Flamin' Groovies - Phillips 45 version of "Shake Some Action" ever on CD?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark f., Dec 24, 2008.

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  1. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Has the re-recorded, first release version of "Shake Some Action" ever been released on CD? This was the version first released in the UK on Phillips before the Rockfield version came out on Sire.
     
  2. Matthew B.

    Matthew B. Scream Quietly

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    I'm confused. I thought that the original 1976 Sire and Phillips releases were the same, but Sire later put out an alternate version with guitar overdubs as a B-side to "Feel a Whole Lot Better" in 1978. I might be off on that, but it seems to mesh with the singles discography here.

    At any rate, I don't know where you'd find that alternate version on CD. There's an original-speed (i.e., slower) remix of the track on EMI's I'll Have a ... Bucket of Brains disc.
     
  3. Nate-O-Phonic

    Nate-O-Phonic I didn't get a Harrumph! outta that guy...

    Try This:
    http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Death-Fl...OAX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1230128651

    "Features superb demos of Flamin' Groovies classics "Shake Some Action" and "Slow Death"!

    Great foldout cover!
    Scorchin' interview liner notes by Groovies lead guitar kingpin Cyril Jordan leave no Stone unturned - from shoppin' for clothes with Cornel Gunter to shoppin' for EC comics with Jimi Hendrix!

    "Well, time to drag out that old "all killer and no filler" cliché.
    Early Groovies is always worth hearing, but if you find the endless recompiling of existing recordings tiresome, make an exception and buy this.
    Completists will have some of the stuff on the album already, but the main incentive is 'Shake Some Action' from a July '73 session at Capitol Studios in L.A. Cyril Jordan believes the band never topped this version, and he don't lie"
     
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  4. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter

    I read that the second version was recorded and that in the UK and Europe it was the rerecorded version was used on Phillips (who distributed Sire there) instead of the Rockfield recorded version. Whether its actually "rerecorded" or not I guess is the question.
     
  5. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter


    Wow!! Thank! That's the one. Really amazing.
     
  6. Nate-O-Phonic

    Nate-O-Phonic I didn't get a Harrumph! outta that guy...

    the Flamin Groovies website
    http://www.flamin-groovy.com/profile3.htm
    explains this:

    "In early ’73 we got an offer from Capitol to go and record a couple of songs. Cyril and I wanted to do a different version of Shake Some Action – not quite so buried in Leslie speakers – and When I Head Your Name. We went and did the tracks down in Capitol studios, had a great time, the music came out fabulous and everyone was over the Moon. The contracts were due to drawn up in a couple of weeks but nothing happened. A new vice-president had come in, sacked everyone and put his own people in, and all outstanding projects were cancelled."

    Greg Shaw talks about the chart failure of Shake Some Action. The following is an extract from an Internet posting from 2001.
    "Cyril approached me, at the American office of UA, with the Rockfield and Capitol tapes. He convinced me to put out a single to give him leverage with labels. I thought Shake Some Action should be the single but he was holding it back. We released You Tore Me Down and believe it or not, through my industry connections, I was able to get more than a hundred commercial radio stations to play it.
** "On the strength of this I convinced Seymour Stein at Sire to do an album. He heard both versions of Shake Some Action [Rockfield and Capitol] and felt the Rockfield version should be on the album, along with the other Edmunds productions that were to be done.
** "The Capitol version remained in the can until Phillips, the UK label, picked it as a better choice for the debut single, for whatever reason. It was exactly the wrong thing to do in 1976 when the British public's taste was rapidly turning to rawer, more punk sounds. But at the time, who knew?'

    by the way, the amazon site has sound samples...
     
  7. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Thanks for this. It's exactly what I had read too (I'm sure what I read is taken from that site). The Capitol version is mind-bogglingly good. I've never heard it nor did I know it existed. I had some free downloads with Amazon so I grabbed it but I'll probably have to get the CD just for that and the just as amazing "When I Heard Your Name" (which I used to have many moons ago).
     
  8. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter

    By the way, I'll post a separate thread about it but the new Shindig Magazine (Jan/Feb) has several features on the Groovies.
     
  9. dyno guy

    dyno guy Forum Resident

    Location:
    st.paul, MN, USA
    Excuse my ignorance- love the Flamin' Groovies- but what version of "Shake Some Action" is on the 2-cd, 1999 set from Dressed To Kill Records, with the goofy puppet-mannequin/war-torn ruins cover? That version runs 4:34, and sounds nothing like the Sire album version. This Dressed To Kill set was my first FG's purchase on cd, so it has a certain fondness for me. Love the sound of the drums on it. Supposedly it's a studio track. It has a real 'live' feel to it. The packaging and lack of real liner notes suggest 'pirate' cd, sourced from... .

    My other question for you FG's experts: is the "Slow Death' 1993 cd with this killer version of SSA worth the $18.00? Ten songs, no bonus tracks? Sound quality... questionable?

    Just wondering. Thanks in advance.
     
  10. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Did you listen to the sample at Amazon? It's a completely different recording and its pretty obviously so. Not sure its worth the $18 if you don't already own the Shake Some Action album - which should be your first purchase IMO. The other option is the complete Sire set which I just found out apparently has the Capitol recordings. But if nothing else SSA is a must purchase.

    Slow Death does sound pretty good judging from the two downloads I got from Amazon.

    As to the sound of "Shake Some Action" (the Rockfield version). I don't think it has a live feel at all. It's very thick with a great wall of sound feel. I love it but live sounding its not, at least IMO.
     
  11. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    OK. I'm confused.

    Which is the version we commonly heard on the radio here in the U.S. in 1976? It's the same one that appears on a few comp CDs.
     
  12. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter

    The Capitol version was a European single release -picked up by Philips who distributed for Sire there. I've never heard SSA on regular radio but I'm sure it would have been the Rockfield recorded version which was released on the Sire LP (and US Sire single). And yes that's the one that usually turns up on comps (like Rhino's DIY).

    1. Rockfield (1972) - first recorded version. Appears on SSA LP
    2. Capitol (early 1973) - second recorded version (a demo?) appears on UK/European single only (comped on Norton's Slow Death and apparently the complete Sire collection)
     
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  13. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas

    Ok - I have the UK 2 CD Complete Sire Recordings - Flamin Groovies At Full Speed ( strangely enough the US version is 3 CDs and fewer songs ) - Disc One kicks off with the familiar version of Shake Some Action which is the one that got U.S. radio play and was on the same titled album. Disc Two ends with the demo version issued in Europe 1978 on a 12 inch single. They are very different recordings.
     
  14. dyno guy

    dyno guy Forum Resident

    Location:
    st.paul, MN, USA

    Thanks for the clarification, Mark. Yeah, I've already got the SHAKE SOME ACTION album, on the DBK Works 2005 cd (along with the two other Sire albums). Really enjoy all three cd's, but why they didn't include 2-4 bonus tracks is a mystery to me.

    You've sold me on the "Slow Death" cd, with the great other version of "Shake Some Action." Having turned me onto The Fantastic Baggys, I hold your musical opinions in high regard.

    That still leaves me wondering about that 2-cd, 1999 set from 'Dressed To Kill' Records. Aside from that (? other?) great sounding studio version of SSA that I mentioned earlier, that set has killer studio versions of "Slow Down" and "Tallahassee Lassie". I've only played them 3-4 times in a row this evening!

    It's all good.

    THE FLAMIN" GROOVIES rule!!!
     
  15. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Probably licensing cost. DBK did a GREAT job on SSA and I'm sure that wasn't a cheap CD for them.
     
  16. dyno guy

    dyno guy Forum Resident

    Location:
    st.paul, MN, USA

    Totally agreed on the quality job DBK Works did on SSA, as well as the other two Sire albums. As you said, SSA is truly essential. JUMPIN' IN THE NIGHT also gets a ton of play on my system ("First Plane Home," "Yes I Am," "Werewolves Of London," "It Won't Be Wrong," "Tell Me Again," "Absolutely Sweet Marie," and "5D"). Awesome Byrds' covers, and their own "Tell Me Again" sounds like it could have been a Byrds' tune.
     
  17. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Well, in the summer of 1976, hit radio did indeed play the Sire version.
     
  18. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    I'm still a bit confused. So many terms flying around here quite loosely and imprecisely.


    Can we maybe sort some things out? If I'm understanding correctly:

    1) "Shake Some Action" (the song) is first recorded (in 1972?) at Rockfield Studios with Dave Edmunds producing. But it doesn't appear until the Shake Some Action album, released in the US on Sire in 1976. (And did I also pick up somewhere that this version was speeded up from the original recording?)

    2) A second, completely different version of "Shake Some Action" is recorded in early 1973 at Capitol Studios. This version is released on a UK single -- Sire 6078 672 -- also in 1976 (and on Phillips in the Netherlands).

    3) As can be seen, the label on this single reads "From the album Shake Some Action 9103 251." But is this accurate? Did this version of "Shake Some Action" appear on the UK album of the same name? Or did that album in fact feature the Rockfield version of the song, just as the US album did?

    4) It's rather confusing to see the Capitol version referred to as a "demo," since a demo recording normally predates an "official" recording. Furthermore, a demo recording is usually unreleased. But of course, the Capitol version WAS released...as shown, on the Sire label (and the Phillips label in The Netherlands).

    5) The Flamin' Groovies singles discography referenced earlier in this thread only adds to the confusion. It lists "Shake Some Action (alt.)" as coming out on a Sire EP in 1978 with "Feel a Whole Lot Better" and "Paint It, Black." But in fact, the version on the UK Sire single released in 1976 (referenced in #2 above) is also the alternate version -- that is, not the Rockfield version.

    :help:
     
  19. mark f.

    mark f. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Mike - from what I've read here are my answers to some of your questions.

    1. Yes to all. The inplication that its sped up is because there is an alternate version that is slower. I don't know if that means two versions or speed adjustments.
    2. Yes.
    3. ?
    4. I used the term "demo" based on something I read. It's also been called a test recording. What's most confusing is that 2 band members claim it's the best version yet I can't find reference to it being considered releaseable or a final version. How the UK and the Netherlands got the tapes is a mystery I assume. Seems to me that someone considered it final.
    5. Someone else mention the EP so perhaps they can answer but I think the EP contains the Capitol version.

    It's interesting you ask all of these questions. I was just reading Alec P's liner notes to SSA and thinking about how incomplete recording information is on the Groovies. Nowhere are the specifc dates or even approximate dates of the recording of SSA (the album) mentioned. The Shindig articles are no better - the main article just seems to pull info from the web.
     
  20. sberger

    sberger Dream Baby Dream

    I LOVE the Groovies...[​IMG]
     
  21. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Mark, I didn't mean to imply that you were using the term "demo" confusingly to refer to the Capitol version of "Shake Some Action."

    In fact, this is how this version is characterized on the At Full Speed: the Complete Sire Recordings 2-CD set, as seen here.

    I agree that a full sessionography that sorts out the Groovies' complex recording history would be welcome.

    Meanwhile, can anyone confirm which version of "Shake Some Action" is on the UK album of the same name? It would be surprising to learn that the Capitol version was used...yet that's what the label on the UK single implies.
     
  22. ronton99

    ronton99 Forum Resident

    I have a 1978 Sire UK 12" single - 6078 619 - with:

    A. Feel A Whole Lot Better
    B1. Paint It Black
    B2. Shake Some Action - Original version - unavailable on any album (so says the cover).

    SSA is a great version - I've always called it the bluegrass version because the guitars are folkier sounding in the verses - strummed almost like a mandolin or something. In the second half of the solo (played only 1 time) the vocals harmonize on:
    "You gotta shake... some action.... down on me,
    You gotta shake.... some action.... that's what I need,
    as it fades out.
    It's produced by The Flamin’ Groovies. Is this the "Capital version"?

    Don't know if it was ever on CD, which was the original question…

    Obviously this 12" came out after Now, and since the cover says that SSA is unavailable on any album, the Rockfield SSA must be on the OK version of the album. Unless this is a third version of SSA.....
     
  23. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas

    ........As you have described it - this is the version which closes Disc 2 of the At Full Speed 2 CD set which I have.
     
  24. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    And yes, this is the "Capitol version," and also the version that is on the UK Sire 45 released in 1976 -- which I meant to attach a scan of with my post early this morning and somehow neglected to do! I'll fix this a bit later when I get a chance.
     
  25. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    FWIW, here's a scan of the UK Sire 45, which I meant to upload last night....
     

    Attached Files:

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