Thursday, September 1, 2022

The Tutles Golden Hits 1967

If you've read this blog fairly often, you'll know I love a lot of sixties music and enjoy a good "best of" from the era. The Turtles seem like just the kind of thing I might really enjoy. But you and I would be wrong this time. 

The big hits are here, what there was of them. Of course Happy Together, their only number 1, is a classic of sunny and bright mid-sixties pop. She'd Rather Be With Me (think Cowsills or Buckinghams) got to number 3 itself, and is a good one. You Baby is OK in a Lovin' Spoonful sort of way, and Outside Chance, their rocking-est tune, is a b-side worthy of the Nuggets garage band compilation.

Most of the other songs managed to break into the high numbers on the hot 100 charts. So not really hits per se. So Goes Love is only so-so, and Let Me Be isn't terrible, and sounds like the Association. Grim Reaper Of Love, Is It Any Wonder?, Can I Get To Know You Better?, and You Know What I Mean are all just OK at best. Their first top ten hit, Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, is a saccharine version of the song.

4 of 11 is not great numbers. And this one came out before Elenore, so their closest replica of Happy Together isn't here. There are better, more recent compilations, although I doubt that a CD with a lot more tracks is the answer. I'd look for the CD with the least songs. Or just download Happy Together, Elenore, and Outside Chance and be done with it.

Of course the post-Turtles story is pretty unusual, and unusually successful given the overall quality of their original material. Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (as Flo and Eddie) went on to join The Mothers Of Invention for the least interesting era of that band from 1970-1971 (which, to be generous, was only partly their fault). They then sang back-up vocals on an unusual array of early and mid-seventies records, and recorded some comedy rock records as well. They managed to place their songs in movies with some regularity, and released several compilations of Turtles material. In the last 12 years, they've done the sixties oldies circuit with the mostly successful Happy Together tours, bringing many sixties acts of varying import along for the ride.

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