P.T. Power Trio 2

No matter how far away he moves from the average rock fan's consciousness, one thing you can always count on from '70s guitar hero Pat Travers is guaranteed fret-board excitement and a certain element of surprise. Or can you? Whatever your thoughts on the matter, there's no question that, unlike many of his increasingly obsolete and desperate contemporaries, Travers seems at once both more accepting of his diminishing role in the international arena and unwilling to allow this negative perception to in any way tarnish his love of performance. Boasting a typically pyrotechnic display of his legendary six-string abilities, the P.T. Power Trio album finds Travers — alongside aging drum colossus Aynsley Dunbar and relative unknown bassist Gunter Nezhoda — tackling blues staples as well as psychedelic and classic rock standards with taste and vivacity. Among the standout tracks, one finds astoundingly precise and faithful renditions of Cream's "White Room" (complete with wah-wah flourishes that Eric Clapton himself might have a hard time replicating these days), Robin Trower's "Day of the Eagle," Free's "Fire and Water," ZZ Top's "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings," and even Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited." In short, it's entirely feasible that these wizened old pros could have thrown this entire set together in a single, bored weekend; such is the innate, effortless genius of their musical talent. But considering it makes for such an easy and familiar listening experience, who really cares?