Flamin Groovies “Teenage Head” 1971. Kama-Sutra Records. Today, July 18th, is Flamin Groovies’ guitarist/vocalist/harmonica player Tim Lynch’s birthday (b. 1946). He left the band about a year after Teenage Head’s release, the group’s third release. The opening track, “High Flyin’ Baby,” along with “Yesterday’s Numbers” and the growling masterpiece title track “Teenage Head” are raw garage blues that both nod to tradition and portend the arrival of punk and punk blues. “Have You Seen My Baby?” is by Randy Newman and the Groovies brings a southern fried blues romp to the track.  “Evil Hearted Ada” is a breathless Elvis-styled rockabilly rocker propelled by a locomotive beat. The cover of “32-20″ by Robert Johnson (with new lyrics) is modern in attitude but flavored with the sound of player piano, washboard rhythms and a tin can mic sound, blending past and future to perfection.

Allmusic says “Teenage Head was the Groovies’ alternate-universe version of Sticky Fingers, an album that delivered their toughest rock & roll beside their most introspective blues workouts. (In his liner notes to Buddha’s 1999 CD reissue of Teenage Head, Andy Kotowicz writes that Mick Jagger noticed the similarities between the two albums and thought the Groovies did the better job.)” Teenage Head is listed in the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.