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,
on
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
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
didn't rock out with the same manic fervor as they did on
Flamingo
or
, they could indeed rock when they felt so inclined, as demonstrated by the glorious
"Please Please Girl,"
"I Can't Hide,"
"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
' new creative direction. If
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. ~ Mark Deming