genre: beat
country: uk
quality: lossless (flac tracks, scans)
time: 30'58"+33'40" size: 347 mb
misc.: 1997
Tapestry Of Delights:
The group originally formed in 1964 as the Troglodytes. Andover in Hampshire was their home turf. The original line-up featured Tony Mansfield (gtr, lead vcls) and Dave Wright (gtr) as well as Presley (whose real name was Reg Ball) and Ronnie Bond. Early in 1965 Mansfield and Wright left to be replaced by Chris Britton and Pete Staples. Since Staples was a bassist, Reg took up the lead vocal mantle in place of Mansfield.
The Troggs soon developed a very distinctive sound, brash and raw with suggestive lyrics. They were snapped up by Kinks' manager Larry Page after he heard their rendition of You Really Got Me, and he changed their name from The Troglodytes to The Troggs.
Their debut 45 flopped but for the follow-up, Page gave them a song written by US writer Chip Taylor, which had been recorded by an obscure outfit, The Wild Ones. The band gave Wild Thing a different arrangement with an ocarina solo in place of a whistling section on the original and it worked at treat. To coincide with its release, Ball changed his name to Presley, which won him considerable press coverage. Boosted by TV appearances on 'Top Of The Pops' and 'Thank Your Lucky Stars', it shot up the Charts, peaking at No 2 in the UK and topping the US Charts, where, because of a dispute about rights to the song, it was released on both Fontana and Atco, the latter 45 coupling it with With A Girl Like You, which was selected as the follow-up in the UK and cracked the No 1 spot.
When, in October 1966, Page launched his own Page One label, I Can't Control Myself was its debut release. Penned by Presley, this was probably their finest moment. The lyrics were risque for the era, 'Her slacks are low and her hips are showing', which guaranteed notoriety but limited airplay and the record was virtually banned in Australia. Their first two albums From Nowhere - The Troggs and Trogglodynamite, both made the UK Top Ten and the hits continued to flow. Night Of The Long Grass was different from what had preceded it - giving a nod and a wink to psychedelia both lyrically and musically but Little Girl, released in 1968, was their last UK Chart hit. By now, Britton wanted to leave the group, disillusioned with the whole pop scene, but Presley persuaded him to stay and the band continued to work the club and college circuits until they eventually split in March 1969.
Presley recorded a solo 45, Lucinda Lee, as did Bond (Anything For You) and Britton cut an LP, As I Am, but none of their solo ventures met with any success. Back in 1967 they also contributed the Great Shakes Ad to the Great Shakes EP.
In 1972 Presley and Bond reformed the band with two new members. They worked the club and college circuit here in the UK and in Europe and a studio tape made during some of their later Page One sessions surfaced in bootleg form as The Troggs Tapes and revealed some laughably amateurish behaviour. Their live act was as strong and their lyrics as risque as ever as they continued to record. Indeed at the start of 1975 they reunited with Larry Page and covered The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations for his Penny Farthing label. Typically they replaced the line, "I love the purple cloak she wears" with "I love the dress she almost wears", but although they attracted media attention they failed to chart with this or subsequent efforts, which included a cover of The Rolling Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.
The Trogg Tapes album released by Penny Farthing was unconnected with the earlier bootleg but capitalised on the name because of its notoriety.
Rhythm guitarist Colin 'Dill' Fletcher was added to their line-up in July 1979 and in America in particular, the band still enjoyed a cult following. LA band, X, released a cover of Wild Thing and in 1980 The Troggs signed to Basement records releasing Live At Max's Kansas City. Several late seventies punk bands quoted them as an influence and they continued to gig on both sides of the Atlantic well into the eighties.
67:
01. Little Red Donkey 2:15
02. Too Much Of A Good Thing 2:50
03. Butterflies And Bees 1:58
04. All Of The Time 2:11
05. Seventeen 2:42
06. Somewhere My Girl Is Waiting 2:52
07. It's Showing 2:57
08. Her Emotion 2:32
09. When Will The Rain Come 2:42
10. My Lady 3:01
11. Come The Day 1:56
12. Love Is All Around 3:01
68:
01. Surprise Surprise 2:49
02. You Can Try If You Want To 2:53
03. Say Darlin' 2:48
04. Marbles And Some Gum 2:07
05. Purple Shades 2:25
06. Heads Or Tails 3:44
07. Hip Hip Hooray 2:20
08. Little Girl 2:59
09. Maybe The Madman 2:14
10. Off The Record 3:45
11. We Waited For Someone 2:52
12. There's Something About You 2:45
RONNIE BOND drms
CHRIS BRITTON gtr
REG PRESLEY vcls
PETE STAPLES bss
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