The Spartan nature of the three-piece rock band seems to lend itself most productively to blues-and guitar-centered styles, and for a while the Robin Trower band was a shining example of its possibilities. Unfortunately, each successive album has had less originality than its predecessor. Although it's been a while since the last studio release, Long Misty Days is their most anemic album yet.

The effective simplicity of "Man of the World" and "Lady Love" has turned into an hypnotic sameness. "Caledonia" seems little more than repetitious cymbal tapping and chk-chk guitar notches, with only bassist James Dewar's dramatic vocals worthy of note. Throughout the album Dewar's singing approaches the excellence of soulful rock vocalists like Paul Rodgers, and his hauntingly melancholic delivery on "I Can't Live without You" combines with Trower's crying guitar for the album's finest cut. As in the past, Trower's soloing skills far exceed his ability to assist with the melody or rhythm, making the compositional weakness of "S.M.O." more limiting than need be.

"Long Misty Days" represents the Robin Trower band's most distinctive style. The musicians play as if in a dream, and Dewar's deep voice and carefully rhythmic phrasing enhance the song's slow-motion texture. Though effective, its close resemblance to "Bridge of Sighs" and "For Earth Below" suggests that Trower and Dewar's fixed pool of song ideas is their most serious limitation. Past criticism of Trower has dealt mainly with the obvious influence of Hendrix on his guitar style, and even though this is clearly not as justified as on the first two albums, the operative word remains imitation. Unfortunately, the self-imitation of Long Misty Days has far more disturbing implications. (RS 227)

TERI MORRIS