Terry Reid: The Driver - 1991

Twelve years after his previous album, the final studio album is The Driver, released in 1991. Terry is back with polished nineties sounds. Lots of keyboard riffs and that synthetic nineties drum sound, produced by Trevor Horn, who always liked that sort of thing. 

Fifth Of July is a sumptuous piece of Don Henley meets Chris Rea early nineties melodic pop. Interestingly, it was written by Louise Goffin, daughter of legendary songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It is pleasant enough, but a bit unthreatening. It was perfect for the times, musically, I guess. There’s Nothing Wrong is overflowing with slick, computerised nineties rhythms. Again, Terry is moving with the times. Beneath the polish lurks some nice wah-wah guitar, however, but I still find this much less uplifting than the sixties-early seventies albums. This is simply typical early nineties wine bar pop rock, unfortunately, like a Rod Stewart album from the time, or a Mick Jagger solo offering. 

The same applies to the lush ballad Right To The End. It is a sort of hands in the air REO Speedwagon style rock tearjerker. Terry handles it well, but having spent the last twenty-four hours listening to that stunning early material, this is all a bit underwhelming. Terry’s cover of The Waterboys’ The Whole Of The Moon is good, because firstly it is a good song, but it is not a patch on the original. It suits Reid’s voice, though. There is something moving about hearing this lost voice from the late sixties still hammering it out here, I have to say. Makes me all tearful. You tell ‘em Terry. 

Hand Of Dimes is a lovely, peaceful acoustic number of the kind he always had in his locker. The Driver (Pt. 1) is an inconsequential instrumental interlude. The very Stonesy If You Let Her thankfully revisits the old guitar-driven riff sound although it still has a nineties sheen to it. Those big nineties drums are all over Turn Around which is a sleepy late night radio ballad. 

Spencer Davis’s Gimme Some Lovin’ gets things going again with some nostalgic sixties organ sounds. The haunting Laugh At Life sounds like some other song that I can’t place, but it is a Reid original, surprisingly. It has that Phil Collins nineties pop ambience about it. 

The Driver (Pt. 2) is a nice, slow sensual number with more of those dramatic nineties vibes. 

This album has been nothing like the others. In summing up, I can’t get past loving the very first one the most. The first three are great, the last two are inessential. Terry Reid’s albums have spanned musical generations- freakbeat, psychedelia, blues rock, funk rock, metal and synth pop-rock. Listening to his work is like a trip in a musical time machine. He is an artist who deserved far more commercial success that he had. I am grateful that I am now familiar with him and his material.