The Keith Reid Project - The Common Thread

Review by Frans Steensma in OOR • December 2008

THE KEITH REID PROJECT THE COMMON THREAD (ROCKVILLE/SUBURBAN)

Toen Procol Harum in 1977 het bijltje erbij neergooide, kwam tekstschrijver Keith Reid zonder werk te zitten. Vanaf A Whiter Shade Of Pale in 1967 had hij samen met Gary Brooker bijna alle songs voor de tien albums van Procol Harum geschreven. Na een paar jaar als rockmanager gewerkt te hebben, verhuisde hij begin jaren tachtig naar New York, waar hij zijn oude beroep weer oppakte en songteksten wist te slijten aan Amerikaanse artiesten als Jeff Healey, Felix Cavaliere e.a.

Zijn grootste succes boekte hij echter voor een Australiër: John Farnham. You’re The Voice (1986) is daar nog steeds de bestverkochte single aller tijden. In 2000 verschenen de gebundelde songteksten van Reid in boekvorm: My Own Choice. Daarin ook de tekst van A Common Thread, dat nu door Southside Johnny op de eerste gelijknamige ‘solo-cd’ van Keith Reid wordt vertolkt. Naast Southside Johnny benaderde hij ook bevriende zangers als o.m. John Waite (Babys/Bad English), Terry Reid (geen familie) en Chaz Jankel (Ian Dury).

Daardoor is The Common Thread een afwisselend geheel geworden, waarbij opvalt met hoeveel zorg Reid de juiste zanger bij ieder nummer heeft gezocht. De qua stem sterk op Springsteen gelijkende Bernie Shanahan brengt een aangrijpende versie van Potters Field. Een hoogstandje van componist Michael Saxell en tekstdichter Keith Reid. Hetzelfde geldt voor het samen met Barry Goldberg geschreven en door Terry Reid vertolkte Too Close To Call.

Enige smet op The Common Thread vormt de op zich interessante oorspronkelijke versie van You’re The Voice van co-auteur Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann). Het doorbreekt the common thread van deze door Keith Reid en Matt Noble geproduceerde cd, omdat het een opname uit 1986 betreft en detoneert met de uitstraling van de overige twaalf nummers.  

Frans kindly translated / adapted / expanded the above for BtP:

When Procol Harum quit in 1977 lyricist Keith Reid was out of a job. Since A Whiter Shade of Pale in 1967 he had written  – together with Gary Brooker – nearly all the songs for ten Procol albums. Luckily he had just started managing some acts (among others Frankie Miller), but this was not where his heart lay. So in the early eighties he moved to New York where he picked up his old job again and began writing several lyrics for solo albums of his old Procol pals Robin Trower (Victims Of the Fury, BLT, Truce, Back It Up) and Gary Brooker (Echoes In The Night). In 1988 he wrote River Of No Return for Jeff Healey.

But before that (1986) Reid had scored his biggest success with a song he had co-written with Chris Thompson, Andy Qunta and Maggie Ryder: You’re The Voice. John Farnham made it into a worldwide hit and the best-selling single of all time in his native Australia.

In the nineties Reid began writing again with Brooker for the reformed Procol Harum (The Prodigal Stranger) and also wrote for artists like Felix Cavaliere (Trust Your Heart) and John Waite (In God’s Shadow). Jon Tiven’s Ego Trip covered his River Of No Return in 1996. In 2000 his lyrics were bundled in My Own Choice. In this book there are among others the words for a song called A Common Thread, which is sung by Southside Johnny on Reid’s first ‘solo album’. Alongside Southside Johnny Keith Reid also approached singers of his acquaintance like Terry Reid (no relation), the Swedish singer/songwriter Michael Saxell, the US singer/songwriter Bernie Shanahan and Chaz Jankel (one of Ian Dury’s Blockheads).

This wide choice of vocalists makes The Common Thread a very varied album. It's striking how much care Reid took in picking out the right singer for the right song. The Springsteen-like voice of Bernie Shanahan fits the moving Potters Field like a glove and Duffy’s producer Steve Booker has just the right country-like voice for Silver Town, which could be an outtake from John Stewart’s greatest album (California Bloodlines). Another highlight is the search for happiness in Too Close To Call by Terry Reid, which Keith Reid wrote with the US blues legend Barry Goldberg. The other contributions by Shanahan (the emotional Venus Exploding) and Booker (the cruel goodbye note Right About Now) deserve a favourable mention too.

A minor complaint about the second track (the original version of You're The Voice by Chris Thompson): as this was recorded in 1986 it doesn't have the same 'feel' as the other twelve tracks.