One More Great Record of 1967: Jerry Reed

I am halfway through Peter Guralnick's second volume on Elvis, "Careless Love: The Unmaking Of Elvis Presley." As much as I loved the first volume, "Careless Love" is more compelling. I am more interested in what went wrong, because it was fairly easy to see what went right.

I've always loved all Elvis. Everything from the earliest recordings at Sun, to the cheesy soundtracks, to the brilliant late 60's tracks from Memphis, right through the bloated sounds of his later recordings, had something to offer. Even "Class A" cheese like "Moody Blue" was great AM radio. But my favorite moment of "Careless Love" so far is the discovery of an album released in 1967 called, "The Unbelievable Guitar & Voice Of Jerry Reed."

I mostly know Jerry Reed as the guy who made that awful novelty hit, "When You're Hot, You're Hot," not to mention so many other albums I flip through four at a time in bargain bins, and from lousy Burt Reynolds movies. But the way Peter Guralnick writes about his entry into Presley's world, made me want to dig deeper. Reed was the man who wrote both "Guitar Man" and "U.S. Male," two late 60's Elvis tracks, that by and large, are considered to be the beginning of the comeback. Sessions with Reed were loose. So loose, that some of "The King's" keepers deemed them unsuitable. Plus, I believe there were issues with publishing. Reed was a wild guitar player, "The Alabama Wild Man," and during those sessions, he apparently egged Elvis on, in the best way possible, and what was committed to tape, would have been some of Elvis's most rocking stuff since the 50's heyday. Long story short, the Jerry Reed sessions were aborted and shelved, Felton Jarvis took over, and that was that. Those Jerry Reed sessions have since been scattered over a number releases, including the soundtrack to "Clambake," where they are included as bonus tracks. But I wanted to know more about Jerry Reed himself, so I went ahead and bought the aforementioned record, strictly for the two tracks, "Guitar Man" and "U.S. Male." I wanted to hear what Elvis heard.

Holy Crap!

This record predates any of Mike Nesmith's or Gene Clark's cosmic country. It's almost psychedelic at times, like Bang-era Neil Diamond meets the Electric Prunes.  Both "Guitar Man" and "U.S. Male" are here in their original state, and they are exactly what you'd expect them to be, which is not a bad thing at all. But it is the rest of the record that has truly knocked me for a loop. I did not expect to hear what I heard. Some of it is folky, in a Lovin' Spoonful via Joe Butler way. Some, a little bit of a wink and a nudge, but never as over the top cornball as "When You're Hot, You're Hot." Reed's guitar playing is a stand out on just about every track. It's a terrific record, full a great songs and arrangements, with a lousy cover that belies what is found inside.

The next release, "Alabama Wild Man" has more of the same, including this version of "The House Of The Rising Sun," which I love, and a not bad version of The Monkees hit, also below.

I don't expect I'll be going too deep into Jerry Reed's catalogue. Hearing "When You're Hot, You're Hot" might ruin the whole deal. But I found a new respect for Jerry Reed thanks to his first three records, all released in the 60's. I highly recommend the debut.