Teenage Head

According to the liner notes for a reissue of Teenage Head, Mick Jagger noticed similarities between this album and The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers and thought The Flamin' Groovies did a better job of merging rock 'n' roll and pure blues. It was the San Francisco band's third album and their last with original leader Roy Loney, who'd depart just months later and take this hard-driving sound with him. (The Flamin' Groovies would veer toward power pop and adopt the punk and new wave movements as their own when they next appeared with the equally excellent Shake Some Action in 1976.) But in 1971, The Flamin' Groovies were one of the few bands to ignore the hippie scene and stick to their roots. With its acoustic slide, "City Lights" sounds as if it could have come off Beggars Banquet, while "High Flyin' Baby" and especially Randy Newman's "Have You Seen My Baby?" teem with a high energy that only a pure-of-heart rock 'n' roll band could produce. The album's original nine tracks have been augmented by a set of covers—Johnny Kidd, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry—that are true to its original spirit