Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
You either continue to strive for the elusive and the passion, or you stop in your tracks and look around you and wonder where it all went, that the blessed talent you were born with somehow just disappeared one night and left you bereft of reason, to be, to do, to see anything but ice in the rear view mirror where the sun used to reflect a Shine so bright it would be blinding.
Robin Trower continues to set a pace which is nothing short of illuminating and makes the listener giddy with the exuberance of expression, and in what amounts to his sixth studio album since 2019, Shine is an example of tenacious brilliance that captures exactly the sense of Rock/Blues drama and ferocity of cool that the former Procol Harum guitarist has always strived for.
Robin Trower explains it perfectly, “I think you’ve either got to keep pushing – or give up.” It is in this position of self-assured intent that the album, its lyrical prose, it search for meaning in a world that seems to lose its mind at a drop of a hat, its reasoning as a confident memory, and across tracks such as the opener The Missing Piece, Love By Any Other Name Drive On Through, Without You, and the album title’s central piece of Shine, exemplifies the energy and motivation that such musical vitality demands.
Self-assurance is a must when others insist on lethargy, the audience’s own desire should always be rewarded, never left to be seen as something to be voluntary unearned; and throughout the whole album Robin Trower pays with earnest respect to those who have urged him onwards, that have maintained that human impulse to reach out and be more than satisfied with life, because the moment you are satisfied you may as well make peace with inertia.
Shine once more exposes the artist to the world and in all it bountiful glory, and there are few that unburdens their soul and finds beauty in return as Robin Trower.
Robin Trower releases Shine on September 25th via Provogue/Artone Label Group.
Ian D. Hall