Trevor Rabin, the South African guitarist, singer, multi-musician, writer and producer, released ‘Rio’, his first solo album of vocal material in 34 years, in October last year. The deluxe edition of the album included 3 bonus tracks, including a demo version of a track titled ‘Fragile’. The song was originally considered as a track for a possible ARW album with Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson, with a recorded version having leaked online a few years ago.
That original Trevor only demo has now been officially released on digital services, and you can listen now below: https://youtu.be/pOjxdkldyOU
https://trevorrabin.lnk.to/FragileDemo-Single
Trevor had this to say about the track: “I’m particularly pleased with the space, in terms of production, and happy with the simplicity of the lyric. Life is harsh, fickle and Fragile. My intention regarding the guitar solo was for it to drip onto the “page” so to speak.”
Get ‘Rio’ here: https://trevorrabin.lnk.to/Rio
The full track-listing is as follows:
1. Big Mistakes
2. Push
3. Oklahoma
4. Paradise
5. Thandi
6. Goodbye
7. Tumbleweed
8. These Tears
9. Egoli
10. Toxic
The Ltd CD+Blu-ray Mediabook & Ltd Deluxe Gatefold Red 180g 2LP + Blu-ray also features the following bonus tracks:
1. Spek & Polly
2. Fragile (Demo)
3. Georgia
Given that his previous vocal-led solo album, ‘Can’t Look Away’, was released in 1989 (2012’s ‘Jacaranda’ was all-instrumental), Rabin has kept us waiting for more than three decades for a follow-up. Trevor admits that there was pressure from all sides, including his own family, to have speeded up the process. However, the delay is excusable. Since leaving Yes following the ‘Talk’ album in 1994 and largely as a prequel to touring as part of ARW in 2016, the guitarist entered the time-consuming world of movie soundtracks. Not just any old movies, either. Trevor’s name appears as composer for such blockbusters as Con Air, Armageddon, Remember the Titans, Enemy Of The State, Deep Blue Sea, Glory Road, and Gone In 60 Seconds and both National Treasure movies, amongst many others. “Over the past ten years I was having ideas, concepts that I couldn’t implement due to my busy schedule,” he explains, adding: “To be honest, those years flew by in a flurry. I knew that this was the time, and once I found my momentum I worked on the album 24/7.”
The process proved a labour of love and as with his first and second solo records, ‘Trevor Rabin’ and ‘Face To Face’ (from 1977 and ’79 respectively), Rabin handled just about all of the instruments himself.
Stylistically, ‘Rio’– is tough to categorise. Besides guitar-driven rock-meets-pop, ‘Goodbye’ is Country & Western with an edgy drive, while ‘Tumbleweed’ begins in a burst of harmonies. No wonder its working title was ‘The Demographic Nightmare’.
“I wanted to get into many different areas,” Rabin states. “Of course there are ‘prog things’, but overall there are a lot of styles going on.”
As mentioned, Trevor plays the majority of the instruments on the record. However, on drums for a number of tracks is Lou Molino, while Trevor also contributes some drums and percussion. Vinnie Calaiuta provides drums on ‘Push’, and Rabin’s son Ryan Rabin helped out with some of the most important percussive arrangements. Along the way Trevor also drafted in a couple of friends, Dante Marchi and Liz Constantin, to sing back up on two songs.
