Troggs
Athens Andover - Page One 1992
Tracks: 1. Crazy Annie / 2. Together /3. Tuned into Love / 4. Deja Vu / 5. Nowhere Road / 6. Dust Bowl / 7. I'm in Control / 8. Don't You Know / 9. What's Your Game / 10. Suspicious / 11. Hot Stuff
Comments:
"Athens Andover" is a pretty unlikely collaboration between the English pub-rockers (punkers) the Troggs and superstars REM. The result is surprisingly succesfull. The sound is still very much the Troggs, but with a great touch of REM finesse.
Reg Presley's vocals are as good as ever, and the production beats anything the Troggs have recorded before. With Pete Buck, Mick Mills, Bill Berry, Peter Holsapple to help the Troggs the musicanship is top-notch.
Reg Resley is also a fine ( occasionally brilliant ) songwriter. His songs "Together" and "Suspicious" are great , but his finest contribution here is "Don't You Know" , which is as good as his classic hits "Love is All Around" and "Anyway You Want Me"
Chip Taylor, who wrote the Troggs' break-through single "Wild Thing", has supplied the fine "Crazy Annie", a slow-rocker with the well-known Troggs beat-hook. I sure would have liked to see her dance!
Producer Larry Page wrote 2 of the tracks (with guitarist Daniel Boone) - the two straight-ahead rockers "Turned Into Stone" and "Hot Stuff" Tone Shevlin wrote the nostalgic "Deja Vu" with several lyric lines from old Troggs history. Another highlight of the album.
The REM people wrote the dramatic cynical "Nowhere Road" ( great lyrics ) - this must be live-favorite. A big shame so few people know about this album, and I certainly agree with Larry Page's liner-notes "A Landmark in R&R History"
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