The Flamin’ Groovies “Sneakers”
This was their 10 inch 7 song debut, released in early 1968. Throughout their career the Flamin’ Groovies went through multiple phases though many feel that the Sneakers to Teenage Head era was the band’s finest. During this period the band produced some of the best proto punk hard rock records around.
In the late 70’s people started realizing the band’s importance and influence on the emerging punk scene. The band finally received an enormous amount of respect from the rock press during this period. This late 70’s version was led by Cyril Jordan, releasing a trio of superb British Invasion style garage albums. The Sneakers/Roy Loney led Flamin’ Groovies were a totally different animal. They resided in San Fransisco and played a greasy old fashioned brand of rock n roll that was also influenced by monster British Invasion bands such as the The Who, Rolling Stones and Kinks (started circa 1965/66). The Groovies played the same psychedelic ballrooms as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, thus making them hopelessly out of step with the acid daze.
This little album will most likely appeal to psych fans though, as there are plenty of excellent fuzz solos traded through Sneaker’s seven songs. Some of the songs have a charming Lovin’ Spoonful folk-rock jugband influence as heard on Lovetime and Babes In The Sky. My Yada is somewhat similar and a definite highlight, being the strangest amalgam of jugband music and psychedelia ever recorded. Golden Clouds, I’m Drowning and Slider are the real highlights. The Groovies recklessly blast through these Roy Loney originals.
They are perfect mixtures of 1967 Rolling Stones and 50’s Sun label rockabilly sound spiked with a tinge of San Fransisco acid.
I have to point out Golden Clouds in particular. It sounds like a classic, the band in all their glory, something you would have heard late at night on underground radio. The guitar solo is positively brilliant, Loney’s vocals surge and strut with confidence and it puts to shame many of today’s more vaunted, though unoriginal corporate cheese acts like the White Stripes, Strokes, Black Keys, and John Spencer.
This 10 inch album was the first of four releases from the Roy Loney era Groovies. During this period their lineup also included Cyril Jordan, Danny Mihm, Tim Lynch and George Alexander. Although they would release two bonafide classics in Flamingo and Teenage Head, Sneakers remains their most honest, fun record to date.
“Golden Clouds”
[ @ iTunes | Groovies Greatest Grooves (avoid bootleg of Sneakers)
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heh, i actually kinda resent the comment about the black keys. sure, alot of ‘newer’ garage revival (especially the strokes, maybe even mooney suzuki) is pretty corporate… i assure you that the black keys are not. they just got popular. early albums are super low fi and gritty as hell (basement recordings, no overdubs) and they were seriously committed to playing the blues. i would consider them more “blues” than pretty much any blues artist to come out for the last 30 years. it’s not polished, clean or bombastic (i.e. the whole history of electric blues)
the black keys, to me, have more in tune with delta blues and real gritty early blues than garage rock. their roots to junior kimbrough and such can certainly be felt.
hi tim. that sounds like a pretty solid defense of the black keys. i’ve personally never checked them out, but this description piques my interest. maybe i’ll pick something up when they hit the 15 year quota! jk. thanks for reading and commenting!
oh lol at calling the white stripes unoriginal coporate cheese. and the black keys. and the strokes. come on, they have been around quite some time… the only coporate cheese is recent “indie rock” music being pumped out by the truckload i.e. the kooks and the view.
I couldn’t speak for Jason, but I agree with you somewhat. White Strips and Strokes deserve their place in history, howevr, rewind five years and they weren’t so diff from your ‘truckload’ bands!
Roy Loney wrote the Flamin’ Groovies’ song Golden Clouds after spending a month in Jamaica in the winter of 1966. He was originally hired to write some of the score for the movie Dr. No., which was being filmed in Jamaica at the time (his uncle was the producer). He stayed at the villa Golden Clouds, in Oracabessa, and wrote the song one evening while sitting on the terrace watching the sunset. He brought the song back to the rest of the band and they recorded it shortly after.
Love that here at the 9 year mark the Black Keys have turned into a lameass corporate dance rock DOUCHEFEST… Ha! So much for staying true to the blues… Long live the FLAMIN’ GROOVIES!