Flamin’ Groovies did more than rock some action at Teenage Head

Almost before “High Flyin’ Baby” gets a chance to settle in, “City Lights” comes out of a backwoods country saloon. All daydreams and moonlight, this wandering ambler puts his bumpkin and Stetson hat rival’s stuff in the bright lights of the big city. It’s the romantic New York City that Loney sings of longing to visit, one of neon lights, movie stars in big fur coats, and “the tallest government building / where the plane shot that big monkey.” Even if he doesn’t bite into that Big Apple again, we can appreciate the band’s confidence in going slow, sad rather than relying solely on garage noise and chaos. Jim Dickinson, who also plays with “Wild Horses” since Sticky Fingersit lends the dreamy piano to the barroom call of the city siren, and the Groovies sound like The Band-lite as the others join Loney on harmonies as the song winds down. Only two songs in Head of Youthand it became clear that this earlier version of the Groovies would not be easily suppressed.

Like many rock outfits of the era, revivalist groups like the Flamin’ Groovies knew the cover song. The third song in the Head of Youth“Have You Seen My Baby?,” catches them riding a riverboat to New Orleans to cover the 1970 Fats Domino B-side, written and performed by a young Randy Newman. The team manages to keep track integrity going as the V8 drops into the kart. They turn up the garage racket, turn the piano, and cry and cry until the milkman drops “The Baby” home. In typical Groovies fashion, it sounds like the band is speeding through the song. The group also shows their respect for the Delta blues by honoring Robert Johnson with their cover of “32-20.” Loney revamps the lyrics (mostly removing “Baby” from his killer .38 special) while Jordan’s slide guitar explodes this sleazy track into a stunner that most people won’t think is the greatest in the group.

“Yesterday’s Numbers” is the Groovies’ well-mixed and irrepressible. Alexander’s bass thumps like a finger in the chest as Loney insists, “I wanna know you better / Know your heaven, baby, know your hell” as the chorus drips with Jordan’s guitar and beautiful vocals. And for this difficult collaboration, the band still chooses to have a cathartic group scream in the middle of the song and leave a lot of screams for the last time, including a beautiful declaration that “all is well” when the song comes to a merciful rest. Likewise, Lynch’s squawking harmonica drives the title track, making Loney’s dirty lines (e.g. “I’m a young love machine”) sound even more passionate. In the middle of “Teenage Head,” the song takes a dramatic turn from roadhouse to arena for a fuzzy, indecipherable guitar riff before returning to its original state. It may be in part because of these kinds of left-field attractions that Groovies rarely grow old and tend to defy genre even as they create pastiches.

The stretching back of Head of Youth it sees the band playing the retro game more straight. After “32-20.,” the jittery rockabilly of “Evil Hearted Ada” finds Loney crying, crying, and hiccuping like Elvis Presley with his “sassy” and “sly” wife, including a spectacular final performance that sounds like he’s closing a Vegas show before hitting the table. They didn’t learn this down in the bayou, but it’s still a lot of fun. The same cannot be said for the next song, “Dr. Boogie.” Although the group is holding their own and Loney promises us that he will “keep crying until they quit. [him] in a hearse,” it’s hard not to jump over this one. It’s an example of the Groovies bringing the chops but not the incredible chutzpah that makes them memorable.

If one song could replace “Shake Some Action” as the Groovies’ signature number, closer “Whiskey Woman” would be it. It’s a band that hits on something amazing, their “Free Bird” moment. A gentle drumming drops us into a thick, swampy rocker, with Loney sounding like he’s singing out of a can and the band’s vocals float like mist over sand. “As I sit and write this song,” Loney sings wistfully. “You’re the only thing on my mind.” Longing may not be the most difficult of concepts, but the front man really sells it here. As the band accelerates and accelerates toward the record’s final track, Loney sounds like a desperate man (“I’m looking for you / Where are you?”) walking through a suitcase as he pursues his lover. The song fades away before the quest ends or the group dwindles, leaving us to believe that the whiskey woman is still missing.

The history of the Flamin’ Groovies can be told as a tale of two bands. Original members Loney and Lynch left the group shortly after the world failed to wrap their noggins around Head of Youth. Jordan would be the driving force behind the outfit from then on, bringing in Chris Wilson to fill in for Loney as the front man. Together, the new Groovies would abandon the raw, soulful blues sound that had once held Jagger in favor of leaning more heavily on pop and reinventing the sounds of the British Invasion. It’s the revolution that brought us “Shake Some Action” and shaped how we still remember the Flamin’ Groovies all these years later. Some nights, though, it’s those city lights and a whiskey woman that take us back to the high flyin’ days. Head of Youth.