Robin Trower On Tour Through July 19

Deluxe edition of 1975’s For Earth Below out now

July 6, 2025July 6, 2025 Ron Hart 0 Comments 50th anniversary, Bridge of Sighs, Chrysalis Records, For Earth Below, Robin Trower

You still have a couple of weeks left to catch English guitar legend Robin Trower on tour in the United States.

His current trek, which winds down with a trio of dates in Missouri, ends on July 19 at The Factory in Chesterfield. The present incarnation of his ubiquitous trio features Richard Watts on bass and vocals and drummer Chris Taggart, providing a powerful backbone for the incomparable axe icon, who turned 80 in March. See tour dates below.

Yet while the tour is in motion largely as a means to promote Robin’s new studio album, Come and Find Me, which was released earlier this year on Provogue Records, Trower has also released a deluxe edition of his seminal third LP For Earth Below for its 50th anniversary.

Originally released in Feb. of ‘75, For Earth Below found Trower in flux with the departure of drummer Reg Isadore and the addition of Bill Lordan, fresh off providing the groove for Sly Stone’s unsung classic Small Talk. His recruitment and experience in funk and soul music no doubt gave Trower and singer/bassist James Dewar a whole new sonic paradigm shift.

“Robin, James and I had a magical chemistry instantly,” Lordan said. “It was like we had always played together and the music just flowed naturally. I always wanted to play with a blues-rock three-piece band. It gave me the opportunity to play more like a rock drummer than my previous career with R&B and soul bands. I got to play all the drum licks that I would have played with Jimi Hendrix [laughs].”

Robin Trower For Earth Below, Chrysalis Records 1975

Though it was overshadowed by its acclaimed predecessor, 1974’s Bridge Of Sighs, the time has come to see For Earth Below enjoy a reassessment. And this four-disc box set delivers a most comprehensive look into this period for the guitarist.

This 50th Anniversary Edition, which is out now on Chrysalis Records, features two versions of the album itself: A revamped original mix, newly remastered at AIR studios, as well as a freshly discovered stereo mix that immerses you into the musicianship it’s as though you are in the room with them.

A third disc collects a cache of vocal outtakes and instrumental jams from the album session along with a pair of appearances on the BBC, most notably a Jan. 28, 1975 episode of Top of the Pops with Brian Matthew that includes blistering takes on such Earth highlights as “Fine Day,” “Confessin’ Midnight” and “It’s Only Money.”

The white elephant of this set, however, is the fourth CD, which houses a previously unreleased concert from March 16, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, where Trower, Dewar and Lordan brought the house down at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall. During this 13-song set, you can clearly hear why Trower was a bastion of the mid-70s radio rock as the trio tears through much of For Earth Below interspersed with material from Bridge Of Sighs like the “Day of the Eagle,” “Too Rolling Stoned” and the mesmerizing title cut.

For Earth Below, admittedly, is not one of Trower’s faves from his solo catalog.

“There are quite a few of my albums that I prefer, that I’m prouder of,” he tells music journalist David Sinclair in the liner notes to the box set. “It’s great that you like it so much. You make albums hoping that somebody is going to think it’s great. And I do think there’s some great tracks on it: ‘Gonna Be More Suspicious,’ ‘Shame the Devil’ and the title track ‘For Earth Below’ I really love. It’s a song I did live for many years that I used to love playing.”

But as a fan of Robin Trower and his catalog, this 50th Anniversary Edition of Earth will give you a newfound appreciation for this most underrated recording.