The Troggs - From Nowhere (1966/2019)

The Troggs' debut British LP was substantially different, and distinctly inferior to, their first American long-player (Wild Thing), although eight of the songs appear on both records. The tracks unique to the British edition are all covers: "Ride Your Pony" and the obscure "The Kitty Cat Song" (both taken from Lee Dorsey), "Louie Louie," and Chuck Berry's "Jaguar and Thunderbird." And none of them are so hot. "Wild Thing" is the highlight of the disc, and the rest of the set is a mixed bag, peaks being the primordial power of "From Home" and "I Just Sing," as well "Jingle Jangle," the first of Reg Presley's tuneful ballads. The vaudevillian "Hi Hi Hazel," on the other hand, is a lowlight. There's no "Lost Girl," "With a Girl Like You," or "I Want You," all of which made the U.S. Wild Thing a better counterpart to this release, although this didn't prevent From Nowhere from rising to number six in the British charts. All of the good tracks appear on Archeology, but if you want the material anyway, it's been paired with their second British LP, Trogglodynamite, on a single-CD reissue on BGO.