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The Troggs — The Trogg Tapes
(Liberation Hall 5076, 1976/2022, LP)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2022-06-01

The Trogg Tapes Cover art

The Troggs were a British pre-punk garage band formed in May 1964. In 1966 they had a runaway hit with “Wild Thing,” which ranks at 257 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Powered by  Reg Presley’s gritty punk vocals, The Troggs had a great influence on bands that came after them. There is a bootleg tape recorded in 1970 that has been floating around for years called The Troggs Tapes, consisting of band members arguing over the recording of a song, with frequent profanity. And it’s become one of the best-known spoken-word bootleg recordings, influencing work such as the film This Is Spinal Tap. This new reissue on Liberation Hall is not that tape. Instead it consists of songs recorded in 1976, released with a similar name to cash in on the legendary bootleg. Unfortunately, this cobbled together set of eleven songs is a flawed album. Lead vocalist Reg Presley only sings on nine of the songs, ranging from his sexually charged gritty vocals to laid back soft rock. The first five songs, “Get You Tonight,” "We Rode through the NIght,” “A Different Me,” “Down South in Georgia,” and “Gonna Make You,” are fairly decent songs. And the final song is a great cover of  “Walkin’ the Dog.” But in between are some truly horrible songs, such as “Supergirl” with the insipid lines “Her love light’s a laser beam” and “she’s a supersonic sex machine.” Groan!  The Trogg Tapes have been reissued in multiple formats over the years. It looks like the album has been out of print since 2008, until the 2022 Liberation Hall reissue. If you love “Wild Thing” and are looking for something similar, there is no need to invest in The Trogg Tapes. This album is only for completists.

Filed under: Reissues, 2022 releases, 1976 recordings

Related artist(s): The Troggs

 

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