Flamin' Groovies '70EVA 12044 (France), 1984
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Live Recordings (stereo) from The Matrix in 1970. It's unclear the date the recordings were made, but they were made as a rehearsal before a gig in front of a small number of friends (according to the sleeve notes).
Side A
1. Carol (Berry). A fine version of this Chuck Berry classic.
2. Comin' After Me (Loney-Jordan). This sounds almost exactly like studio version. Even the guitar solos are note for note equal to the solos on the studio version. The difference is that this version is extended with more guitar solos from Tim and Cyril at the end.
3. I'm A Man (McDaniel). This one is a bit boring to me. It goes on and on for six minutes with the same riff we have heard thousand of times before.
4. Jam Sandwich (Flamin' Groovies). Well this is what is says, a blues sound check jam. Not too much to get excited about.
5. Rockin' Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu (Smith-Vincent). This one rocks as much as the studio version but without the piano.
6. Shakin' All Over (Heath). This is a stretched out cover of the Johnny Kidd & The Pirates classic. It's a bit too long for my taste with long guitar solos, but it rocks.
Side B
1. Headin' For The Texas Border (Loney-Jordan). This is one more Flamingo track almost identical to the studio recording but a bit longer. Very good and maybe better than the studio version!
2. American Soul Spiders (Flamin' Groovies). This is a very hard to find Flamin' Groovies song that even named a japanese punk band! The song has a soul beat and is more than fifteen minutes long with drum solos, bass solos, guitar solos, harmonica solos... Not much of a song but it shows how good musicians they were. Tim Lynch and Cyril Jordan are often mentioned but George Alexander and Danny Mihm are very very good rhythm section.
3. Louie Louie (R. Berry). Is there any garage band from the 60's or 70's that didn't cover this song)? FG does it well with this nearly seven minute long version.
This album was not intended to be a live album and it's not a live show. But it's good anyway and shows how good this band was. But it has too many covers for my taste. The sound quality is good. 6/10