Don't mistake the title of this album,
The Trogg Tapes, for that 12-minute talking studio digression
New Rose Records released (with no track listing) on
The Troggs on 45's EP. Perhaps cashing in on that fun debacle's underground buzz, the band releases 11 tracks that are pure
Troggs. With singer
Reg Presley and late drummer
Ronnie Bond on board, original producer/manager
Larry Page puts together an exciting 1976 album which has a simple raw sound, perfect for the
new wave. As
Larry Uttal's
Private Stock label couldn't do much with
Blondie, this innovative disc went nowhere as well and the shame of it is that there's some great
rock & roll in these grooves. Bassist
Tony Murray and co-guitarist
Colin Fletcher come up with a decent
pop ballad in
"After the Rain," while
Rufus Thomas'
"Walking the Dog" is so primitive that it is too bad
the Rolling Stones and
Aerosmith didn't get to hear it before they tracked the tune for their respective debut albums. The snarling guitars of
Fletcher and
Richard Moore create a wonderful platform for
Reg Presley's distinctive grunts and growls. Sure,
Marc Bolan was the visionary that
Reg Presley is not, but with
the Troggs having three Top 30 hits to
Bolan's one in America, and with quality underground stuff like this, the band should have been able to do more than issue discs for a cult following. Producer
Larry Page and guitarist
Colin Fletcher come up with a great track in
"Gonna Make You," while sea effects on
"I'll Buy You an Island," courtesy of the English Channel, is the cool, earthy stuff that made
the Troggs such an important fringe band. The back of the LP has a tape box a la
the Velvet Underground's
Peel Slowly and See, while the front has the group sitting in a mini-mountain of unspooled recording tape. Drummer
Ronnie Bond is no longer with us, but he gets to sing the vocal on
"Rolling Stone," one of two titles he co-writes with
Tony Murray. There are only two
Reg Presley originals here, but his attitude is everywhere, from the
punk of
"Rock 'N' Roll Lady" to the fine leadoff track
"Get You Tonight." Had
Private Stock saturated college radio with a collector's-item disc, say a colored vinyl 45 of
"Get You Tonight," this excellent artifact would have had a fighting chance. It doesn't have the angst or abandon of
the Sex Pistols'
Never Mind the Bullocks nor does it have the pretension of some of
the Clash's material; it's a consistent recording of a band doing what they do very well, and on that level it works just fine. ~ Joe Viglione
