Terry Reid has good taste in covers, and he has the voice that cuts through all his material. Terry Reid is very much his voice/guitar, organ, and drums. With some horn and what sounds like a stand-up bass on the song "Without Expression" which to me sounds like a classic Donovan song, but alas, a Reid song. Legend has it that Jimmy Page asked Reid to be Led Zeppelin's singer, but he turned it down, but not before recommending Robert Plant. And there is a similar sound to Reid's voice to Plant, but I think in 1968, Terry was a better singer. Beside Plant, there is a Nina Simone touch, and he has a feminine approach to the words. Without saying, he can sing the ABC's and make it into a moving experience.
"Bang, Bang, You're Terry Reid" is a fantastic album. It's very 1968, and it's produced by pop music golden ears Mickie Most, who at this time seemed to be into a heavy sound, for instance, he produced the Jeff Beck Group at this time as well. The thing is Reid is heavy, but he treats his songs and his covers as delicate pieces of glass. He knows how to press hard, but he gives each song a tension that is never cliche, and like my Simone comparison, he knows how to stretch, pull, and focus on the melodic dynamic of the song. The covers here are Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)," Donovan's "Season of the Witch," the great Gene Pitney ballad "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart," and Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues." "Writing on the Wall" reminds me very much like The Yardbirds' "Still, I'm Sad," which they share the same producer (Most). His version of the Cochran song has a Keith Emerson (The Nice) approach, which is unusual. I should note here because there's no credit at all on the album that Eric Leese plays the organ and Keith Webb on the drums. I suspect as a live act, they must have been magnificent. Special thank you to Robert Newman for bringing Terry Reid to my attention.
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