The Song Remains: Terry Reid (1949 – 2025)

One of the great “should’ve beens” of British music, Terry Reid lost a lengthy battle with cancer on August 4th and we lost a huge musical talent. Famously the first choice to front the New Yardbirds, before they became Led Zeppelin, Reid turned them down (but recommended they check out some guy named Robert Plant), just as he turned down Deep Purple and any other band that came knocking. Terry Reid had a vision for his music, and he was never interested in being part of someone else’s vision; it was always his personal goals that drove him.

Born on the 13th November, 1949, in St. Neots in Cambridgeshire, Terrance James Reid was only ever going to be a professional musician. He left school at 15, immediately joining Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers who, soon after he joined them, became the supporting act on an early Rolling Stones tour, raising his profile significantly. Nicknamed “Superlungs” for his powerful singing voice, Aretha Franklin famously commented, following her first visit to the UK, “There are only three things happening in England: the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Terry Reid”.

His debut album, “Bang Bang, You’re Terry Reid” was released in 1968, to considerable critical acclaim, and earned him a support slot to Cream on their American tour, introducing him to American audiences who seemed to get him in a way that audiences back in the UK didn’t. When he fell out with his then manager, Micky Most, and couldn’t record while litigation was ongoing, he turned his attention to live work and relocated to America, where he could draw bigger crowds and play more frequently.

In 1969, Reid signed to Atlantic Records and would soon start work on what many consider his masterpiece, the beautiful and haunting “River” album, recorded with, among others, David Lindley. Eventually released in 1973, it was another favourite with the critics that did little to trouble the charts. Reid was always a musician’s musician, feted by his peers but never achieving major commercial success. He also seemed to have more than his fair share of bad luck – his 1976 “Seed of Memory” album, produced by Graham Nash, for ABC Records, was released the same week as the record company filed for bankruptcy. In 1991, he released his cover of ‘The Whole of the Moon‘ as the lead single from his last great studio recording, “The Driver“. Unfortunately, The Waterboys’ record company chose the same time to re-release the band’s original version, which had barely bothered the charts when it was first released 6 years earlier. This time round it went to number 3 on the singles chart and picked up an Ivor Novello award. Terry Reid’s version sank without trace.

There will be those who wonder what americana credentials Reid has, considering he was usually categorised as a rock act, but you only have to listen to albums like “River” and “The Driver” to hear his links to American roots music. Beyond that, you can look at the musicians who have recorded some of Reid’s original compositions. ‘Without Expression‘, a song he wrote when he was just 14 years old, has been covered by, among others, Crosby Stills & Nash, and John Mellencamp. Other Terry Reid songs have been covered by the likes of The Raconteurs, Joe Perry, Cheap Trick, Rumer, The Hollies, and Marianne Faithful.

Sadly, for a man who spent some 60 years as a working musician, he leaves us with a relatively small body of work to remember him by. Just 7 studio albums (including 2016’s “The Other Side of the River“, a collection of outtakes from the original “River” sessions), 4 live albums and a couple of compilations. Reid’s albums are all outstanding, but it was as a live performer that he really shone. That voice, combined with a fine ability as a guitarist and a personality that was made for engaging with an audience, meant that his live performances were always something special. In the early 2000s, I was lucky enough to catch a couple of his performances at Ronnie Scott’s club in London. He was a musical tour de force and they were superb gigs. A friend I took along on one occasion went out and bought every Terry Reid recording he could find the following day, having never heard of him before. That was the power of a Terry Reid performance.

Reid should’ve been a huge star, but it didn’t seem to bother him that he never was. He got to live his life and perform his music on his own terms, and I’d like to think that was more important to him than the trappings of fame and fortune.

Play his music loud and remember one of the great troubadours. RIP Superlungs.