Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
When titans combine, expect earthquakes and seismic activity that turns heads, allows the heart to swell, the mind to expand and feel the appreciation of different generations digging the cause of the art and which can take place as the gods approve as they dance and bless the mood under a Joyful Sky.
To bring together Robin Trower and Sari Schorr is a match suggested in the heavens and created with a sense of unrelenting beauty here on Earth, and the result is an album in which elevates the emotions of the Blues to a place where this unknown feels as though it was always going to be; the kismet, the fate, is a bliss of powers based in trust, commenced in belief, and delivered with resonating thrust
The new album, Joyful Sky, doubles down on the towering reception towards the smoky voice of the New York icon, and there is no doubting that the vocalist brings a herculean presence to Robin Trower’s latest opus.
The British guitar superstar freely admits to being pushed by the dynamic, and that can only be a blessing for the fans who have long considered the former Procol Harum musician one of the finest to have ever plied their trade from the British Isles, for to acknowledge the soaring vocals and demeanour of Ms. Schoor is to understand the depth of appreciation that his soul decrees.
Across tracks such as The Distance, Change It, The Circle Is Complete, the fiercely delivered Flatter To Deceive, the subtly of love for humanity in I Will Always Be Your Shelter, and the album title track of Joyful Sky the underpinning of the rhythm and blues experience to which both artist not only excel, but are leaders, but principal chiefs in their respective arenas.
There is more though to this story, and it is one perhaps founded and grown in the desire to be the magicians, the rebellious organisers who hold their fire to the sky, but unlike the mythic benevolence of Prometheus, they are lauded for bring fire to humanity’s soul, never once damned for it.
The reality is Joyful Sky is a tornado of pleasure, it is the offering of sharing a power that will not be contained and will not be diminished.
Robin Trower releases Joyful Sky on October 27th via Provogue/Mascot Label Group.
Ian D. Hall