Chapter 6 part 3 - 21st Century Boy |
Whilst Terry was playing at Womad in the UK a surprise was in store back home in Califrornia. A small record company ( Water Records) had somehow managed to get the United States release rights for Terry's long unavailable lost classic 'River 'album. The whole world of record rights, release rights, song rights and so on is a complete mystery to me. It is I think a mystery even to people wholly engaged in the process. For years Terry's has, with help, been working his way through the labyrinth of contracts and agreements whose ownership has passed from one hand to another sometimes becoming completely lost in the process. Anyway Water records managed to snap up U.S. release rights when they became available. I was asked and was very happy to provide liner notes. Thus giving myself the need and opportunity to dig in to River's origins. A deeply satisfying process that gave me a whole new level of respect for Terry's compositional skills. The album was released, was well received and sold well. One slight complaint though was that it did not include any unreleased material from the original recording sessions. This omission was rectified when Water recently released the album again, this time with additional material. |
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There were no major appearances in 2003 but Terry continued his contacts with Josh Ralph. This bore fruit when Josh was commissioned to write music for an upcoming film, Wonderland. It was a movie based on the life of U.S. porn star John Holmes. Not actually a porn film itself, it was instead a fascinating insight into another world. Terry recalls a visit to the film set and coming across a table covered in white powder ( apparently it was only talcum powder) and various scenes in the making mostly involving scantily clad women engaged in various exercises! Californians do like their aerobics. Terry never said whether he had offered himself as an extra in the movie ..... The film was released the following year with Faith to Arise and Dean on the soundtrack. After so many years with no Terry product, 2004 seems something of a golden year, with three albums being released. |
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Although none of them featured newly recorded material it was nevertheless a delight to read release reviews and general excitement about Terry in the media. The Alive album detailed in part five of the biography was released and once again I was happy to provide some liner notes and photos. Also and again from Water records a release of Terry at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970. This set had previously only been available as a poor quality bootleg. Finally, at long last from EMI, a proper retrospective compilation with unreleased material concentrating on the early years and in particular the first two classic albums. EMI seemed to have done a pretty good job of digging out everything they had. A particular delight are the early tracks with Peter Jay. Listen and be amazed at the sound of 17/18 year old Terry belting out soul songs like a seasoned performer twice, three times his age. It kind of underpins the Aretha Franklyn comment about Terry being one of the few things happening in England in the late 60's. |
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