud to present the most expansive version of the album to date. On the CD edition, disc 2 features the original album, remastered from the tape transfers. Disc 2 has the 2024 Stereo Mix along with a selection of outtakes and rarities never heard before and USA radio spots. On Disc 3, you can hear the trio performing at The Record Plant, Sausalito, amid a US tour supporting the album, available in its entirety for the first time and newly remastered from the original tape transfers. The final disc is a Blu-ray with all the above plus a newly created stunning Dolby ATMOS mix, 5.1, Stereo album instrumentals and additional outtakes only available here. You have never heard Bridge of Sighs like this before! At the centre of this package is a 24-page booklet featuring newly written liner notes by David Sinclair, newly conducted interviews with Robin Trower and Matthew Fisher and testimonials by Bryan Ferry, Robert Fripp, Steve Lukather, Clive Bunker, Andy Parker and album cover designer Paul Olsen, all alongside previously unseen photographs.
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