Terry Reid River Released: 4/1973 Label: Water Catalog #: 107 Rating:  Not Yet Rated Rate This Record

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Late-'60s British rock singer, Terry Reid could have been a lot more famous if he hadn't turned down the slot of lead singer for the New Yardbirds in 1968. That slot, of course, went to Robert Plant, and the New Yardbirds became Led Zeppelin. His fourth album RIVER often brings to mind those parts of songs where the likes of Van Morrison, Tim Buckley, or Robert Plant sing-scat improvised-sounding vocal passages. The difference is that, for the most part, those singers used such sections to embellish solid songs, but on this 1973 album the quasi-stream-of-consciousness vocal ramblings are the songs. The first four of the seven songs are very much in a funky, laid-back blues-rock groove, with steel, slide, and electric guitars. Reid, and the album itself, really begin to find more of an individual voice on “River,” where beguiling Latin-Brazilian elements are introduced in the guitar, melody, and rhythm. The final two cuts, “Dream” and “Milestones,” back Reid's vocals only with acoustic guitar, and have a romantic melancholy that likewise makes them highlights of this highly personal record.