I love “I Think I’ll Run Away”. That’s a nearly perfect track. It reminds me somewhat of Buffalo Springfield-era Neil Young.
That song is so different than almost anything that they have ever cut and is also one of my favorites as well!
Sure hope this changes, but at the moment Howard isn't able to perform. Ron Dante is taking his place on the Happy Together tour.
If you like The Turtles in any fashion, you MUST get this and watch it immediately, as it's a priceless DVD. The story about their managers is worth the price alone. Mark and Howard are so damn funny! Howard was one of the greatest lead singers in the 60's!!! https://www.amazon.com/Turtles-Happ...ateway&sprefix=the+turtles+DVD,aps,144&sr=8-5
Thanks to someone cool, I just found the "managers" story, as mentioned above from the DVD, on u-tube ... This is classic!!!
My favorite lineup is the 65-66 lineup with Mark, Howard, Chuck Portz, Don Murray, Jim Tucker and Al Nichol. Don Murray left the lineup first then Chuck Portz in '66. Always wondered what led to their departures. Watched the Rhino documentary on them a few years back and thought it was strange that Al Nichol was the only turtle who was not interviewed.
Someone should also mention the great bass playing and short-lived producing of Chip Douglas! To me, that was the best period for The Turtles.
Not that anybody shouldn't get the DVD but the manager story is on YouTube. In the comments, somebody's appeared to have figured out who each of the managers were. Didn't realize the box set was OOP. Guess I'm glad I bought it when I did.
So I’m more of a moderate Turtles fan, and I’m curious about Mark Volman. How important was he to the group’s initial run? No blasphemy intended, I’m curious about his contributions. He didn’t seem to write much, he didn’t sing many leads, he plays guitar but the group always had a rhythm and lead player. Was he mostly just for harmonies with Howard? Any information would be helpful. I like him, I’m just trying to understand his role in the group. Did he do more than I think? Also, does anyone have a list of songs he sang lead on?
Yeah, I always figured that the managers 6 to 7 were somehow related to Cosby, the others I really don't know who they are or were, but their story seems like most music acts, where they get offered the moon and end up with barely anything. I have a local musician friend who has always been hell bent on getting signed by some big label or agent and I have always told him, that there is only one Springsteen or Dylan for every 50,000 or more acts, so give that ghost up or you'll be sorry. He still doesn't listen to me, but at least I have tried to warn him. Some musicians just like to dream big!
My brother worked on the book with Howard. I saw flo and Eddie many times starting with a couple of Zappa shows in 71. Later on I got to know them after seeing them a lot. They were a riot to be around and you never knew who might show up at a show. I saw lou reed, kiss and zappa all joining them at shows at the bottom line in NYC. At Howard's book signing he remembered me from those shows way back when.
Another song from Happy Together, “Too Young to Be One”, is the song that converted me into full Turtles fandom. Other than “Happy Together” and “Elenore”, I was barely aware of the Turtles as the group who did “She’d Rather Be With Me”. I knew about their version of “You Showed Me” because of Gene Clarke. “It Ain’t Me Babe” didn’t register much with me at all despite being a hit.
I can't really tell you but to me, he was the heart, and every good band needs that. As they moved along, you start to notice more songs by him. I think by the time of Turtle Soup and last unfinished album, he had quite a few numbers. This is one of my favorites:
Howard does talk about it in his book. I forget the details but he was a big fan of their early records and went to see them live. It may have been a John Peel connection but I forget. However, some things are divulged in Howard's book that some may not want to know. Overall, it's a good read and doesn't leave anything out.
The Turtles are a band I discovered through tracing roots and branches. Back in early 2003, I developed an appreciation for the dying Warren Zevon. My favorite song on the First Sessions compilation issued that year was his demo of the song "Outside Chance". I don't know when I heard the Turtles' version, which uses the same backing track as Zevon's demo with an added electric piano courtesy of Larry Knechtel, but it helped me to see that The Turtles really were something special, maybe the sort of group to be explored in greater depth. Zevon at 19 was a good singer (he'd get much better), Kaylan at 18 or 19 (the "Outside Chance" single was issued in July 1966) was already great. My "best of" the group, the primer I use to show others why I think The Turtles were a great band, is 30 or 31 songs but it was very hard to distill. Even if there weren't a ton of big hits, there was always a ton of great material across The Turtles' albums and singles as well as across the material put out by Flo and Eddie. You have to appreciate a group you have a hard time highlighting in eighty minutes. Something like "The Story of Rock and Roll" (written by the great Harry Nilsson) deserved to chart higher than #48.
Absolutely love the Turtles but I don't think I've even heard anything by Flo & Eddie - partly because of the Zappa connection and partly because their stuff doesn't seem to have been very available in the UK, at least I don't remember seeing it around much. Howard Kaylan had one of the greatest voices in 60s pop music.
So, was 'manager no.1' the guy that got them to sue De La Soul & Tommy Boy Records for that 'LESS-THAN-5-SECOND' sample of "You Showed Me"?
Great Thread! I don't use spotify, don't want to sign up for it. Could you be so kind to show your plalist here?
They also sing backup on Springsteen's 'Hungry Heart'. I haven't read Howard's book but, based on this thread, I'm assuming that they turned up on these albums because they needed the money! Last time I read up on them, Mark was teaching a course on the music business at a college or university in Tennessee.
