Howard explained to me that they have some regret for the porn chic side of their work, and that they are older (they don't just feel older now). He said "think of Mike Love singing California Girls. Isn't that *sick*?"
They were doing Turtles shows before the Happy Together tours started though...see the Rhino live CD. When I started seeing them in the 80s the show was a lot of humor, a lot of Turtles hits and just a few Flo & Eddie songs. When the package tour started they just dropped the 70s songs and the bluer jokes. I think the Rhino reissues in the early 80s were part of the impetus from r picking up the Turtles name again.
Mark used to bother me a lot in the 60's when they would do their guest appearances on tv. I would think " can't these guys be serious about their music? ". I came to find out much later that it was all part of the act. Great comedy. Now I love it !
I've read lots of questioning about Mark Volman's role in the band. I agree that visually he didn't look like he was doing much on TV appearances but he is one of the most inventive harmony vocalists of all time. Those spooky, high pitched harmony vocals on tunes like The Last Thing I Remember and Metal Guru and Hot Love by T.Rex are totally brilliant. He was essential to the Turtles' vocal sound.
Wooden Head was released after the break up, it's a album that was recorded and shelved due to Murray and Portz leaving the band plus they changed their musical style breaking away from folk rock and into pop. It was recorded between the You Baby and Happy Together albums.
Battle of the Bands is the one. It is so fun, and has the big hit on it. I even have the individual band pictures loaded for each song. I have had very good response in showing it to people.
Well that makes sense now that you've pointed that out. Here's a track list with the song writers and the tracks that were (or almost were) on singles. 01. "I Can't Stop" (Lambert) – 2:04 02. "She'll Come Back" (Howard Kaylan) – 2:38 03. "Get Away" (Portz, Portz) – 2:10 04. "Wrong from the Start" (Gordon Waller, Peter Asher) – 2:15 05. "I Get Out of Breath" (P.F. Sloan, Steve Barri) – 3:12 06. "We'll Meet Again" (Hughie Charles, Ross Parker) – 2:20 ......> B-side of "Outside Chance", July 1966 07. "On a Summer's Day" (Al Nichol) – 3:34 ......> Unissued single, proposed June 1966 release 08. "Come Back" (Howard Kaylan) – 2:22 ......> B-side of "Grim Reaper of Love", May 1966 09. "Say Girl" (Nichol, Portz, Portz) – 2:06 10. "Tie Me Down" (David Gates) – 2:03 11. "Wanderin' Kind" (Howard Kaylan) – 2:06 ......> B-side of "You Baby", Jan. 1966
Was the film ever released as Cheap ? I thought the story went, it was retitled Dirty Duck because the producer Roger Corman was afraid of the posters saying Roger Corman's Cheap. The Dirty Duck version has all the references to Cheap overdubbed with "Dirty Duck". Speaking of which, I just recently rewatched The Cinema Snob's review of the film.
"She'll Come Back" was from the 1966 soundtrack of "Out Of Sight", their appearance in the film is on YT. Why did White Whale keep issuing Wanderin' Kind? They issued it as a single 3 times as the flip side of "You Baby" and twice in 1970 as the flip sides to "Is It Any Wonder" and "Eve Of Destruction". They must have thought a folk-rock tune from 1965 was commercially viable in 1970.
Dirty Duck came out on DVD in the late 90's and has to be one of the worst quality discs I viewed, it looked like a 4th generation VHS copy at best and it was legit.
I always liked that song and wondered why they never placed it on their second album. I also heard the wooden head songs were second album rejects since they wanted to get away from the folk/rock material. You tube used to have the she'll come back video intact where you could see Chuck portz the bass player on the left hand side the whole time. Other prints have him cut out of the shot.
I just transferred my mono copy of that album yesterday. While the other songs are okay (for what they are), the Turtles are the shining moment.
Yes, Ishmael controlled all of the publishing which was part of White Whale. Plausible. But the label could pick another song off the first album that hasn't been issued before as a single.
By the time of it's 3rd release, someone should have told them "pick something else since it didn't do anything the last two times it was issued". The label should have issued something from You Baby instead.
I would love to have seen the entire clip to where (according to HK) a mad scientist comes into the room and shrinks the entire band.
After 47 years, this FE rare non-LP, Non-CD B-side from 1974 emerges from obscurity. This track never made it to the Illegal Immoral LP. Historically, the last vinyl performance by at least three, maybe four members of the 70-71 Zappa band: Mark & Howard, Ainsley Dunbar, for sure, and maybe Ian Underwood who was credited on the Illegal Immoral LP. Worth having since the A-side is “Let Me Make Love To You” without the orchestral arrangement of the album version. If anyone with influence reads this, include both tracks on any upcoming FE compilation. Usually available on Ebay.
Mark Volman (April 19, 1947-) Mark Volman, a man who has seen it all and done it all. He’s been a Turtle, a Mother, a singer, a songwriter, an actor, a professor, and a Phlorescent Leech. He is the Flo in Flo & Eddie, the Hardy to Howard Kaylan’s Laurel, the Ernie to Howard’s Bert. While Howard served as lead singer, Mark provided the perfect voice to harmonize with Howard. And while Howard provided the straight faced deadpan humor, Mark was the irreverent goofball and embodiment of the joy and humor that filled the Turtles’ music. And rather it be as interpreters of other people’s songs like “It Ain’t Me Babe” or even “Happy Together” or self-penned songs like “Think I’ll Run Away” or much of Battle of The Bands and Turtle Soup, Mark and his fellow Turtles ably provided top tier California pop throughout their heyday while also showing themselves to very versatile writers and performers with a cheeky humor underpinning it all. Many people wondered just what had gotten into Frank Zappa when he brought Mark and Howard into band. Well, never judge a book by its cover as Mark and Howard proved just right for the Mothers 2.0. Wheres the original Mothers had been this demented theater troupe that was so strange and freaky, the new band were a straight up rock and roll band, consummate showmen and entertainers taking on the good, the bad, and ugly of the road. As stars who’d been on the charts with a bullet (DUN!), they provided a credibility to Frank’s satire of pop stardom. As vocalists, they gave Frank a chance to have multiple strong singers in one band and to use the voice as yet another instrument rather than just a way to deliver the words to the melody. As personalities, they provided a levity that provided quite a relief after a period of some of Frank’s most demanding music on the part of both the band and the audience. And then you cap it off with Flo & Eddie on their own, their harmonies on all the classic T. Rex stuff, and their work with Bruce Springsteen, Alice Cooper, Ramones, Blondie, Duran Duran, and in film and television such as Down and Dirty Duck, The Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake. Mark himself has gone back to school, earning a bachelor’s degree near the top of his class at Loyola Marymount University and being a founding member of the CA chapter of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. This in addition to earning a Master’s degree in Fine Arts and becoming a professor at universities such as Los Angeles Valley College and Belmont where he teaches about music history and the business side of show business. For me personally, Mark has provided a tremendous amount of joy through all his work, bringing me a good laugh and a smile to my face while he’s goofing off with his pal. He’s also given me hope, showing that you can have great success and happiness just being yourself, the norm be damned to hell. Happy birthday Mark, thank you for always being your weird, wonderfully funny and delightful self.
