The Flamin Goovies Fantastic Plastic 2017 Severn A brief review
For those of you in the audience who may not quite be enlightened to whom these gents are, the Flamin Groovies christened their collective ship in the mid 60s in San Francisco, but they bore little to nothing in common with the Haight-Ashbury contingents of the day. Bypassing psychedelia and flower-power in favor of back to basics roots rock, the Groovies eventually settled on a garage-cum-proto power pop penchant releasing six albums up until the late 70s, culminating in their rightfully lauded and visceral signature piece, "Shake Some Action."
Longtime aficionados of this combo would be well within their right minds if they concluded that Fantastic Plastic barely emanates the tenor of the Groovies original incarnation. After all, Jimmy Carter was in the White House when these guys were still at it full time. Instead, what you can purloin on Fantastic are occasional shades and colorings of their former selves if only infrequently. "Cryin Shame" and "I Want You Bad" (the latter an NRBQ cover) reacquaint us with the Groovies resonant jangle of yore. You might say these songs in particular hearken back to "First Plane Home," a breezy, mid-tempo endeavor from the bands halcyon era. Otherwise Cyril and Co. are starting off with a veritable clean slate. The opening "What the Hells Going On" is a sweet, Stonesy jaunt that plays out more convincingly than anything Mick and Keef have doled out in the last thirty years, and sprite "Crazy Macy" is the closest they come to replicating their ragin vintage aplomb.
Fantastic will surely reaffirm a good quotient of the Groovies old school faithful - and thats exactly who this record is tailored to. Millennials be damned. You can hook yourself up with a copy over at Severn Records, Amazon, and iTunes.