Two great clips: An actual live performance (not mimed) of Elenore, featuring John Barbata's flashy drumming, and a neat interview with Howard Kaylan where he talks about doing acid with Warren Zevon. https://youtu.be/oDzQu08miBo
post 'o the day. i empathize with your sentiment. i heard "happy together" today and ( not song 'o the day but hey... ) and it was fun for a 2;24 again. i particularly enjoyed when they briefly morphed and became the mama's and papa's in that vocal middle section lol
I like that live take because Mark is not doing his typical uber-annoying Mark thing. And that's a great interview clip... And, talking about publishing on Happy Together...How many millions must that one copyright have generated for Bonner and Gordon (or whoever owns the publishing)?
Maybe instead of calling them the Turtles on the happy Together tour from now on they should be called the Turchies[half Turtles half Archies]since Ron took over for Howard.
Interesting, , it does sound a bit like him, but where else would you hear it other than “The Turtles Greatest Hits”?
As noted already, it was. There's a demo of his with the full band. The backing track sounds EXACTLY the same. I'm thinking maybe his 'demo' is him singing it out as a guide vocal. The Turtles weren't known for just adding vocals to Wrecking Crew tracks. I'd be really curious what others know about this song. It was recording during a period of transition so there may be a slight possibility it features some studio musicians... but I sort of doubt it.
I just realized that 45 that I posted from YouTube has “Lyme and Crocker” listed as the writers, whoever they are
I remember Howard saying in one interview that White Whale was too cheap to hire and pay for studio musicians. I think it may be Johnny Barbata's first recording with the group. The transition was Don Murray leaving, replaced by Joel Larson then replaced by Johnny Barbata in 1966.
At one time, there were some really clean uploads featuring the Turtles doing this along with Battle of the Bands. I think it was 'Revolution' and it had a giant water mark folks complained about. I believe he was a big time collector and had a store in New York. Maybe they're on youtube somewhere, but after he passed I couldn't find them anymore. He had A LOT of great stuff. I should have been smart enough to grab those clips when they were around.
Lyme and Cybelle was Warren's and Violet Santangelo's folk duo name at the time. Those singles are worth tracking down if you like this period of music. lyme and cybelle - Wikipedia Edit: I see a Glenn Crocker gets credit on this single. I'm not sure who he was.
Both of these singles are fantastic, with sterling production by Bones Howe. Follow Me is shimmering psychedelic folk pop. If You Gotta Go, Go Now should have been huge. Warren and Violet take Dylan's cranky one-sided rant to a girl who won't put out and turn it into a sly seductive dialog between a man and woman about to become intimate. After Follow Me reached #65, Zevon threw his energy into making If You Gotta Go a hit, but it missed the top 100 entirely. Zevon quit lyme & cybelle and nursed a long-held bitterness toward the US record industry. Years later the truth came out. Apparently music business bigwig Bill Gavin, founder of the influential Gavin Report, had heard the single and declared it too salacious for radio play. And just like that, it disappeared from the airwaves. There's a CD circulating called Warren Zevon - The First Sessions that is worth tracking down, featuring these songs and more of Warren's demos for White Whale. His 1969 debut LP Wanted Dead Or Alive is pretty nifty too.
My local library has a Downloadable Music link and much to my pleasant surprise they had that box set available. Could only download 5 songs per week so it took me a few months to do it but I've got all of it saved onto iTunes. If only they'd do that with The Rolling Stones in Mono!!!
It's unfortunate that Flo and Eddie (or Mark and Howard) never did a Unplugged show or Storytellers type show featuring their music. Maybe a bit of comedy, but more about their writing. There are some great songs in the Flo and Eddie catalogue. I'm not against there comedic side, that's what originally drew me to them. And actually I don't think they can help but be funny in their conversation etc. A show that featured them as serious song writers would be a real gem I think the "window" has closed on that now.
The Turtles and Flo & Eddie should be held in higher esteem. Certainly, the Turtles, in particular have a “deep bench” of great non-“Happy Together” songs. I’m sure the various fiascos around their management contributed to the overall lack of critical notice over the years. Flo & Eddie were great and put out so many great songs, but I do think the comedy bits sink the albums to some extent. And I have to assume their less than “marque” appearance was a difficult marketing proposition.
The complete set of CDs from the box--but no outside box--is available directly from Manifesto Records on eBay for around $30. Well worth having.
Flo & Eddie sounding like a great lost Turtles 45: Written by Albert Hammond, whose version isn't bad, either (though I hate how he pronounced chic as chick). https://youtu.be/egbWv7WusjM
Or if you're not someone who absolutely has to have physical media, the entire set is available in lossless on qobuz for $8.99. That's $1.49 per disc, or about 6 cents per song.
whoa! thanks for the tip. just ordered! i was tempted to get the 45 rpm singles collection too, as it's really cheap, but i figured having all the originals was good enough. i don't listen to 45s that often anyway.
I also dig the Turtles. I got to see them at the Topsfield (MA) Fair back in 1999. I have Solid Zinc, 20 Greatest Hits, Turtle Soup & the recent singles compilation, which has a version of a 50s doo woo song called "Gas Money" that they put out under another name in 1970, as well as "Christmas Is My Time of Year". Speaking of Turtle Soup, which was produced by Ray Davies, when they approached him to produce the album, he reportedly replied, "All that I can offer you is failure".
Record nerd filing question: Chronologically speaking, where does Wooden Head go? Before Happy Together? After?
