I really like this band. Their career was split into two different sounds. In the early seventies, they were more like the Stones with blues/rock. After their singer (Roy Loney) left…they got another (Chris Wilson) and switched to power pop. They have songs that are power pop, grungy blues rock, and some great rock and roll.
The band was started in 1965 by Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. By the end of the sixties, they clashed over where to go. Loney was more Stones and Jordon leaned toward the Beatles.
Loney left in 1971 and they got an 18-year-old lead singer named Chris Wilson. They moved to London and started to work with Dave Edmunds. With Chris, they did more power pop and that is when Shake Some Action came about with Wilson and Jordon writing it.
They would go on to be a great power pop band and also be known as an early proto-punk band…they pretty much covered the gamut. Yes It’s True was written by Cyril Jordan and Chris Wilson. It has a Beatle vibe to it and was on their 1976 album, Shake Some Action. The album peaked at #142 in the Billboard Album Charts.
The band broke up in the 80s but some of them continued with the name touring off and on. They did release an album in 2017 called Fantastic Plastic.
Yes It’s True
Every time you see me smile
I’m really blue
Because I’m wondering all the while
If you’re really true
Cause girl you know I’ve tried and tried
Everything to see your side
But I can’t forget the tears I’ve cried
Yes, it’s true
When you got a girl who thinks she’s smart
That’s not so fine
Cause they’re the kind who’ll break your heart
And leave you crying
And lovin’ them is not so nice
You better think about it twice
Or I else she’ll make you pay the price
Yes, it’s true
Well, she’s the kind of girl
Who knows what she wants to be
She knows what she wants
And she knows how to get it from me and you
I saw the smile upon your face
I felt so sure
Although there never was a place
For me and you
…
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
I really like this tune! I didn’t know they had reunited. I’m a huge Edmunds fan so by extension I found these guys. He was always one for creative techniques and a polished sound.
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They were like two different bands…a rock blues band that sounded like the Stones and then this power pop band that came afterward…Glad you like this one Randy…and that you knew about them.
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You didn’t stump me today Max! Not that it’s a bad thing. Still I learned something. There is always tomorrow, let the stumping begin! Umm maybe that doesn’t sound right?
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Sounds very mid-60s but entirely likable…and vaguely familiar. I must’ve heard it once or twice before somewhere. Great band name for the ages!
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I do love the name…and the way they sounded like the 72 Stones at one moment and early Beatles on another.
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It does sound a lot like early Beatles stuff.
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That’s what I was thinking….more 1965 than 1975. I’ve bought a few of their Eddie Cochran covers.
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They did do a lot of good covers…I’ve heard quite a few. I’m thinking they did an album of them.
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Where do you find this stuff?
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Well…this band you have heard of in a indirect way… You know the Canadian band Teenage Head? They got their name from the album Teenage Head from the Flamin’ Groovies. Thats when the Groovies sounded like The Stones.
So see…you are closer than you thought lol.
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Holy smoke ..never knew that…. check this out…https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2019/05/11/teenage-head-live-at-crocks-thunder-bay-may-10-2019/
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So awesome that you got to see them live. I need to write another post about them.
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Its sad that Good Lewis was murdered by his own son last year. There is a documentary out there on them that is worth the watch… here it is….https://youtu.be/tngA205-4Bg
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I remember that somewhere…I’ll give it a watch.
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I saw TH once circa ’83 in Oshawa. Was a fun but fairly short show from what I can remember. Long time ago now
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Oh cool….I’ve liked what I’ve heard from them…and the live stuff.
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I like this… They’re a band I’ve heard of, but never knowingly listened to…
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Shake Some Action is the one that most people would know by them… I do like them…they sound like two different bands through phases of their career.
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Great song by a great band! Fellow blogger Hotfox 63 first brought the Flamin’ Groovies on my radar screen in April 2017 when he reviewed their third album “Teenage Head”, released in April 1971. After listening to it, I checked out their debut album “Supersnazz,” which came out in September 1969. Both albums are more rock-oriented. I haven’t explored any of their other music or listened to these two albums since then.
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Shake Some Action is a great song to start on…yea Teenage Head sounds like The Stones and Shake Some Action is pure power pop
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Edmunds is staple around here. I have a few Groovies in the pile I pull out once in a while. Fox is a big fan.
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Edmunds pops up everywhere it seems like. Yea I like this band a lot…I like the cover songs by them that Fox posted.
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Edmunds is go to for me. Yeah fox knows his Groovies.
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I first heard them when Shake Some Action was included on the New Wave album released in early 1977. It was a compilation of punk and new wave influences, and the track was there deservedly. Along with the Ramones, New York Dolls and Patti Smith (and more) they were amongst very fine company.
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Yea listening to their 1971 stuff…you would swear they were firmly in the Stones path…then Shake Some Action is pure power pop…it was like two totally different bands….that makes me like them more.
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Some nice jangle pop/rock, but what a terrible band name.
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It probably played a part of them not really hitting big.
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Maybe so…
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