Flamin Groovies: Gonna Rock Tonite! The Complete Recordings 1969-71 3CD Boxset

Anyone else gonna go for this, I'm in.

Flamin Groovies: Gonna Rock Tonite! The Complete Recordings 1969-71 3CD Clamshell Boxset - Cherry Red Records

Blurb...

Irrespective of musical direction, sales figures or personnel changes, The Flamin’ Groovies have always had greatness attached to their name.

Cyril Jordan’s mid-Seventies revamp of the band was certainly a huge influence on entire generations of skinny-tied power poppers, but the Groovies took their first tentative steps on the long and winding road to cult stardom back in the late Sixties, when lead singer, original band leader and rock’n’roll aficionado Roy Loney battled for the upper hand with young pup and Beatles obsessive Jordan.

After the tentative, privately-issued 10” mini-album debut Sneakers, the Groovies made the transition from San Francisco also-rans to genuine contenders with a trio of peerless albums – Supersnazz, Flamingo and the particularly magnificent Teenage Head – for major labels (Columbia’s Epic imprint and Buddah subsidiary Kama Sutra).

Bolstered by sundry outtakes, alternative versions and single mixes, those three albums now appear under one roof for the first time with Gonna Rock Tonite!, a complete anthology of the band’s studio work during the pivotal 1969-71 timeframe: halcyon days that ended in late 1971 when Loney abruptly quit the group he’d formed just a few short years earlier.

Bursting with creative tension, wilful diversity and absurdist wit, Gonna Rock Tonite! climaxes with the classic album Teenage Head, a brazen attempt to out-Stone the Stones that saw one critic describe it at the time of its mid-1971 appearance as “close to being the best hard rock album ever released by an American group”.

The definitive issue of these definitive recordings, Gonna Rock Tonite! is a 3-CD set taken from the masters and housed in a striking clamshell box. It includes a 20-page booklet that features a new 7,500 word essay on the band.

Tracklist...

DISC ONE:
SUPERSNAZZ
1. LOVE HAVE MERCY
2. THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT
3. LAURIE DID IT
4. A PART FROM THAT
5. ROCKIN’ PNEUMONIA AND THE BOOGIE WOOGIE FLU
6. THE FIRST ONE’S FREE
7. PAGAN RACHEL
8. SOMETHIN’ ELSE/PISTOL PACKIN’ MAMA
9. BRUSHFIRE
10. BAM BALAM
11. AROUND THE CORNER

BONUS TRACKS
12. ROCKIN’ PNEUMONIA AND THE
BOOGIE WOOGIE FLU (SINGLE VERSION)
13. THE FIRST ONE’S FREE (SINGLE VERSION)
14. SOMETHIN’ ELSE (SINGLE VERSION)
15. LAURIE DID IT (SINGLE VERSION)

DISC TWO:
FLAMINGO
1. GONNA ROCK TONITE
2. COMIN’ AFTER YOU
3. HEADIN’ FOR THE TEXAS BORDER
4. SWEET ROLL ME ON DOWN
5. KEEP A KNOCKIN’
6. SECOND COUSIN
7. CHILDHOOD’S END
8. JAILBAIT
9. SHE’S FALLING APART
10. ROAD HOUSE

BONUS TRACKS
11. SHAKIN’ ALL OVER
12.THAT’LL BE THE DAY
13. LOUIE LOUIE
14. MY GIRL JOSEPHINE
15. AROUND AND AROUND
16. ROCKIN’ PNEUMONIA AND THE BOOGIE WOOGIE FLU
17. GOING OUT

DISC THREE:
TEENAGE HEAD
1. HIGH FLYIN’ BABY
2. CITY LIGHTS
3. HAVE YOU SEEN MY BABY?
4. YESTERDAY’S NUMBERS
5. TEENAGE HEAD
6. 32-20
7. EVIL HEARTED ADA
8. DOCTOR BOOGIE
9. WHISKY WOMAN

BONUS TRACKS
10.SCRATCH MY BACK
11. CAROL
12. RUMBLE
13. SOMETHIN’ ELSE
14. WALKING THE DOG
15. GOING OUT (

 

Recommended for anyone who cares about rock and roll!

 

I already have the original albums on vinyl, plus CD reissues of all three. There may be a couple of bonus tracks I don't have but that'd be it.

 

Has anyone gotten this yet? I love the Teenage Head album, but the version I own (Buddha Records, 1999) is brickwalled. If anyone could testify to improved sound on this release, I’d buy it in a second.

 

Many tracks on the new set fade earlier than the Buddha CD issues except Going Out Theme which is a tad longer.

So are the new ones the correct lengths or the Buddha's?

Comin' After Me 3:34 - Flamingo Buddha CD
Comin' After Me 3:26 - new CD in box

Jailbait 4:20 - Flamingo Buddha CD
Jailbait 4:14 - new CD in box

She's Falling Apart 4:52 - Flamingo Buddha CD
She's Falling Apart 4:32 - new CD in box

Going Out Theme 3:04 - Teenage Head Buddha CD
Going Out Theme 3:11 - new CD in box

Walkin' the Dog 3:41 - Teenage Head Buddha CD
Walkin' the Dog 3:24 - new CD in box

 

Bumping to reiterate this question-- has anyone been able to compare the new issue to the Buddha Records version? Very curious if it has the same problems. The fact that the track times are different suggests that it is at least a new master, which wasn't clear at the outset, since it looks like they have pretty much the same bonus tracks.

 

Hi, the new issue (remasterd by Oli Hemingway) is also brickwalled, though not as much as the 1999 version of TEENAGE HEAD from Buddha Records!
But I also compared SUPERNAZZ with the release from the infamous Culture Factory and sadly it's not better overall. I definitely prefer both albums on vinyl.
I still have to do the comparison for FLAMINGO.

 

I compared it again today on a different system and I have to correct myself: The new remaster wins. It is still a loud one.

 

Finally I've compared the remaster of FLAMINGO to the Cuture Factory cd. It's also brickwalled, at least the new one sounds less distorted. So all in all the remasters on GONNA ROCK TONITE are an improvement. I had hoped for more, but If you don't own two of the three albums BUY IT.