The Troggs - Love is all Around

Album: Single (Fontana, 1966) Chart pos: UK#5 US#7

Ampshires finest.



Reg Presley the lead singer of The Troggs is an odd fellow. When Wet Wet Wet ruined covered Love is All Around he was in for a huge royalty cheque as the song spent most of 1994 in the charts. Most sane people would re-do the kitchen or buy a new house, but good old Reg had to be different by using his royalties to fund research into the results of drunken actions by Wiltshire drunkards aka Crop Circles (excuse my cynicism).

Unlike Wet Wet Wet's bombastic and overproduced version, the original version feels much more pared down with the basic guitars and comparatively slight strings. This brings credence to Reg's claim that he wrote this in 10 minutes, but yet again sometimes the simplest songs can be the most effective.

REM did an acoustic version of the song, interestingly enough the Troggs and REM collaborated on an album together in the early 90's.