The Flamin' Groovies - Flamingo & Teenage Head

When ya talk about some of the best r'n'r in the 70's, you cannot forget about the Flamin' Groovies! Long before the turned into a 60's revival band (which they did very well), they were a high-energy, somewhat-rockabilly influenced r'n'r combo!
At the time when most bands were doing endless jams, these crazed Northern Californians looked back to the 50's, through a little bit of everything that had happened since then, and came up with an incredibly original, incredibly fun sound!
Frankly, i'm not sure which record came out first, since i discovered them both about the same time (i believe that fellow Gizmo, Kenne Highland might have even given me these records!).

Teenage Head contains the unforgettable, growling title cut, which has been covered by so many bands, that it would be pretty amazing if you haven't heard it by now! "32-20" is a superb Robert Johnson cover, "Yesterday's Numbers" features acoustic guitars, but retains some wild screams (and ends with the line "all's well that ends well"!), "Evil Hearted Ada" is almost traditional rockabilly, "Doctor Boogie" is just cool rock'n'roll! They round out the record with a few mid-tempo/ballady songs that are still great tunes in an almost Rolling Stones-y way. In fact, "Whiskey Woman" starts off as a sensitive ballads and winds up in a wild rave up! Great stuff!


Flamingo opens with the wild "Gonna Rock Tonight" (which i covered in the Egomaniacs on a Groovies tribute album) that sets the tone for the whole record. "Headin' For The Texas Border" & "Second Cousin" are probably among the best songs of the 70's! Again, there are some slow songs on here, as well, but they never lose their edge and every song is memorable!
They put out a few other records before Roy Loney split as lead singer and they moved into their 60's pop style, including another oft-covered masterpiece, "Slow Death", but these are the two stand out albums for me. The CD reissues include cuts from other, rare released and even a couple of unreleased songs.