TRUCE (WITH ROBIN TROWER)

A collaboration -- in fact one of the four collaborative albums -- of two legendary musicians rooted in legendary late 60's bands that hardly need an introduction. They are joined here by drummer Reg Isidore who was Trower's regular sideman together with vocalist-bassist James Dewar. Both Trower and Bruce have made a large solo career surpassing their former bands in quantity if not in appeal.

Blues-rock is not the kind of music that I listen. Obviously I'm not among the target audience for this album: frankly it's really boring to me. Plain old-school bluesy rock with hard rock, soul and funk elements. The reviewer in All Music Guide is very positive and even makes a conclusion that this album "ought to have been on the to-buy list of any fans of Cream, Procol Harum, or most any of the early metal bands of the '70s (e.g., Mountain)". I strongly disagree, especially for the Procol Harum part. Yes, guitarist Robin Trower played in PROCOL HARUM from the beginning to the year 1971 (and also on two of their comeback albums), but the important proto-prog band had both a pianist and an organist, and the guitar-oriented blues-rock was only one side of their eclectic approach in the early days -- and the least interesting if you ask me. When speaking of Trower, he's often mentioned as one of the inheritors of Jimi Hendrix's musical legacy. As for CREAM in which vocalist-bassist Jack Bruce was the main songwriter, well, that band has never been very important to me, but I'd rather listen to their vintage late 60's classics than this bore.

This album recorded in two days is quite short, a bit over half an hour, and contains nine songs. Most of them are pretty much similar to each other and have next to nothing to interest me as compositions or as performances. Two songs I find quite nice though. 'Take Good Care of Yourself' is more emotional as it is in a slower tempo, and it also features more audibly Bruce's organ playing than the album in general. By far the best track in my opinion is the slow, atmospheric and relatively mellow 'Shadows Touching' that sonically leans towards keyboards unlike the majority of the album.

Sad to say but Trower's guitar work throughout the album is terribly unvaried, and since the vocals dominate the songs there's not much of soloing either. So, unless you happen to be fond of blues-rock and are a fan of these musicians already, I daresay you won't find much to enjoy here.