Daily Dose of Dope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6DAqMFe97E
Just kidding
Today’s comes from an artist who is most famous not for his own music
Number one as the guy who “was almost Led Zeppelin’s vocalist”
Number two as one of 3 things that Aretha said were going on in England
Terry Reid started in music in his early teens
Opened for the Stones
Was signed to Mickie Most, huge producer in London
And put out two albums
Toured with big acts in both UK and US
Eventually got in a big dispute with Most, and moved to US
Next album had a very different sound
Some love it, some hate it
I’m firmly in the first camp
It’s much more cosmopolitan
Bass is courtesy of Lee Miles, Ike Turner’s bassist
In fact, the Ikettes did back up vocals on a bunch of tracks, though mostly they didn’t make the album
There was a reissue recently that put out lots of other lost tracks and takes
On drums is Conrad Isidore, a Dominican percussionist and multi instrumentalist who Terry knew from London
He was very interested in reggae and African rhythms
David Lindley is picking
A musician’s musician
You might even hear Brazilian on River
It’s no accident
Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso came to the UK in exile in 1969
Fleeing the military dictatorship
Reid’s lawyers were part of the issuing of Gil’s asylum!
The lawyers asked about Gil’s application, and Reid (who had heard his music) put in a good word
At a festival at Isle of Wight, Gil (who also performed there) was in the front of the crowd for Reid’s show
And sought him out to thank him for helping with his asylum
Neither spoke the other’s language, but they ended up spending a bunch of time together (with Caetano and other musicians) at a house in the countryside, jamming
(and almost certainly, getting very high)
Reid has said that River was partly written with a nod towards the bossa, samba, and MPB he picked up from Gil
After River, he put out a gem of an album called Seed of Memory in 1976
The musicians and critics generally agree that’s his greatest record, I think
But I really love River, and especially the title track
Lyrics are the kind of understated poetry I go for ( not in your face, nothing full of pretensious profundity), just swimming along the surface
He was back and forth between England and California
For a while, he ran a regular date at “The Joint” on Pico Blvd in LA
Apparently, the musicians in town would drop by
Often to rehearse for their bigger shows at more august venues
Or just to play
Is it my maker?
Am I the breaker?
Has it come too soon?
Am I to follow?
Where life seems hallowed
By some impending doom
“it’s all dried in the finish”
But guess who appears on trombone on Seed of Memory’s cuts with brass?
