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<\/p>\nWhat we need in the world today
\nis a Guide for the Turtles Fan
\nlead a guided tour through their six LPs
\nas only Mark Volman can \u2026 baa … ba ba baa \u2026 <\/i><\/p>\n
Founders, co-leaders and co-vocalists of The Turtles, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman are equally revered for their music as they are for their significant work advocating that artists get their due. They took on unauthorized samplers, sparred with Sirius XM over broadcast royalties, sued to regain use of their own names (and the Turtles band name), and took control of their own back catalogs.<\/p>\n
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Under their FloEdCo banner, in 2020 they\u2019ve overseen Manifesto Records\u2019 vinyl reissue of the six original Turtles LPs, each with bonus material. The new double-LP versions of the first three Turtles records \u2013 It Ain\u2019t Me Babe<\/i>, You Baby<\/i> and Happy Together<\/i> \u2013 are presented in both monaural and stereo formats. And the band\u2019s later three LPs \u2013 The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands<\/i>, Turtle Soup<\/i> and Wooden Head<\/i> \u2013 are appended with non-album tracks and other rarities.<\/p>\n
Mark Volman says that the journey toward making these expanded reissues available on vinyl really began 20 years ago when he and Kaylan worked with Rhino Records. \u201cThat part of our history had a lot to do with the ownership of the recordings,\u201d he says. Rarities releases like Chalon Road<\/i> and Shell Shock<\/i> (both 1987 Rhino projects) \u2013 along with annual \u201cHappy Together\u201d package tours \u2013 helped keep the Turtles in the minds of fans.<\/p>\n
On the occasion of the reissue project \u2013 and with this year\u2019s Happy Together Tour canceled \u2013 Volman took the opportunity to chart the Turtles\u2019 history using the band\u2019s six albums as mileposts. In addition to being filled with some of the finest pop-rock of that era, those records mark The Turtles\u2019 creative path through folk protest music, sunshine pop, psychedelia, hard rock, comedy music and even concept albums.<\/p>\n
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It Ain\u2019t Me Babe<\/b><\/i> (originally released October 1965)<\/b>
\nThough they got their start as a surf-rock band called The Crossfires, by the time the group signed with White Whale Records, they had changed their name to The Turtles. Produced by Bones Howe, the band\u2019s debut LP combined moody folk rock with hints of the upbeat direction they\u2019d pursue on later records.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were young \u2013 18 or something \u2013 and we didn\u2019t really know what we were doing,\u201d Volman says. \u201cWe were just kids singing some folk songs.\u201d Seeking to build on the success of the band\u2019s Bob Dylan cover recording, the first Turtles LP is nonetheless \u201ca pretty good showcase of [our] originality,\u201d he says. While it might not have explored the group\u2019s tongue-in-cheek character, It Ain\u2019t Me Babe<\/i> drew from a rich crop of top-notch songwriters. \u201cWhat it didn\u2019t have,\u201d Volman observes, \u201cwas the kind of pop sensibility that we would move into.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside covers of songs by Bob Dylan (the title track, \u201cLove Minus Zero,\u201d \u201cLike a Rolling Stone\u201d) and like-minded tunes from P.F. Sloan (\u201cEve of Destruction,\u201d \u201cLet Me Be\u201d), the record featured four Kaylan originals, including the lovely \u201cWanderin\u2019 Kind,\u201d a folk-pop gem that sounds like an all-male version of Peter, Paul & Mary. And a recording of the Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil composition \u201cGlitter and Gold\u201d offered a preview of the Turtles\u2019 musical future.<\/p>\n
The young group benefited from the skills of an excellent mentor. \u201cBones Howe had worked with Elvis; the guy was a monumental record producer,\u201d Volman says. \u201cA lot of credit has to go to him. He was older than us, and so he brought a kind of reality to the situation. He knew what he needed to do to make a good record, and he wasn\u2019t going to let White Whale spoil that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The heads of the relatively small label \u2013 Lee Lasseff and Ted Feigin \u2013 wanted more product to capitalize on the success of the \u201cIt Ain\u2019t Me, Babe\u201d single, which reached #8 on the U.S. chart. A second single, \u201cLet Me Be\u201d did nearly as well, and a cover of \u201cIt Was a Very Good Year\u201d \u2013 released within weeks of a Grammy-winning version by Frank Sinatra \u2013 hit the Top Ten in Canada. \u201cRight in the middle of making that first album, they were already saying, \u2018What are we going to do for the next record?\u2019\u201d Volman says. \u201cSo we were moving on almost immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
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You Baby<\/b><\/i> (originally released April 1966)<\/b>
\nA mere six months after their debut LP hit the shelves, The Turtles returned with You Baby<\/i>. And while the record featured five original songs, more than half of the tunes came from other composers. \u201cWe had a knack of being able to pick some really good songwriters,\u201d Volman says. Among the most intriguing choices was Side Two\u2019s opener, \u201cDown in Suburbia.\u201d A sardonic, sarcastic look at the hypocrisy and intolerance of America’s middle class, the tune wrapped a serious message from the burgeoning counterculture (courtesy of songwriter Bob Lind) inside a catchy pop song.<\/p>\n
Volman quotes from Lind\u2019s lyrics: \u201c\u2019All they ever smoke is tobacco in suburbia.\u2019 We were beginning, as a band, to express ourselves nonchalantly using the overhang of the drug scene.\u201d But the song \u2013 and the band who performed it \u2013 had more on its mind. \u201cJust think of the lyrics: \u2018Everybody\u2019s got a list of negroes, Jews, and communists,\u2019\u201d Volman says. \u201cI\u2019m telling you, we were already bordering on trouble. And the record company was not very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere on You Baby<\/i>, The Turtles explored other musical styles, with varying results. Kaylan\u2019s hard rhythm and blues number \u201cHouse of Pain\u201d is really \u201cus trying to be Eric Burdon,\u201d Volman admits with a laugh. \u201cThe only thing that was painful was that we were running out of vodka every once in a while!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Turtles were unique \u2013 especially among Los Angeles-based groups of the era \u2013 in that they didn\u2019t use session musicians like the Wrecking Crew for their basic tracks; they played their own instruments. And the band members\u2019 confidence and skill as songwriters were growing quickly.<\/p>\n
Another Kaylan tune, \u201cPall Bearing, Ball Bearing World,\u201d represented more new directions for the group. \u201cHe was beginning to nod toward comedy,\u201d Volman says. Kaylan wasn\u2019t the only songwriter in the band. \u201cAl Nichol\u2019s \u2018Flying High\u2019 really demonstrates Al\u2019s ability to not just write some good rock and roll songs, but also to sing,\u201d says Volman.<\/p>\n
Released as a single, the title track of You Baby<\/i> made it to the Top 20. \u201cWe were not [yet] competitive on the music scene,\u201d Volman says. \u201cBut we had the hit on the second album, and that hit really carried us over.\u201d They didn\u2019t know it yet, but for The Turtles, a big breakthrough lay just over the horizon.<\/p>\n