Nearly four decades ago, Roy Loney was the original frontman of the Flamin' Groovies, a storied San Fran outfit that swam against the hippy-dippy tide by playing sleepy-eyed goodtime music and revivalist rock 'n' roll . Then they saw the light -- and the Stooges -- and chose to make more aggressive noises. The band came close to besting the Rolling Stones at their own Let It Bleed/Sticky Fingers game with 1971's Teenage Head, an album that produced two bona fide rawk classics, the title track and subsequent single, "Slow Death." Loney penned 'em both, all the while radiating the punk insouciance that would stay with him up to this very day, in middle age.

His latest disc, Drunkard in the Think Tank, released by tiny Montana-based indie Career, is proof positive that while Loney may not be aging gracefully, he's aging well. The c.d. was recorded five years ago with the Young Fresh Fellows, a Seattle group he's worked with frequently over the years. It's a blast of explosive unhyphenated rock and a reminder of how refreshing this stuff used to sound before "garage" became a brand for marketing generica like the Strokes and Jet.

Surprisingly, the most apparent influence here is Ray Davies, idiosyncratic songwriter for that most underrated of Brit Invasion outfits, the Kinks. Loney emulates Davies' wry humor and keen observer's eye, specifically on "Nobody Does It" (a rumination on sexual relations that updates Cole Porter's "Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love" for the millennial age) and "Such a Nice Boy" (the hard-rocking saga of a transvestite in shades of Davies' career-rescuing hit "Lola"). On the wistful Davies homage "He Talks To Himself," Loney evokes the pastoral sound of classic Kinks albums like Something Else and The Village Green Preservation Society. Roots-conscious without descending into slavish imitation, Loney's Drunkard is rock classicism at its best.