Cyril Jordan’s 1960s San Francisco band the Flamin’ Groovies proselytised for mop-top proto-punk well into the 1980s. Here, he’s backed by musicians including the Plimsouls’ bassist, Eddie Munoz, and Blondie’s Clem Burke, on drums, for 14 dragster-paced rhythm-and-blues numbers. A muscular cover of the Beatles’ Any Time at All sits comfortably among Jordan’s own songs, from the jet-stream fade of Tomorrow Never Comes to the feral garage-punk pastiche of The Real Thing. Evolver has the same yearning harmonies and adrenaline rush that characterised the Groovies’ finest albums, but the strike rate here is higher, if anything, than in much of Jordan’s supposed prime.
Dirty Water DWC1031
