Of course I had heard of the famous Walter Trout but without any reason I never took the chance to listen to any of his albums. So, when Deep Trout arrived at Rockezine I was anxious to get my hands on this album. Deep Trout features a collection of songs from the early Walter Trout years and seemed to be the perfect introduction to the man. For the Trout fans among us, you’re probably more equipped to write a proper review but since this is a compilation album and there must be a lot of people unfamiliar with his music I’ll just give it a shot but will keep it short.

The first thing I found remarkable about Trout derives from the different atmospheres this guy creates. I had expected to hear nothing but blues and was therefore quite surprised by the melodic and rock influences in the music. I had always figured that Trout would only attract mid forty cigar smoking bearded man but after listening to the music I feel I have to adjust this idea, some of the songs are pretty cool, even after more than ten years.

The songs on this compilation are mainly from the 1990-1995 period, indeed the period Trout had a contract with (Mascot-) Provogue. Six of the twelve previous released songs are in fact from one and the same album, Prisoner Of The Dawn. There are three ‘bonus tracks’ or tracks to persuade loyal Trout fans to buy this compilation. The first is an acoustic version of “Life In The Jungle”, a 1972 live version of “So Sad To Be Lonely” and “Big Chain”, a track recorded by Freebo musicians. I’ll leave the decision whether these three tracks are worth buying this album up to you. For people unfamiliar with Trout music this release might be considered a good reason to check this excellent guitarist out.