Flamin Groovies - Between The Lines: The Complete Jordan/Wilson Songbook 71-82 (CD)

A labour of love that will be a true godsend for longtime Groovies and newcomers alike, “Between The Lines: The Complete Jordan/Wilson Songbook ‘71-81” compiles, for the first time ever, all the original songs written by Groovies Cyril Jordan and Chris Wilson in the classic second version of the band. The Groovies gave themselves a major reboot in 1971 when a then 18-year-old Chris Wilson replaced Roy Loney as the band’s frontman and Cyril Jordan’s writing partner. This was the formation of the group that made that journey to England at the behest of UA – helping set the scene for punk – and which, with a couple of line-up changes along the way, ended up signing to Sire Records and making three brilliant albums – Shake Some Action, Now, and Jumpin’ In The Night – before eventually running out of steam following Wilson’s departure in 1981. It’s the incarnation that headlined over the Ramones in London on July 4 1976 in London, but which then had to settle for being a massive influence on the nascent form of both power pop and all manner of ’60s influenced groups after the dictates of a post-punk world decided that their glorious rock’n’roll was not going to be the next big thing.

The significant point here is that this collection features, for the first time, just the band’s original material from this era. A big part of the criticism mounted against the Groovies Sire albums has always been the number of covers the band recorded. This collection by-passes that criticism to include every single Jordan/Wilson original the band recorded during the era. And what a collection of originals it is. Everybody knows the brilliance of the song “Shake Some Action”: not for nothing did esteemed rock critic Greil Marcus describe the song as “more the thing (rock’n’roll) itself than any other record I know” in his book The History of Rock’n’Roll in Ten Songs. What will surprise many however is the depth of quality, variety and originality of the band’s other material. The Groovies took elements of their beloved Beatles, Byrds and Stones and created an array of highly individual and superb original songs. Sure, a couple sound like the Beatles, but the rest of them are very much the Groovies and no one else.

Along with the 25 originals in question – which also include the three Jordan/Wilson tunes recorded in drummer Danny Mihm’s apartment in 1971 that eventually saw release on Skydog Records in 1973, and the B-side of the band’s final single in 1981 – “Between The Lines: The Complete Jordan/Wilson Songbook ‘71-81” comes with a previously unpublished Chester Simpson portrait on the front cover of its 28 page booklet. That booklet includes extensive liner notes by Grown Up Wrong! Records and Ugly Things magazine’s David Laing, a reprint of a short but telling piece on the band by Ed Ward from a 1975 issue of Creem magazine, and an interview with Marc Zermati of Skydog Records, who played a crucial role in the band’s development in the ’70s.

Grown Up Wrong! is releasing “Between The Lines: The Complete Jordan/Wilson Songbook ‘71-81” alongside a reissue of the 1995 EMI collection "I’ll Have A… Bucket Of Brains", which collects all the recordings the band made for United Artists in England in 1972 – primarily with Dave Edmunds at Rockfield in Monmouth, Wales. These two releases together tell the real story of the frequently misunderstood Flamin Groovies second incarnations, and reveal why they were so influential at the time and why so many fans – including us here at Grown Up Wrong! – consider them to be one of the greatest rock’n’roll groups of all time.

1. Let Me Rock
2. Dog Meat
3. Blues From Phyllis
4. Shake Some Action
5. You Tore Me Down
6. Shake Some Action (Demo Version)
7. When I Heard Your Name
8. Yes It’s True
9. Please Please Girl
10. I’ll Cry Alone
11. Teenage Confidential
12. I Can’t Hide
13. Between The Lines
14. Take Me Back
15. Good Laugh Mun
16. Yeah My Baby
17. All I Wanted
18. Don’t Put Me On
19. Jumpin’ In The Night
20. Next One Crying
21. First Plane Home
22. In The U.S.A.
23. Yes I Am
24. Tell Me Again
25. So Much In Love