''Athens Andover'' is a collaborative album between

the Troggs The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English beat music band formed in Andover, Hampshire, in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", " With a Girl Like You" and " Love Is All Around", al ...

and what was then three-quarters of

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...

Released in March 1992, the name of the album is derived from the hometowns of the two bands:

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the River Test, Test, and lies alongside the major A303 road, A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, ...

, in England, and

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

, in the United States. The joining of forces was sparked by R.E.M.'s covering the Troggs' single "

Love Is All Around "Love Is All Around" is a song recorded by English rock band the Troggs. Released as a single in October 1967, it was a top-ten hit in both the UK and US. "Love Is All Around" has been covered by numerous artists, including R.E.M., with w ...

" in live performances during promotion for the former's album '' Out of Time'' (1991). One such performance, on the American

radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production, or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netw ...

''Rockline'' in April 1991, was released as a B-side on R.E.M.'s single " Radio Song". "We'd just done a show in a hotel, and as the lift door opened there was this crowd waiting for autographs and someone shouted out, 'What do you think of R.E.M. doing your record?'" explained Troggs frontman

Reg Presley Reginald Maurice Ball (12 June 1941 – 4 February 2013), known professionally as Reg Presley, was an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer with the 1960s rock and roll band the Troggs, whose hits included "Wild Thing (The Troggs ...

to ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine focussing on rare and collectable records, and the bands who recorded them. It was founded in September 1979 and distributes worldwide. It is promoted as "the world’s leading authority o ...

'' editor

Peter Doggett Peter Doggett (born 30 June 1957) is an English music journalist, author and magazine editor. He began his career in music journalism in 1980, when he joined the London-based magazine '' Record Collector''. He subsequently served as the editor ...

.Taken from the liner notes to ''Athens, Georgia & Beyond'' "Well, I hadn’t heard of R.E.M. But my manager had, so he suggested working with them on our new album. And when I listened to their records, I thought they weren’t far removed from what we were doing when we started. They invited me and Chris over to Athens to work with them for a week. By this time I'd realised quite how big they were, and so we spent the first five minutes walking around one another going, 'Wow'. It was quite different working with them. With the Troggs it had always just been you had a guitar and so you had a sound. With them, you had a roomful of 65 guitars to get exactly the right sound. They were very laid back, very normal. There was no high falutin sort of, 'Listen to this 'cos we’re better than you.' After all, their drummer was selling hamburgers until a few weeks before they made it. He was doing quite well with his own business. Having been a roofer when " Wild Thing" hit the charts, I could relate to that." Recording took place over a one-week period in September 1991 at John Keane's Studio in Athens.

Bill Berry William Thomas Berry (born July 31, 1958) is an American musician who was the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. Although best known for his economical drumming style, Berry also played other instruments, including guitar, bass guita ...

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., hi ...

and

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...

made up the R.E.M. contingent. Vocalist

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Stipe was born in Metro Atlanta in January 1960. Due to his father's militar ...

was not involved. "Nowhere Road" was composed by the R.E.M. trio along with

Peter Holsapple Peter Livingston Holsapple (born February 19, 1956) is an American musician who, along with Chris Stamey, formed the dB's, a jangle-pop band from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, ...

The dB's The dB's are an American alternative Rock music, rock and power pop group, who formed in New York City in 1978 and first came to prominence in the early 1980s. Their debut album ''Stands for Decibels'' is acclaimed as one of the great "lost" pow ...

, who was R.E.M.'s auxiliary musician for their 1991 tour. The album was re-released by the Troggs as ''Athens, Georgia & Beyond'' (1996) with seven additional tracks not recorded during the R.E.M. collaboration.

Track listing

#"Crazy Annie" (

Chip Taylor Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight; March 21, 1940) is an American songwriter and singer noted for writing " Angel of the Morning" and " Wild Thing". He is the paternal uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and former actor James Haven. He is the ...

) – 4:43 #"Together" (

) – 4:01 #"Tuned into Love" (

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...

Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American businessman, computer engineer and computer scientist best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was chief executive officer of Google from 1997 until August 2001 when ...

) – 3:39 #"Déjà Vu" (Tony James Shevlin) – 3:33 #"Nowhere Road" (

) – 4:44 #"Dustbowl" (Presley) – 3:26 #"I'm in Control" (Holsapple) – 3:51 #"Don't You Know" (Presley) – 4:06 #"What's Your Game" (Presley) – 4:56 #"Suspicious" (Presley) – 4:22 #"Hot Stuff" (Boone, Page) – 4:02

Personnel

– lead vocals * Chris Britton – acoustic and electric guitars, backing vocals, bass * Peter Lucas – acoustic and electric guitars, backing vocals, bass *

– acoustic, 12-string and electric guitars, mandolin *

– acoustic, 12-string and electric guitars * John Keane – pedal steel, electric and slide guitars, backing vocals *

– electric guitar, backing vocals *

– bass, organ, accordion * Dave Maggs – drums *

– drums, percussion ;Technical *David Baker, John Keane - engineer *Brian Burrows, Larry Page - sleeve concept *Brian Burrows - sleeve design, typesetting

Notes

References

* ''Athens Andover'' at AllMusic.com {{Authority control 1992 collaborative albums The Troggs albums Rhino Entertainment albums R.E.M. Albums produced by Larry Page (singer)