How this album stacks up in the overall canon of Robin Trower’s vast legacy is dependent on which side of the fence you sit on, if you’re a blues fan you might rate this quite highly, if you’re a hard rock/melodic rock fan probably less so.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Robin Trower
ALBUM: Victims Of The Fury
LABEL: Chrysalis
SERIAL: CHR-1215
YEAR: 1980
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Robin Trower – guitars * Jim Dewar – vocals, bass * Bill Lordan – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 The Ring * 02 Roads To Freedom * 03 Jack And Jill * 04 None But The Brave * 05 Victims Of The Fury * 06 Only Time * 07 Fly Low * 08 One In A Million * 09 Mad House * 10 Into The Flame
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Over the years English guitarist Robin Trower has released a large volume of work which continues to the current day. But I would suggest that his best work is from his first decade of the 1970s. This album just scrapes into that dataset because it was recorded in 1979 but released relatively early in 1980. But for me, I found his latter albums from the 70’s to be a hard listen.
The blues quotient was still very high and I think the many reviews that I’ve read which suggest that if VOTF had been released immediately after 1974’s ‘Bridge Of Sighs’ then Trower could’ve become more of a household name. The fact that it was released six years later probably diluted the public impact, only decades later when people say it’s one of their favourite albums, but the pity is – that opinion wasn’t reflected back in 1980 when it should have counted as record sales.
The Songs
Very much like the previous album ‘Caravan To Midnight’ this album is very funky, as evidenced by the first track ‘The Ring’. The wah-wah effects is soaked in fuzz while Jim Dewar (who is also back on bass guitar duty) holds the fort down on lead vocals. ‘Roads To Freedom’ is the opposite, a slow burn and mid paced affair by comparison.
Loved the guitar intro to ‘Jack And Jill’, there’s a lot of vibrato effects which you can on the chorus. Interesting. ‘None But The Brave’ rumbles along beautifully, now we’re talking. Groovy tune all round. The title track ‘Victims Of The Fury’ doesn’t really set any land speed records, but is kinda catchy in its own way. By the way, who are the ‘victims of the fury’? Or is it just an allegory or some sort of symbolism?
‘Only Time’ also cruises in slow to medium mode, it didn’t really grab me. Neither did ‘Fly Low’ which was far too subdued to be of interest, much better is the commercial funk of ‘One In A Million’ which sounds like a tune written in L. A. As per the title, ‘Mad House’ is given the opportunity to let loose. Compared to the rest of the material here, this one rocks out more than most. ‘Into The Flame’ finishes the album as only this trio knows how. A slow jam befitting a blues legend and accompanying lineup.
In Summary
Looking around on the Internet for a conclusive track listing, I found there were multiple versions of the album with a differing track order. In some cases the album only contained 9 tracks and on others (which I have preferred to use in this review), there are 10 tracks. On Discogs there is even an entry to say that it was released in 1979, when officially it was released in April 1980. Go figure.
I do know the reason why, it’s that the record label Chrysalis had actually released a series of 45’s containing tracks that were recorded at the time but not released on the official LP. Many years later when bonus tracks were added onto reissued CDs did some of these tracks appear out of the woodwork.
How this album stacks up in the overall canon of Trower’s vast legacy is dependent on which side of the fence you sit on. If you’re a blues fan you might rate this quite highly, if you’re a hard rock/melodic rock fan probably less so. You be the judge.
Robin Trower on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
