Thursday, January 12, 2012

Terry! Terri! Terré!

Okay, I swear to god that I a) really had planned to do a Weekend Listomania tomorrow and b) I was only kidding yesterday about this being Terry Reid Week. Honest.

But it looks like, uh, it is.

By which I mean -- from his 1979 album Rogue Waves, please enjoy old Superlungs and his absolutely astounding cover version of The Ronettes classic "Baby I Love You."





And if that doesn't give you goosebumps, please consult your physician.

I should add, BTW, that I was gonna wonder why this wasn't the hit that finally put Reid on the map until I saw the Rogue Waves album cover.

Seriously -- I was gonna link to it, but it's so fricking hideous I won't inflict it on you; Google it if you're stout of heart. Talk about art direction career
killers....

[h/t FD13NYC]

UPDATE: The Rogue Waves cover.



Yeah, yeah...I know, I said I wouldn't. But I lied.

Jeebus fuck, is that the ugliest and most clueless piece of sub-Spinal Tap shlock you've ever seen in your life?

I should also add that it was issued in 1979. When let's just say that there, uh, were other sorts of things taking place in rock.

17 comments:

Jonnie said...

YES! Going to have to re-visit Terry Reid.

MJConroy said...

Check out this live version of Whiter Shade of Pale:

http://youtu.be/9dRL1AnYglA

Maude Lange said...

This is pretty good. I've been a fan for many many (many) years, but never checked out Rogue Waves - mostly because I didn't care much for River (too hippy/jam-ish, though I've recently reevaluated) and the (ugh!) cover convinced me that RW would be more of the same. Is the rest of the album any good?

FD13NYC said...

It's not really the album as a whole. By the late 70's he was just basically experimenting and noodling around with his music.

A couple of decent tunes on the LP, but that was about it. The diamond in the rough on RW is definitely the Ronettes tune. If for only that, it was worth the price, which I probably bought for a few bucks at the time as a promo.

Don't understand why the cover of the album has any significance with the material within, or why it would put people off. Although it is kind of silly looking.

FD13NYC said...

Great looking Gibson SG though.

steve simels said...

Well, there's that.
:-)

Billy B said...

Great stuff. I have this on vinyl. It will be one of the ones I digitize when I finally get around to firing up the turntable my better half got me for Christmas.

Unknown said...

Hey, Steve: I liked Terry's totally different approach to the song (I think it works well as a slow, early-70s rock song), and enjoyed his singing, but I was constantly distracted by the frequently out-of-tune bass. Unfortunately, once I heard that bass play out of tune I couldn't help but focus on it for the duration of song. I guess it's one of the perils of being a bass player: noticing the bass playing.

I'll try to listen to it again without focussing so unhelpfully on that bass.

Unknown said...

I'm listening to it again, and I've just noticed how incredibly uncoordinated the guitar and drums are at the end of the introduction (right after Terry's "Whoo!", between 0:23 and 0:26).

I still like Terry's approach to the song, though. (And I'm slightly surprised that The Black Crowes didn't record it.)

And now that you mentioned it, Terry's singing does sound like Steve Marriott.

Unknown said...

Well, I've listened to "Baby I Love You" three times now, and I can see why you love it so much. There's a lot of heart in that performance.

steve simels said...

I'm not hearing the bass as out of tune, but the timing in the spot you mention is odd. I think its deliberate, though...a sort of tight but sloppy thing, if you'll pardon the expression.
:-)

dSmith said...

The cover is awful but the logo is snazzy in a 70s way. Is there a credit for the designer? Jay Vigon was the king of airbrushed lettering back then. Was it him?

Unknown said...

Hey, dSmith: According to the album credits (listed at Discogs), the artwork was done by Terry Lamb. Terry has a website.

(Verification word: "fuzzasta".)

dSmith said...

Peter,

Thanks!

dSmith

Unknown said...

Hey, Steve: with that bass playing, to me it sounds like a fretless played with not much finesse -- but maybe that was the intention. "Tight but sloppy" indeed.

But I believe that the drums-n-guitar debacle from 0:23 to 0:26 was completely unintentional. I reckon for those few seconds the drummer and guitarist had different ideas on how to come into the verse. In other words, they each had their own idea and it just didn't meld together.

Yours offering 1/50th of a dollar,

Peter.

Unknown said...

Hey, dSmith: no problem.

PS: On the Rogue Waves album cover, I only noticed just now the wave in between the words "rogue" and "waves". Talk about inattentive.

PPS: Why does that wave look (to me, anyway) like it belongs in an 18th-century Japanese print, not in a painting of an open-shirted 1970's rock star wielding a guitar?

PPPS: Is it me, or is the guitar lead in that painting too thin?

PPPPS: Am I asking too many impertinent questions?

Mallory Weiss said...

Nice to see so many posts about Terry. My favorite song on this album is Ain't No Shadow... as for his all-time favs --- have anyone heard Penny? That amazing gem of a song (original btw) sat unreleased for about 35 years -- not at all unusual for his career i must add...