Here’s a conundrum: what would the mighty Zeppelin have sounded like if Page had managed to obtain the services of –
BJ Wilson on the drums;
and Terry Reid on the singing?
Better? Worse? Jazzier? Funkier?
If anyone is going to have a view, I’m guessing it’s the Zep-heads on the Afterword…..
Completely different, that’s for sure. I’m guessing more of a rock/funk thing. I kinda prefer TR’s voice over extended periods though he’d not have done well just replacing Planty in Zep as we know it.
Terry Reid and Jimmy Page would have fallen out very quickly and only one album would have resulted. A mix of a few heavy blues Page numbers and some lighter funkier Reid songs. Probably would have confused the punters as no real direction to it. Poor sales and much bickering within the band, exacerbating existing differences.
No Led Zep into the ’70s would alter the course of rock music immensely. Heavy Metal would be cruder and more limited in it’s appeal. Mainstream rock would be funkier and less bombastic.
No magic – they all said there was something bigger than themselves that was in the room when they first played. Take out an element and it’s not the same.
Satin Wake were a legendary band which released, arguably, the best debut of any band in the black influenced, jazz inflected and folk infused tradition, the much lauded Dance Of Angels.
Reid’s liquid tenor allied to Page’s miasmic note bending underpinned by Wilson’s behind the beat drumming creating a kaleidoscope of soulful post-Cream rock. Standout tracks include mini-rock opera The Sea And The Answer, the driving Hard Road Ahead and gently romantic Whose Angel Are You Now?
Hugely acclaimed on the US college circuit and on the continent, the band, curiously, met with less acclaim on home shores. The second album Afterwards Nothing, a strangely prophetic title, was evidence of a band in crisis, pulling in different directions.
Lacking in coherence, the album’s single Lost Wanderer, led to a catastrophic Top Of The Pops appearance. The track plummeting rather than climbing the charts as a result.
Personality clashes and unaligned musical objectives and the arrival of Page acolyte Peter Grant whose aggressive commercial instincts were at odds with Reid and Wilson’s folksy aesthetic led to the band’s demise.
Page going on to mega stardom with The Rolling Stones while Wilson and Reid joined together to form a short lived duo featuring just percussion and vocal.
Satin Wake, a brief rock moment, a glimpse of what might have been.
B.J. Wilson, eh!! Fab drummer.
Love this intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIjcNDiaPoM
The answer to the question, tho’, is that the band could have lasted 10 years longer, as Wilson died in 1990 to Bonham’s 80.
It might have meant I’d have been chatting to Terry Reid before a Robert Plant show at the Robin 2 rather than the other way round.
well at least they’d have a better drummer