Terry Reid - "Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1968 (Epic)

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.  

Donovan - "Barabajagal" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1969 (Epic)

A very good, but not classic Donovan album.  "Barabajagal" is Donovan at his most hippie twee, with songs like "Happiness Runs" and "I Love My Shirt."  And even "Atlantis," still, there is really no such thing as a bad Donovan song or performance.  There is the image of Donovan as the universal folkie turned flower child, which is true.  On the flip of the other side of the coin is that Donovan is a brilliant stylist/singer who brings jazzy overtures to his melodies and arrangements.  Mickie Most produced the classic Donovan sides (like this album), but I'm never sure what Most brings to the sonic table to a Donovan session.  Most is/was comfortable working with the Jeff Beck Group (who back Donovan on two songs on this album) and Terry Reid at the time who had a "heavy" sound.  

One of my favorite Donovan songs is on this album, and it's "To Susan Waiting on the West Coast."   A tune about a soldier in Vietnam writing to his girl back home.   Simple narrative but Donovan can bring out the pathos with his overly British twee-Jazz, that works brilliantly with this song.  I'm also a fan of "Superlungs My Supergirl."  Terry Reid also did a fantastic cover of this song around the same time this album was released - again, the Mickie Most connection.   Beck and gang back Donovan on the title cut, and clearly the Beck aesthetic on guitar is very prominent on "Barabajagal."  He's riffing like crazy under the mix of rhythm and the backup singers.   Although not individually credited, I imagine Nicky Hopkins is on the album.  The piano playing is superb throughout the disc, and the only song besides the Beck group (none of the musicians besides Beck is clearly credited) is the song "Where Is She," with session great Alan Hawkshaw on piano.  The rest I think is Hopkins.  

In real time, I bought the Donovan albums when they originally released. This was the last Donovan album for me.  Perhaps due to the marketing of that time, or me moving on to my teenage years, I gave up on Donovan.  It wasn't until recently that I started to pick up on Donovan's great Epic albums to provide them with that serious re-listen.  I'm now a bigger fan of his work, looking back on material that is of course, charming, but also has elements and textures that was very much present in the late 1960s - the acceptance of music from other cultures.  In that sense, Donovan was or is a great traveler.