Flamin' Groovies
Bucket Of Brains - U.A. 1972 ( released in 2019)
Tracks: 1. Married Woman / 2. Get a Shot of Rhythm & Blues / 3. Little Queenie / 4. Slow Death / 5. Shake Some Action (Original Version) / 6. You Tore Me Down / 7. Tallahassee Lassie
Comments:
"A Bucket of Brains" which was recorded In 1972 should have been the fourth album from The Flamin’ Groovies. Various intricacies such as that the strong single "Slow Death", was banned by the BBC for using the word "morphine", unfortunately meant that the album was never completed with only seven tracks recorded.
Everything did look bright, with Dave Edmunds as producer and young guitarist and singer, Chris Wilson as a new front figure; Roy Loney left the group in 1971.
Four songs appeared on two U.A. singles in 1972 ("Slow Death" b/w "Tallahassee Lassie" and "Married Woman" b/w "Get a Shot of Rhythm and Blues". Unfortunately, the two singles did not achieve commercial success.
The group's big classic "Shake Some Action" was not released at all, but fortunately this great recording later came to its own right on the first Sire album "Shake Some Action" from 1976; in unchanged form. Also the fine Beatles inspired original "You Tore Me Down" was "saved" for "Shake Some Action".
These two songs were written by original and regular member Cyril Jordan along with new young member Chris Wilson. In the future, this songwriterteam would write several of the group's classics, most of which would appear on the three fine Sire albums released in the late 1970s. Jordan wrote the third original song "Slow Death" earlier with Roy Loney.
The four cover numbers are also strong. Especially the fantastic tight version of "Tallahassee Lassie" and the fine Merseybeat sounding "Get a Shot of Rhytm'n Blues". Least interesting is probably the cover version of Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie".
"Shake Some Action" was artificially speeded up in conjunction with the 1976 Sire release and the song is here available here at the right speed; I find the fast version clearly the best; maybe because that’s the version that opened my eyes to this great band.
Despite the somewhat short playing time, I think you can consider "A Bucket of Brains" a regular album, which in any case is an important link between the 1971 album "Teenage Head" and the upcoming 1976 album "Shake Some Action". A Great Missing Link
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