20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection [Original recording remastered]

Troggs | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 2, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B0001GOHHK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,979 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars British Invasion beyond the two U.S. hits, March 17, 2004

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

The Troggs may be familiar for their garage rock anthem, "Wild Thing," and their post-Summer-of-love 1968 flower-power hit "Love is All Around," but there is more to be heard in between - something that Oldies radio's tight playlists doesn't reveal to modern-day listeners.

Mercury's eleven track collection provides several of the missing pieces, starting with the band's five UK-only chart hits. These include the stellar "With a Girl Like You," the Chip Taylor penned "Any Way That You Want Me," and the superb bubblegum-pop "Give it to Me." Also included are the Louie Louie styled rocker "I Want You" and the original ballads "Little Girl" and "You Can Cry if You Want To."

Though they never achieved the fame of contemporaries like The Kinks, The Troggs certainly had more to offer than a pair of hits would lead you to believe. This collection takes in the obvious highpoints, which is probably enough for those just wanting to get beyond the shorthand of Oldies radio. All tracks in gloriously punchy AM-ready mono!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars British garage rock, August 1, 2005

By 

Stephen Cabral (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

The Troggs were a British garage rock back that also had its fair share of bubblegum tunes and ballads. Of course, they're best known for their garage rock anthem "Wild Thing" which knocked Tommy James' "Hanky Panky" off the top of the Billboard Top 40 chart. It was written by an American, Chip Taylor who also had a huge hit with "Angel of the Morning."

The Troggs also had one other huge hit, the ballad "Love Is All Around" which peaked at #2. I've heard this song a million times but I never realized it was them. The rest of this 11 song collection is a mixed bag with the strongest cuts being the very catchy "With A Girl Like You", "I Want You" which sounds like "Wild Thing" meets "Louie Louie" and "I Can't Control Myself". This song was banned on many American radio stations as being too orgasmic. You mustn't ever be too orgasmic.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes, the Troggs recorded other songs than just "Wild Thing", August 5, 2005

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

The Troggs are rock 'n' roll immortals on the strength of one song, namely their only #1 hit single, "Wild Thing." This is, of course, the three-chord song that Jimi Hendrix was playing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival when he set his guitar on fire and what the Cleveland Indians play every thing "Wild Thing" Vaughn comes in to the game to pitch in "Major Leagues." With the Troggs we are talking proto-punk, and the only problem with "20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best ofthe Troggs" is that we only have 11 total tracks here, which is barely enough to give you a taste of what the group really sounded like once you got beyond their signature song.

The problem with the Troggs is that once you get past "Wild Thing" most people will be hard pressed to name another song the group recorded and the best offerings here are certainly not similar to "Wild Thing" in sound. "Love Is All Around" is their second best song, the only other Troggs tune to crack the Top 5 in the U.S.A., and it is a flower power ballad, which is as far from caveman rock as you can get. "With a Girl Like You" and "I Can't Control Myself," are the best songs on the next tier, and the common denominator is that all three of these songs were written by lead singer and guitarist Reg Presley (Chip Taylor wrote "Wild Thing," originally recorded by a New York group called The Wild Ones). So the big irony with the Troggs is that their signature song is the musical exception to the group's sound. However, there is a commonality in terms of their lyrics, where Presley often manages to introduce an element of lust in the equation.

The Troggs were formed in Andover, England, and were always much more successful on that side of the Pond (the group rarely toured in the U.S.). However, by the 1970s they were on their way out, mainly because they were keeping things relatively simple at a time that progressive rock was sweeping the English music scene. This hits collection does give you a taste of what else they did, and although it is is missing their covers of "Good Vibrations" and R.E.M.'s "Nowhere Road" from the later years it does have "Night of the Long Grass," which makes this collection slightly better than their other main hits collection.