Terry Reid

I appreciate that Terry Reid on his own doesn't constitute a prog rock artist for sure, but had history been different then he might have been. He is a local hero round my way, probably one of the greatest rock voices of all time, but my quesiton is this ( and apologies if this has been raised before)

Had Terry Reid become the singer in Led Zeppelin intead of Robert Plant, how do you believe they would have turned out, and then, given that he turned them down and actually recommended Robert Plant to Jimmy Page, had he joined Deep Purple instead of Ian Gillan, how do you think they might have turned out? It's not so much for the singing but more for the overall composition, given that Terry was in his own right a very decent guitarist. Led Zeppelin with two guitars would certainly have been interesting, could Ritchie Blackmore have coped with a second guitarist present? Your thoughts ladies and gentlemen......................

What a bizaar question for a thread. I stand corrected as I have just read Richard Cole's version of Led Zeppelin  and according to him John Bonham recommended Plant to Page or was it the other way around.

Chris Stacey wrote: What a bizaar question for a thread. I stand corrected as I have just read Richard Cole's version of Led Zeppelin  and according to him John Bonham recommended Plant to Page or was it the other way around.   What is Terry Reid's bank balance compared to Robert Plant and even more interesting ( excuse my ignorance) what did he achieve career wise?   Rgds

Ok first of all it was Robert Plant who recommended his mate John Bonham to Jimmy Page. This was after Terry Reid had already turned down Jimmy Page's request that he join what was then to be called the New Yardbirds. Terry was expecting a big solo career and didn't see joining as the best move at the time (how wrong he was). Then in 1969 he was approached by Deep Purple to become their singer, again he declined, leaving Ian Gillan to replace Rod Evans. Things didn't quite work out for him over the next few years, problems with record companies, promoters etc (Micky Most the most obvious example, a legal battle lasted for several years and in this time Terry was prevented from relasing any new material) gave him the very shortest of short straws. Just when things were starting to look up for him, he had signed for Atlantic and they sorted out the legal wrangle with Most, he had assembled a band of fine musicians, Dave Lindley, Mike Giles and eventually Alan White on drums. The seminal album "River" was released in 1973 to some critical acclaim, but despite this it only reached #172 in  the US charts. It took him another three years to make a further album, "Seed Of Memory" being ready for release in 1976, considered by many to be his finest work. By now he had signed to ABC records, but the release co-incided with ABC being bought out by MCA and therefore received absolutely no promotion whatsoever. Three years later and exactly the same scenario as now signed to Capitol records, the release of his last 70's album "Rogue Waves" co-incided with swinging cuts at the company and again his work received absolutely no promotion and it sank without trace. After giving the enitre 80's a miss, he re-surfaced in 1991 with an album called "The Driver" which was produced by Trevor Horn. Just as he seemed finally on the verge of a big breakthrough with a cover of a Waterboys song, the Waterboys themselves re-issued the song themsleves and stole his thunder. Thereafter he turned more and more into a recluse, alcoholic and with all due repsect, a tramp.
I saw him live about sixteen months ago, here in Cambridge. It was a very emotional evening as in front of a small audience, including his mother who was brough tot tears by the occasion, it seemd clear that he has only a fewyears left to live if he is lucky. His voice now resembles more Tom Waits than anyone else and his stumbling performance said more for the effects of alcohol, both throughout his life and on that particular evening. A very sad end to what could have been a glorious career.
Mark my words, he was a much better singer than Robert Plant ( my opinion of course)
and therefore I go back to the original question asked, since he was also a fine guitarist, what would Led Zeppelin have sounded like with two guitars and quite possibly a better singer.
Bank balances are a poor indication of talent, wasted or not. Robert Plant has done very well for himself but had Terry joined Led Zeppelin.......................

I suspect probably quite a lot. I never held Mickey Most with any real regard, especially after his appearances as a judge on a mid seventies talent show the name of which escapes me. I was only a kid at the time, but even then I could tell he was a bit of a t**ser!
Oh, was it called "Star Turn" or something like that?

Terry's voice, while excellent, wouldn't have pushed the buttons that Plant's did with the style of music LZ was into.  I still have several of Reid's albums and listen to the first two often but his niche was definitely as a solo artist.  Very sorry to hear he's not doing so well these days.