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IN STORES: SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 If one were to describe a band that was mix of folk, blues, metal, pure rock & roll, a fiery guitar attack, and a set of super lungs, one could easily think one was talking about one of the greatest rock’n’roll groups of all time - Led Zeppelin. That description however is reserved for just one man, Terry Reid, an artist whose immense vocal and songwriting talents led him to be Jimmy Page’s first choice as lead singer in Led Zeppelin. Forced to turn down Page's offer due to a contractual impasse, Reid quietly became the unsung architect of Led Zeppelin by leading Page to both Robert Plant and John Bonham. |
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| TRACKLIST: SUPERLUNGS MY SUPER GIRL LOVING TIME JULY I'VE GOT NEWS FOR YOU (previously unreleased) SPEAK NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE STAY WITH ME BABY WITHOUT EXPRESSION SILVER WHITE LIGHT HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED PENNY (previously unreleased) BANG BANG - MY BABY SHOT ME DOWN MAY FLY TINKER TAYLOR SWEATER SOMETHING'S GOTTEN HOLD OF MY HEART MARKING TIME RICH KID BLUES |
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Born in 1949, Reid's vocal talents were apparent at a very early
age, belting out the hits of the day perched atop a ladder at the
age of 5 while his mother worked as a fruit-picker. Joining a school
band when he was 12, Reid eventually drifted into the local club
and cinema circuit, with a group called the Redbeats. At 16 he caught the eye of Peter Jay, leader of The Jaywalkers who made Terry the front man. The power and conviction of Terry's performances led the band to be asked by The Rolling Stones and Ike & Tina Turner to support them during their 1966 fall tour. After two years of personal changes in the Jaywalkers, Terry became restless and got caught up in the electric blues explosion led by Hendrix and Cream. |
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| In February 1968, Terry's friend Graham Nash convinced
legendary manager/producer Mickie Most (The Yardbirds, The Animals,
Donovan, Herman's Hermits, Lulu) to sign Terry. It was during this
seminal 1968-69 recording period that Superlungs was compiled. It was during this time that Terry came to the attention of Jimmy Page who was putting together the band that would become Led Zeppelin. John Paul Jones had already been picked as bassist and now Page eagerly wanted Reid's vocal power to front his new group, so he asked manager Peter Grant to get him. In a recent interview in Mojo, Jimmy Page recalls "We'd done a gig at Albert Hall - a great bill: us [The Yardbirds], the Stones, the Ike & Tina Tuner Revue, and this band Peter Jay and The Jaywalkers, which had Terry Reid in it. I remembered him as a really good singer, so I told Peter [Grant], that I wanted to start a group with Terry Reid, so could he get the office to find him. I had all these ideas and I wanted to get it right. So I'm back in England after the end of this Yardbirds tour, and Peter said 'Well I've located Terry, but he's just signed a solo deal.' I said 'Who with?' He said 'Mickie Most!' Now you know their two desks faced each other, right?!" Reid notes, "Jimmy asked me to be the singer in Led Zeppelin but I'd just done a deal to support the Stones on their first US tour in three years.” Being confronted with the seemingly insurmountable legal ramifications of trying to pull out of both Mickie Most's contract and the touring deal with the Stones, Reid had to bow out. “Meanwhile,” says Reid, “I was doing a gig. I think it was in Buxton with the Band of Joy. I'd seen them before, and I knew Robert Plant and John Bonham. And this time, as I watched them, I thought: 'That¹s it!' I could hear the whole thing in my head. So the next day I phoned up Jimmy. He said, 'What does this singer look like?' I said, 'What do you mean, what does he look like? He looks like a Greek god, but what does that matter? I¹m talking about how he sings. And his drummer is phenomenal. Check it out!' “ Robert Plant recently recalled Terry in an Uncut interview: "We were good friends because we seemed to be on the same circuit...we always seemed to be playing on the same bill together. He was one of those stellar vocalists along with Steve Winwood, Jess Roden and Steve Marriott, and he got the offer from his connection with Mickie Most, who shared an office with Peter Grant...so Terry said to Peter and Jimmy, "No I've go this thing going. But you should see my mate. Go and have a look at 'the Wild Man From The Black Country.'" Listening to the tracks on Superlungs, the power
of Terry's vocal performance and guitar work is jaw-dropping,
perhaps more so for having been neglected all these years. Reid's
high voice and delivery is reminiscent of the vocals Robert Plant
recorded for Led Zeppelin just several months later, not to mention
how Terry's composition "July" echoes the opening half
of "Stairway To Heaven," predating that classic by nearly
two years. What would Led Zeppelin been like with Terry Reid,
making it a two guitarist group can only be guessed at. Interestingly
enough, when asked about making the first Led Zeppelin album Plant
confessed," I knew there were much better singers who could
have brought it on home in a different way, like Steve Marriott
or Steve Winwood or Terry Reid. But with them, the band would
have gone in a different way. " |
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