In Person! - CD

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There are loads of Flamin' Groovies live recordings out there, some more legitimate than others, but until now all of them have required some allowances in the mind of the listener to their sonic and musical shortcomings. Not In Person!, which actually works as an album. The first ten tracks on this disc were taped for radio broadcast during the final week of the Fillmore West's existence, on June 30, 1971, and capture the Roy Loney lineup of the group at the peak of its form, grinding their way in high style through "Slow Death," "Shakin' All Over," "Teenage Head," "Walkin' the Dog," "Sweet Little Rock 'n Roller," and "Have You Seen My Baby," among others. There's one bit of little dropout and hints of some slight sound leakage -- overall, the audio quality is maybe two steps above that of, say, The Live Kinks album (by Muswell Hill's own precursors to the Groovies, natch) -- but the balance between the voices and the instruments is about as good as any Groovies concert recording, and for a change, the "room" ambience, as it were, works in the group's favor -- the guitars are all nicely represented. Moreover, the performance by Loney, Jordan, and company does work as an audio release -- there's nothing here that you had to be here to see. The set is rounded out by "I'm a Man" and "Headin' for the Texas Border" from a Matrix show from a year earlier. Leave it to a label run by members of the A-Bones to get out the best live classic Flamin' Groovies album ever. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide