Collector's Corner: Cover Boy

A continuing series wherein I share my obsession with and collection of Trevor memorabilia.

In support of his burgeoning solo career, Trevor did a fair amount of press during his London years (including his first appearance in a guitar magazine, the May 1980 issue of Guitar Player), and his first international cover was for the UK publication Sounds, a weekly tabloid music paper, which is referred to on Wikipedia as one of the "trinity" of British music publications, along with New Musical Express and Melody Maker.  Conveniently this happy event occurred on his birthday in 1979, as the release of Trevor Rabin was a few months earlier (I believe in the September-October 1978 timeframe).

I'd like to note that the image in the top left hand corner of the contact sheet was made into a poster for the Japanese release of Trevor Rabin, which I also own:

Trevor and his shadow.

This is of course the session for the album photographs and some of the other publicity photos.  My complaint is that none of these sessions ever featured Trevor with his Strat.  In these he's posing with a Telecaster and on the back cover of the UK version of Face To Face he's wielding a Les Paul Goldtop.  I have nothing against these guitars, of course, but it's just bizarre.

This acquisition was especially meaningful to me for one particular reason...during our conversation in July, Trevor related the following anecdote when I commented to him that Chrysalis A&R was attempting to saddle him with an image I felt was restrictive and inappropriate to his talents:

I was on the cover of Sounds, posing with my arms spread out, and the headline read: Trevor Rabin: the Godfather of Heavy Metal, and I thought, "Uh...really?  Okay, I guess."

 Now here is the actual page (which is not the cover but the front page of the article):

I will forgive the Maestro his Senior Moment because let's face it: his version is much funnier.

The article contains plenty of the snide snark which was a hallmark of music journalism in that era, and not only in the UK but especially in the UK.  Staff writer Geoff Barton says he's a fan but he still manages to damn with faint praise, which is to be expected, especially when the editor manages a quip in the title of the article!  But I will give him props for his assessment of the record, which as I've stated previously is actually my favorite of the vocal solo work (though my preference is for the ZA version):

That aforementioned debut album really is as titanic a premier disc as I've ever heard and even though it appears to have done zilch since I reviewed it (though just before Christmas it did turn up in the lower reaches of the Billboard Top 200 US albums chart) my faith in its qualities has not diminished one iota.  

A few chunks of the article were later used in Trevor's 1979 Chrysalis press bio, which was fairly standard practice in that era.  In a future Collector's Corner I will regale readers with some of the more interesting/hilarious/revisionist portions of Trevor's press bios, as I have a near-complete collection.  But there are some interesting tidbits to be enjoyed despite the facts not quite lining up with the benefit of hindsight.  Barton describes Trevor as "rather intense and a trifle naive."  And the story of recording the debut once he had arrived in London is purposely misleading, given that we now know it was actually recorded in South Africa, although it's possible that the song which was added to the international version, "All I Want Is Your Love," was tracked in London.  Trevor talks of "lush sentimental ballads" with elaborate string arrangements which didn't make the cut, which can be construed as references to "Love Alone" and "Could There Be" but I'd like to point out that there are strings on the album, most notably on the lush sentimental ballad "Stay With Me"...just sayin.'

One criticism noted - which has seemed to follow Trevor around for the entirety of his musical endeavors - is that he is far too clever for his own good.  According to Trevor even Chris Squire told him this and I find it interesting that it was considered a liability but now, as he's entering the fourth decade of his career, people seem to finally understand that it's okay to do a lot of different things very well.  Personally, I think it's the consideration of doing so many things so well and being incredibly good-looking at the same time, it appears to create an overwhelming envy in some people.

This is my favorite quote of the article because it's so hilariously true although it's difficult to know if Trevor actually said it (journos could be slippery in those days):

"The only problem is that when I'm in the studio I become a bit of a lunatic.  I blow my head all the time.  If, say, the bass player wants to play such-and-such a thing, I can find myself shouting , 'No!  No way!  That's impossible!'  It's ridiculous, you know."

Barton cites Trevor as a perfectionist, which is true enough, and it's interesting to me that he states the same goal as he did in 1981 when he was interviewed by Sylvie Simmons (if my memory is correct) after having relocated to Los Angeles at David Geffen's behest: to form a band and go on the road.  Which did happen but it would take the better part of a year to accomplish.  It never did happen in LA, but that's - as we know - a whole other story.