Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action - 1976


A lot had happened with the Flamin' Groovies in the nearly five years that separated the epochal Teenage Head album and their return to American record racks with Shake Some Action. The Groovies lost their record deal with Buddah, lead singer Roy Loney had quit the band leaving Cyril Jordan as uncontested leader, and they had spent a lot of time in Europe, building a significant following in the United Kingdom. As a result, the Flamin' Groovies on Shake Some Action almost sound like a different band, albeit one driven by a similar obsession with the utter coolness of pre-hippie rock & roll. (The fact that Jordan and bassist George Alexander were the only holdovers from the Teenage Head lineup probably had a lot to do with the different approach as well.) The rawer blues and rockabilly accents were gone from the Groovies' sound, with the guitar-fueled cool of the British Invasion era taking their place. While this version of the Flamin' Groovies didn't rock out with the same manic fervor as they did on Flamingo or Teenage Head, they could indeed rock when they felt so inclined, as demonstrated by the glorious "Please Please Girl," "I Can't Hide," and "Let the Boy Rock and Roll," while the Brit-flavored take on "St. Louis Blues" showed that some shades of the old band were still visible. And the title cut was a stunner — a brilliant evocation of the adventurous side of British rock circa 1966, "Shake Some Action" was tough, moody, wounded, and gloriously melodic all at once, and by its lonesome served as a superb justification for the Groovies' new creative direction. If Shake Some Action was the first salvo from the new and improved Flamin' Groovies, it also demonstrated that this edition of the band had as much promise as the Loney-fronted group. -AMG

If you like "Shake Some Action" get it here!

7 comments:

Gyro1966 said...

Thanks for a very cool blog. I notice that this album has 9 tracks when DL. I have also seen this Cd with 14 tracks. Do you have the additional 5 tracks. (BTW- I have every good Groovies album and CD, including this one, of course.)

vex_voxtone said...

Ultimate powerpop masterpiece !!!

Curty Ray said...

Thanks for the comments. Here is the corrected link. I am sorry for any problems.

http://rapidshare.com/files/118802423/Shake_Some_Action.rar.html

Doug said...

In 1976 this record changed my total approach to music. Before hand I wanted to form a Deep Purple cover band, after it I formed one of America's first punk groups, QUITE A LEAP!

Let's just say it had a huge influence on me and leave it at that.

bobbysu said...

thank you very much

huskyfrk said...

30 plus years and it is still in rotation on my stereo system, and in my cars and trucks. great songwriting team of jordan/wilson. so underrated. only 30plus years on, is cyril getting respect from the likes of little steven and others.

Roadrunner said...

Always leave relegated this album. just listen to some songs separately. Thank you very much

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