I must confess that although I had heard the name, this is the first time I have actually heard this San Francisco institution, who were formed in 1965 around the core of two singers/guitarists, Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. Loney left after their first three albums, being replaced by Chris Wilson which saw a change in musical direction to power pop, and their eventual signing to Sire where they also released three albums. This album was recorded in October 1980 (tracks 1-12 recorded at the San Francisco Civic Center on October 26th, 1980, and the final three at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco on October 24th, 1980).

The line-up at the time was Jordan, Wilson, guitarist Mike Wilhelm, bassist George Alexander, and drummer David Wright, and this is quite a confusing release. First of all, there appears to be more official live albums than studio, yet for some reason none of these recordings have ever been previously available, which in fairness may be due to the quality which sounds far more like a good audience bootleg recording (with the bass very much to the fore) than something from a desk. Then there is the track listing itself, as there are very few originals included, as they play mostly classic covers, and the only song taken from the previous three albums was The Byrds’ “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better”. I mean, what’s the point? True, the final song of the 15 is the one for which they are best known, “Shake Some Action”, but this raw set is little different to what one could hear from any decent covers band anywhere in the land and given that the vocals/harmonies are not always the best probably not as good.

Some 60 years on from their formation the band are still going, with Jordan still at the helm, so there is obviously still a fanbase, but I would much have preferred more of their own material as opposed to this covers band. But for fans I guess this is invaluable.

Rating: 5/10

Links;
https://www.facebook.com/flamingrooviesofficial/
http://www.liberationhall.com/