Classic US garage punk band original 70's and 80's recordings for the French Skydog label

FLAMIN’ GROOVIES
‘GREASE’

THE COMPLETE SKYDOG SINGLES COLLECTION 1973-1981

One of America’s greatest, most influential, and legendary cult bands, who came out of the San Francisco area in 1965. They were part of the flower-power scene but their music, 3-minute power-pop blasts, wasn’t. Despite playing the wrong kind of music at the wrong time, and not looking the part by sporting British Invasion mop-top haircuts, they played great greasy, bluesy rock’n’roll music which has sustained a career for three decades. Their 1968 self-produced ‘Supersnazz’ was snapped up by Epic, then the classic albums ‘Flamingo’ (’70), and ‘Teenage Head’ (’71) appeared on Kama Sutra.

In 1973, after a UK single on UA, they issued the launch single ‘Grease’ for SKYDOG RECORDS, run by Parisian Marc Zermati from his Open Market record shop. Followed up by ‘More Grease’ in ’74 and a third Skydog single in ’77, the punk era then brought a new appreciative audience and a hit on Sire, the classic ‘Shake Some Action’. A further Skydog project came in 1981, when they recorded at Phil Spector’s Gold Star Studios, remaking ‘River Deep Mountain High’ in the same room as Ike & Tina’s original.

This singles collection, mostly taken from their early 70’s heyday, is issued at mid-price. It’s packaged with original ‘Grease’ artwork by comix artist Vidal, together with an 8-page booklet, photos and sleeve-notes by Skydog’s Marc Zermati. With some tracks produced by Dave Edmunds and some recorded at Spector’s Gold Star Studios, ‘Grease’ is a mix of Groovie originals and classic pop covers. It includes SLOW DEATH, RIVER DEEP MOUNTAIN HIGH, SHAKE SOME ACTION, and two covers each of Spector, Gene Clark, Jagger/Richard, and Chuck Berry.

TRACK-LIST:
RIVER DEEP MOUNTAIN HIGH; SO MUCH IN LOVE; AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING; SHE DON’T CARE ABOUT TIME; DO I LOVE YOU; SWEET LITTLE ROCK’N’ROLLER; SLOW DEATH; LET ME ROCK; DOG MEAT; JUMPING JACK FLASH; BLUES FOR PHYLIS; CAN’T EXPLAIN; LITTLE QUEENIE; FEEL A WHOLE LOT BETTER; PAINT IT BLACK; SHAKE SOME ACTION… 16 tracks