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FOCUS ON: Terry Reid
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- Genre: Avant Garde/Experimental
Terry Reid could have been a lot more famous if he hadnt turned down the slot of lead singer for the New Yardbirds in 1968.
Terry Reid could have been a lot more famous if he hadnt turned down the slot of lead singer for the New Yardbirds in 1968.
That slot, of course, went to Robert Plant, and the New Yardbirds became Led Zeppelin. Unlike Plant, Reid was also a guitarist, and the opportunity to head his own group no doubt played a part in his decision to gun for a solo career. Leading a guitar-organ-drums power trio, he recorded a couple of respectable, though erratic, hard rock albums while still a teenager in the late 60s. Some bad breaks and creative stagnation combined to virtually bring his career to a halt, and he never cashed in on the momentum of his promising start.
A teen prodigy of sorts, Reid had turned professional at the age of 15 to join Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers. His first couple of singles as a headliner found him singing in a sort of poppy blue-eyed soul vein. But by the time of his 1968 debut Bang, Bang Youre Terry Reid, produced by Mickie Most, hed switched to more of a hard rock approach. Most was also handling Donovan and the Jeff Beck Group at the time, and similarities to both of those acts can be heard in Terry Reids first two albums -- proto-hard rock on the louder tunes, sweeter folk-rock on the mellow ones (Reid in fact covered a couple of Donovan compositions, although he wrote most of his own material). Reids high voice was reminiscent of Robert Plants, though not nearly as shrill, and his folky numbers especially are reminiscent of Led Zeppelins most acoustic early cuts.
Reid, oddly, was considerably more well-known in the U.S. than the U.K. His first album, very oddly, was not even issued in Britain, although it made the American Top 200. Though he declined Jimmy Pages offer to join Led Zeppelin, he did influence history in a big way by recommending Plant and drummer John Bonham as suitable candidates, after Plant and Bonhams pre-Led Zep outfit (the Band of Joy) played support at one of Reids early gigs. Reid felt confident enough in his solo prospects to also turn down an offer to join Deep Purple (Ian Gillan was recruited instead).
An opening spot on the Rolling Stones famous 1969 tour of America seemed to augur even brighter prospects for the future, but this is precisely where Reids career stalled, at the age of 20. First he became embroiled in litigation with Mickey Most, which curtailed his studio activities in the early 70s. After a couple of personnel changes, he disbanded his original trio, leading a group for a while that included David Lindley and ex-King Crimson drummer Michael Giles (this quartet, however, didnt release any records). He moved to California in 1971 and signed to Atlantic, but his long-delayed third album didnt appear until 1973. Reid would release albums for other labels in 1976 and 1979, but none of his 70s recordings were well-received, critically or commercially (though 1976s Seed of Memory did briefly chart). Hes barely recorded since, though he did play some sessions, and The Driver appeared in 1991.
