Flamin' Groovies! C or D?

I heart the 5 6 7 8s.

search - teenage head, flamingo, the two recent Norton records comps (the rarities one and the live one), the GoldStar sessions, Shake Some Action (the "we wanna be the Beatles" lp) and Jumpin in the Night (the "no, we wanna be the Rolling Stones" LP).

damage, slightly (can't quite bring myself to destroy any) - Sneakers (the self-issued first EP), Rock Juice, and the other sad little things they put out in the 90s.

While living in SF, I saw Roy Loney around town a few times. He was playing with a bunch of ex-Groovies in a band called the Fondellas for a while. Sounded much like the "Teenage Head" era band. I like both the R&B meets the MC5 era stuff AND the British Invasion- ish period stuff. Vacillate randomly between them, depending on mood, etc.

After Loney left, "Shake Some Action" was mostly good, in part due to Dave Edmunds, I wager. "Now" has just been redone. I don't miss it from my collection although I did like the cover of "House of Blue Lights."

Loney without the rest of the Groovies is uneven, too. Some Phantom Movers cuts are good, some are totally nondescript. Not motivated enough to categorize since I never listen to them anymore.

I saw Flamin Groovies guitarist Cyril Jordan with his current garage and a bit of power pop band Magic Christian last night. Fun fun fun. Eddie Muñoz from L.A. band The Plimsouls is on bass and Clem Burke from Blondie is drumming. They closed with a great version of "Shake Some Action." The singer is real good too---effective voice and banging away on the tambourine.

"shake some action" is a great guitar song.
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, May 19, 2005 7:37 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark

I have always fought shy of using ILx to publicise the Hangover Lounge (which I help to run each week in London) but I am excited about the line-up we have this week, including Chris Wilson of the Flamin' Groovies. When we have live acts, they play completely unamplified: no microphones, no nothing. When it's awesome, it's awesome.

More details: http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL3pP29N-Wc

Fucking goddamn hell-ass shit I love this song.

How was the NYC show and the Maxwells in Hoboken one?

ny show had more energy than rhythm & coherence, but maybe that was always true? they seemed happy to be there, that's for sure. chris wilson did most of the talking, in accents that kept shifting among british, german, and american. he was tipsy and occasionally incoherent, rambling on for a minute or two after the band had left the stage. but he was clearly happy, and he had a unique sort of rock-god jig he'd sometimes break into. the two guitars sounded great together, cyril jordan still rocking that dan armstrong plexiglass model. voices a little worse for wear but still functional. slow death, the highlights from shake some action, teenage head, all the hits. cyril's got to be wearing a wig. that's a wig, right? great beatle boots too -- always the fashion plate. fun show, worth seeing.

I saw the Flamin' Groovies a couple of years ago, Roy Loney & Cyril Jordan line up, Chris Wilson came on to do a couple of songs inc Shake Some Action, he was one of the drunkest motherfuckers I'd even seen on stage in my life. They had to kind of manhandle him off after a couple of songs. Just before he went off he shouted "Flamin' Groovies forever!" into the mic. Chris Wilson OTM.

They seem like one of those bands the Replacements would have loved, but I've never heard anyone shout them out save Yo La Tengo. Oh, and Cracker covered "Shake Some Action" on ... the "Clueless" soundtrack?

In the early '80s they were always name-dropped a lot by critics and such (I vaguely recall)

they would be classic if this was the only thing they'd ever released

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIcmk8WA10A

I love bittersweet, I can't hide, babes in the sky and way over my head. love time is good too. need to hear more of their stuff though. any recommendations?

otoh, they'd be classic if this was the only thing they'd ever released

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkN9Nbr7XrY

lol, sure, why not post it again?

golden clouds and call me lightning are also excellent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXfsHztgH84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQPAEXe20jA

Quality Dylan cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu21t8pOMfs

yeah i guess shake some action b/w slow death is their greatest hit.

always like this, too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EwXq8rtmhI

are the 2014 flamin groovies worth $20? they're playing with the men tonight which is sort of an inspired pairing imo

I sadly missed their recent DC gig, but folks whose opinions I respect liked it (their complaints were more re the sound engineering that night).

I was at the DC show where they had sound problems, $20 is more than reasonable for those two bands.

awesome, thanks, let's see if i can motivate my lazy ass to go out on a monday

Wait, Groovies and Sonics played two shows in Brooklyn last November?

You gotta follow Miriam Linna and Billy Miller of Norton records on facebook...Interesting garage and more stuff even if one is not in NYC

Hm.

Really diggin Teenage Head rekkid tonight. Is there a recent vinyl reissue? I'm curious about the Ron Loney solo slab - is it any good?

There's a vinyl reissue on Norton, I think. Usually $16-20. There's a Roy Loney solo EP (Artistic As Hell) from the late 70s that's really good, acoustic guitars but rocking and basically a Groovies/Hot Knives reunion. I think the whole thing's on Youtube, worth checking out.

Cyril Jordan has had a series of memoirs of his early years published in Ugly Things. Not sure how many episodes so far but its traced through from early 60s to early 70s in about 5 segments so far. Very interesting so far.

Also not heard mention of material I have as A Bucketful of Brains the Rockfield Sessions unless it's been rereleased as something else. Recorded in Wales in I think 1972. Think it's good but not heard it in ages.

Coincidentally I have the fabric to make myself some Blackwatch tartan jeans. Have wanted a pair since Chris Wilson got some down the King's Rd when I was 15 and seeing him frequently at the Regal in Kensington Market.

new record coming from the groovies from what i understand...

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2015/08/the_flamin_groo_2.html

A Bucketful of Brains the Rockfield Sessions

I've heard this, it's good stuff. Also highly recommend the Slow Death (Amazing High Energy Rock'n'Roll) LP on Norton, super raw (in the best possible way) stuff recorded post-Loney but still sounds like Teenage Head/Flamingo era. A lot of material in common with the Rockfield album, though.

Yeah forgot to add that I got that Bucketful of Brains in a sale in the mid 90s I think. Which would possibly mean that it wasn't in catalogue much longer and the material was up for further reissue.

Oh it's actually different recordings, just a lot of songs in common I should've said. I think Rockfield's been reissued on CD with Sneakers though.

Yeah, even "Shake some action" has a few released versions.

They are doing some November US tour dates

Has anyone seen them live recently? Chris Wilson's voice seems to be absolutely shot

A friend of mine who can be picky saw them a year or so ago, and mostly just complained about the sound system. So maybe that disguised his vocal issues

Was it here that somebody was going on about Chris being noticeably drunk on stage?
I think it may be something he had trouble with before. Think he said something to me when I was drinking in the mid 80s and bumping into him around London. Hope he's ok he was a nice guy when I was acquainted with him.

Brief interview w/Chris Wilson: http://www.downtownmagazinenyc.com/the-flamin-groovies-chris-wilson-talks-about-the-upcoming-tour-album-and-documentary/

Saw the Flamin Groovies last night for the first time. Fun but not amazing. Chris' voice was not that impressive last night; and he was drinking. On their encore, the Stones "Jumpin Jack Flash" he sounded like he could have been any barband vocalist. They did covers of the Byrds, NRBQ and Freddie Boom Cannon ("Tallahassee Lassie") and maybe a another 1 or 2, that I forgot. "Slow Death" and "Shake Some Action" were fun

Roy Loney RIP

Roberta Bayley on FB:

Very sad news. Roy Loney, the original singer of the legendary Flamin' Groovies has died. Only minutes ago. Roy was a great talent, as a songwriter and performer, and a great friend. He was hospitalized last week, and I spoke to him Wednesday. He was in good spirits. He had a surgery this morning and never came out of it. Sorry, I have no other details. Roy will surely be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

Oh no, RIP Roy.

RIP

Recently been picking up faves on vinyl for DJ'ing purposes, and one of my most prized recent acquisitions is the late 70s Euro twofer of Flamingo & Teenage Head, which is currently on my turntable.

RIP

much better band than the Rolling Stones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL3pP29N-Wc

I guess he wasn't part of "Shake Some Action," but I've always loved this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHfDjeGHtWI

may i recommend everyone check out Roy's Artistic as Hell EP, which was more or less a Groovies reunion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDB1kXNXCF4

But please don't drive the price up on Discogs

glad i got the chance to see him and cyril fronting the a-bones at brooklyn's southpaw club. the very next day i remember spying him in the audience at at free performance by lee konitz in uptown manhattan.

cool