{"id":7660,"date":"2026-06-05T13:42:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7660"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:06:00","slug":"shindig-176-flamin-groovies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7660","title":{"rendered":"Shindig! #176 \u2013 Flamin&#8217; Groovies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>After releasing three albums of critically acclaimed but poor-selling proto-punk rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, San Francisco\u2019s FLAMIN\u2019 GROOVIES found themselves without founding members Roy Loney and Tim Lynch, or a record label. But the addition of guitarist Chris Wilson, a move to Britain, and a change of direction would eventually lead to Cyril Jordan realising his vision of powerpop perfection. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>JONATHAN THORNTON turns the clock back to June 1976 to see how the band recorded their masterpiece <em>Shake Some Action<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.qobuz.com\/album\/0603497983971?zone=GB-en\" width=\"378\" height=\"390\">Your browser does not support iframes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>Shake Some Action <\/em>was rightfully hailed as a classic in the press, but sales failed to set the world alight. Jordan blames Sire Records for not properly promoting the album, which certainly didn\u2019t help its sales prospects. Weirdly enough, while the Loney-era Groovies would be acknowledged as an influence on the rawness and snottiness of punk, the new powerpop Groovies having moved away from that style of music now found themselves on the same bill as many punk groups in the UK. They were memorably supported by The Ramones \u2013 whose raw energy and love of \u201950s rock \u2019n\u2019 roll drew much from the early Groovies \u2013 and The Stranglers at The Roundhouse in \u201976, a key moment in the development of punk in the UK. But while the Loney-era Groovies might have been able to capitalise on their sonic similarities to the younger bands, Jordan and Wilson were uninterested in playing the punk-rock game. In homage to their British invasion influences, they had started wearing three-piece suits and Cuban heels. In this get-up on the cover of <em>Shake Some Action<\/em>, the Groovies looked and sounded as out of time during the birth of punk as they had in the era of flower power 10 years earlier.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Ferrell soon grew disillusioned with the Groovies\u2019 new sound and left the following year, to be replaced by Mike Wilhelm, a friend of Wilson\u2019s who had already co-written \u2018I Saw Her\u2019 with Jordan on Side Two of <em>Shake Some Action. <\/em>The same year Sire\u2019s distribution was taken over by Warner Bros. Records, which should have given the Groovies more stability and better reach. They recorded a follow-up album, <em>Flamin\u2019 Groovies Now<\/em>, again in Rockfield with Edmunds at the controls. Released in \u201978, it was another album of gorgeous guitar-led power pop. <em>Now <\/em>features slightly less original material, but this is made up for with an inspired cover of The Byrds\u2019 classic \u2018I\u2019ll Feel A Whole Lot Better\u2019, and incandescent readings of The Beatles\u2019 \u2018There\u2019s A Place\u2019 and Paul Revere &amp; The Raiders\u2019 \u2018Ups And Downs\u2019. There\u2019s also a brace of wonderful Groovies\u2019 originals, particularly \u2018All I Wanted\u2019 and \u2018Yeah My Baby\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7661\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-13.25.32.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"864\" height=\"848\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-13.25.32.png 864w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-13.25.32-300x294.png 300w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-13.25.32-768x754.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Edmunds was the intended producer for the Groovies\u2019 final album with Sire, <em>Jumpin\u2019 In The Night<\/em>, but was blocked by his manager, leaving Jordan to produce it with the help of Roger B\u00e9chirian. <em>Jumpin\u2019 <\/em>features a handful more primo Groovies originals, notably the barnstorming title track that opens the record, and more excellent Byrds (three of them) and Beatles covers. The album was a commercial failure and failed to excite the critics as much as the previous two records. Tensions between Jordan and Stein led to the collapse of the band\u2019s relationship with Sire. Wilson, beginning to become frustrated with Jordan\u2019s insistence of doing more covers as opposed to original material, left in \u201981, precipitating the complete collapse of the band by \u201982. Jordan would struggle on with various new line-ups of the Groovies until a disastrously managed tour of Europe forced the band to break up in \u201991.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>To read the full article buy issue #176 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silverbackpublishing.rocks\/product\/shindig176\/\">here<\/a>, Subscribe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silverbackpublishing.rocks\/product\/unlock-the-world-of-shindig-subscribe-today-and-access-every-issue-ever-published\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-share\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7660&amp;t=Shindig%21%20%23176%20%E2%80%93%20Flamin%E2%80%99%20Groovies&amp;s=100&amp;p[url]=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7660&amp;p[images][0]=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F06%2FScreenshot-2026-06-05-at-13.25.32-1.png&amp;p[title]=Shindig%21%20%23176%20%E2%80%93%20Flamin%E2%80%99%20Groovies\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7660&amp;text=New%20post%20on%20our%20site\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Shindig%21%20%23176%20%E2%80%93%20Flamin%E2%80%99%20Groovies&amp;body=New%20post%20on%20our%20site:%20https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7660\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After releasing three albums of critically acclaimed but poor-selling proto-punk rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, San Francisco\u2019s FLAMIN\u2019 GROOVIES found themselves without founding members Roy Loney and Tim Lynch, or a record label. But the addition of guitarist Chris Wilson, a move to Britain, and a change of direction would eventually lead to Cyril Jordan realising his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1009,1172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-qobuz"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7660"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}