Teenage Head

Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Their acknowledged masterpiece..." Entertainment Weekly - "...A cornucopia of hard-edged, Stonesy rock, capped by that great, proto-punk title track....you've got all the ingredients for a Groovies kind of love." - Rating: B+ Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Vital, containing a furious cover of Randy Newman's 'Have You Seen My Baby?' and the killer title track....this still holds up remarkably well..." Mojo - "...Supposedly checked as 'better than STICKY FINGERS' by Keef himself....what comes across is how much pleasure the band are having making this daft music..." Alternative Press - 4 out of 5 - "...The Groovies hit full stride and were making visionary rock and roll....a true masterpiece..." Spin - 9 out of 10 - "...TEENAGE HEAD reminds us that there was once a time when Keith Richards, Kim Fowley, and Captain Beefheart fans could toke off the same spliff, and that vocalist Roy Loney's harsh cadence is one of rock's forgotten tarnished treasures..." Rolling Stone - "...the great album...the Flamin' Groovies had in them..."

Miriam Linna once opined that the Roy Loney-era lineup of the Flamin' Groovies suggested what the Rolling Stones would have sounded like if they'd sworn their allegiance to the sound and style of Sun Records instead of Chess Records. If one wants to buy this theory (and it sounds reasonable to me), then Teenage Head was the Groovies' alternate-universe version of Sticky Fingers, an album that delivered their toughest rock & roll beside their most introspective blues workouts. (In his liner notes to Buddha's 1999 CD reissue of Teenage Head, Andy Kotowicz writes that Mick Jagger noticed the similarities between the two albums and thought the Groovies did the better job.) While the Flamin' Groovies didn't dip into the blues often, they always did right by 'em, and "City Lights" and "Yesterday's Numbers" find them embracing the mournful soul of the blues to superb effect, while their covers of "Doctor Boogie" and "32-20" honor the originals while adding a energy and attitude that was all their own. And the rockers are among the best stuff this band ever put to tape, especially "High Flying Baby," "Have You Seen My Baby?," and the brilliant title track. And unlike Flamingo, Teenage Head sounds just as good as it deserves to; Richard Robinson's production is clean, sharp, and gets the details onto tape with a clarity that never gets in the way of the band's sweaty raunch. While Flamingo rocks a bit harder, Teenage Head is ultimately the best album the Flamin' Groovies would ever make, and after Roy Loney left the band within a few months of its release, they'd never sound like this again. [Big Beat reissued the album in the United Kingdom in 1991, adding a couple bonus tracks in the process.] ~ Mark Deming|