For Earth Below (50th Anniversary Edition) by Robin Trower
Release date: June 27, 2025Label: Chrysalis Records
Robin Trower had made a name for himself for being a part of the quintessential psychedelic/progressive rock group Procol Harum from 1967 to 1971. After the band released their fifth studio album Broken Barricades, Trower left the group to embark on a solo career to prove that he was more than just a band member, more than just the hit single ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, followed by the classics including ‘In Held ‘Twas in I’, ‘A Salty Dog’, ‘Conquistador’, ‘The Devil Came from Kansas’, and ‘Homburg’.
He launched his own band which consisted the late James Dewar (Stone the Crows) on bass guitar and lead vocals, and Reg Isidore on drums. The Robin Trower band unleashed two studio albums with Procol alumni Matthew Fisher lending in the production levels from 1973 (Twice Removed from Yesterday) to 1974 (Bridge of Sighs). But with the release of their next album, For Earth Below, which was their follow-up to Bridge of Sighs, it almost fell apart.
Originally released on the Chrysalis label in February of 1975 and reissued in a 4-CD set which consists of the original stereo mix, Richard Whittaker’s 2025 mix, BBC Session with Brian Matthew, Rarities, Outtakes, and a live recording at the Shrine Auditorium and the Expo Hall in Los Angeles on March 16th, 1975. For Earth Below remains one of Trower’s opuses as a solo artist. It built upon his previous first two albums while For Earth Below reached number 5 on the Billboard charts.
Back to the story, according to David Sinclair’s liner notes, the success behind Bridge of Sighs became too much for Isidore to handle. There was tension between him and Dewar during the tour. So, the only way to handle the situation was for Reg to leave the band and enter new drummer Bill Lordan.
Fresh from his work between Gypsy, The Mystics, and Sly and the Family Stone, Lordan brought passion and power to the three-piece before the Below album was recorded. He brings a lot of passion, a lot of attitudes, and a lot of amazement into his playing that is evidential on the third album. The new mixes on the second disc brings clarity and new life into For Earth Below.
From the moment the cowbells, wah-wah guitar riffs, and Dewar’s soulful vocals bring to life on ‘Shame the Devil’ kick in, you know this isn’t just a heavy blues rock album, this is an album that needs no introduction. When hearing this track, you almost imagine Paul Rodgers taking over the vocals on this album and continuing where the roots of Free and Bad Company had left off. It’s rich, warm, and more hypnotic in the new mixes.
Once Trower goes into his tribute to Hendrix by continuing where he left off on ‘Songs from a Dreamer’, he lays down that layered groove that honours not just his hero, but David Gilmour’s approach into his arrangements to add that spacey vibration in the reverbs on ‘It’s Only Money’. Trower himself has done his research to honour the two guitarists and the blues, right to the bone.
Then, it is time to bring out the heavy artillery with a fiery crossover between KISS’ ‘New York Groove’ and Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstitious’ as Trower lays down the wah-wah orientation that would have made Joe Walsh bow down to the guitar god himself with some heavy clavinet to throw into the mix while the live version gets audience’s up on their feet, cheering them on for the venue to mind-blowing results on ‘Confessin’ Midnight’.
However, the BBC session take on ‘Gonna Be More Suspicious’ on January 28, 1975, adds in the full power that gets the energy juice pumping out more incredible results with revved-up versions such as ‘Fine Day’ and ‘Alethea’ recorded for the concert series the next day on January 29th. The rough recording of the 17-minute jam session recorded back in September of 1974, sees the Trower band, going through some heavy progressive orientation which proved that Robin was more than just a blues guitarist.
Hearing Trower’s solo work for the first time, it proved to me that I need to go back and discover his first two albums to see what I’ve been missing. The power, the energy, the electricity, it is all there when it comes to his third solo album. And with all of the ingredients that’s added on here, the reissue itself will get you in the door and look at the creation Robin has brought forward.
If you’re very new to Robin’s work, this is a head start to see and hear on what you’ve been missing.
