The Troggs: From Andover, with love
He wrote “Love Is All Around” 26 years ago, and to this day, Troggs lead singer Reg Presley still receives weekly requests from artists wanting to do cover versions.
“What was sent to me recently was ‘Love Is All Around’ done in reggae, by an Australian band,” he said, laughing, in a recent phone interview from his home in Andover, England. “I can’t believe it … and it sounds quite good, actually.”
None have matched the success of Scottish pop quartet Wet Wet Wet, whose “Love” version was used in the popular film “Four Weddings and a Funeral” earlier this year. The single topped the British chart for 14 weeks, the second-longest reign there in rock history, behind Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You.” In America, “Love” hasn’t fared as well, barely missing out on the Top 40, but it remains on the Billboard chart after 17 weeks.
The original, which peaked in America at No. 7 in 1968, appears on a new 12-track compilation, “The Best of The Troggs” (Fontana).
“Love Is All Around” was released two years after the rock quartet scored a stateside No. 1 with the raunchy “Wild Thing.” Many thought “Love” suited the flower-power era, but Presley said it was more personal than that.
“I had just come back from a long tour … it was a Sunday and the television was on when I walked into the room after a heavy English lunch, as it were,” he said. “It was nice to be home. The telly was on, and I went to slop down on the sofa.
“Playing on the box was a Salvation Army band called the Joy Strings. They were shaking their tambourines and singing about love, and immediately I had an idea. I rushed to turn the TV off so I could think about it.
“The song was written in about 15 or 20 minutes. It was one of the fastest ones I had ever written.”
The song’s longevity is easy to explain, Presley said. “It doesn’t offend anybody in any way, and you don’t readily get fed up with it very quickly either. It’s just one of those things.”
About the Author
Gerry Galipault Gerry Galipault debuted Pause & Play online in October 1997. Since then, it has become the definitive place for CD-release dates — with a worldwide audience.
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