An influential manager and producer during the British Invasion,
Larry Page (born
Lenny Davis) did a lot for the
Kinks in their early career, although he was muscled out of the picture after their first couple of years of success. He had a lengthier relationship with the
Troggs, whom he produced in the 1966-1968 period that yielded their big hits.
Page also made some forgotten teen idol records as a singer in the pre-
Beatles era, and issued an album of instrumental versions of
Kinks songs under the name
Larry Page Orchestra.
Page made some records as a prospective teen idol in the late '50s, although his vocals and records weren't highly rated.
Bruce Welch of the
Shadows, in fact, described
Page as "the worst singer I ever heard in my life." He got more attention for his blue-tinted hair than his music, and got into music on the business side, working for music publisher
Eddie Kassner. He entered a complicated management arrangement with the
Kinks whereby he shared management duties with two others (Robert Wace and Grenville Collins), also helping place their compositions with other artists.
Page even got co-writing credits with
Ray Davies for one early
Kinks track, "Revenge."
Page, however, was soon at odds with the other
Kinks managers and with the
Kinks' producer,
Shel Talmy. Then there was bad feeling between him and the
Kinks after a difficult 1965 tour of America, during which
Page and
Ray Davies had a big falling out.
Page had produced some demos with the
Kinks in the States, which engendered bad feelings between him and
Talmy. The
Kinks extracted themselves from their management deal with
Page in favor of having Wace and
Collins handle their affairs without assistance, but at great cost, with the ensuing legal battles dragging on until 1968. In the midst of this madness,
Page had managed to organize an instrumental album of
Kinks covers,
Kinky Music, credited to the
Larry Page Orchestra. This was of interest to collectors for the presence of a
Dave Davies composition, "One Fine Day," that the
Kinks never recorded, although a vocal version appeared by British singer
Shel Naylor, another of
Page's charges.
Page wasn't reliant upon the
Kinks for income; he also had success helping to organize tours of the U.K. by American artists like
Sonny & Cher and
Bob Lind. By 1966,
Page was managing the
Troggs, who had a massive international hit that year with their second single, "Wild Thing." With the
Troggs,
Page was also able to take the reins as their studio producer, and it's likely he learned some lessons well from his tenure with the
Kinks, as "Wild Thing" had the same kind of riff-driven power chords characteristic of early
Kinks hits, executed in a cruder fashion. Most of the
Troggs' releases, through the early '70s, would appear on
Page's own record label, Page One (though these were often licensed to Fontana or Atco in the U.S.).
Managers extending their duties to producing do not always make a good go of it, finding themselves out of their depth. From what's in the grooves, it seems that
Page was more able than most; perhaps he was aided by his previous experience as a recording artist and cutting demos with the
Kinks. The
Troggs' best recordings had an appealingly raw and crunchy guitar sound with salacious vocals, but were always tightly focused and riff-driven, so as to capture the imagination of pop listeners. Occasionally they could also employ orchestration effectively, most famously on "Love Is All Around," but also on lesser-known sides like "Any Way That You Want Me." Of course managers also, more so in those days than in the present, were sometimes able to get their own compositions recorded by their clients and generate royalties.
Page did this with the
Troggs, though never on their hits. The
Troggs didn't like some of
Page's material, but he actually wrote or co-wrote some of their decent B-sides and album tracks, like "I Want You," "Gonna Make You," "Girl in Black," and the lovely "Cousin Jane."
Page's management contract with the
Troggs, however, was terminated in court in 1967, in a confusing and acrimonious manner reminiscent of his difficulties with the
Kinks. The group still had to honor their recording contract with the Page One label, though, with
Page as producer, which must have made for some pretty tense moments, although "Love Is All Around" was done during this period. Tired of the litigation arising from his most successful groups,
Page subsequently concentrated on less cutting-edge acts and projects, including novelty records and singer
Daniel Boone. In a strange turn of events he reassumed management duties for the
Troggs in the '70s, and in an even stranger affair, he took over management of the
Kinks in the mid-'80s.
–
Richie Unterberger, Rovi