Turtles
Battle of the Bands - White Whale 1968
Tracks: 1. Battle Of The Bands / 2. Last Thing I Remember / 3. Elenore / 4. Too Much Heartsick Feelin / 5. Oh, Daddy! / 6. Buzzsaw / 7. Surfer Dan / 8. I'm Chief Kamanawanalea / 9. You Showed Me / 10. Food / 11. Chicken Little Was Right / 12. Earth Anthem (All) / 13. She's My Girl / 14. Chicken Little was Right - single / 15. Sound Asleep / 16. Umbassa And The Dragon / 17. Story Of Rock And Roll / 18. Can't You Hear The Cows / 19. The Last Thing I Remember - alt / 20. The Owl / 21. Ton See the Sun / 22. Earth Anthem - alt. / 23. Radio Spot
Comments:
Should one laugh or cry.
This 1968 Turtles album is clearly a humorous commentary on the concept of "Battle of the Bands". The original album contains 12 tracks, played by 12 fictional groups (all of course The Turtles themselves). There is no shortage of ingenuity, and the group probably had a lot of fun along the way. But does it hold up? Is it still interesting here more than 50 years later. My answer will be, Not really. Much of it is simply too silly, and some of the numbers are not really very good; eg. "Surfer Dan", which is probably intended as a Beach Boys pastiche. However, the song does not reach the knees of the Beach Boys; quality requirements for a pastiche song must be at least the same as the original item.
The positive exceptions are "You Showed Me", which was actually written by Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark from the Byrds, and which was deservedly a big hit for the group. "Elenore" was also a big hit, but in my opinion it has not aged with the same grace. The song was actually intended as a parody of one of the group's own previous hits, "Happy Together".
"Earth Anthem" is also a pretty nice song; here I prefer the bonus-track version, which appears crispier, with clearer guitar. Both "The Last Thing I Remember" and "Chicken Little was Right" also contain nice things; but can also be hard to take seriously (I guess that was not the intention either, but the silliness can seem annoying)
Among the bonus numbers, there are fine things to pick up. Both "She's My Girl", "Sound Asleep" and "The Story of Rock'n Roll" are solid singles that made it to the charts; especially "She's My Girl" is a great pop-song.
"To See the Sun" is a nice outtake; almost classic 1966 Turtles, and a number that could have adorned the original "The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands". "Can't You Hear the Cows" is an interesting B-side, which sounds like some of the things Brian Wilson experimented with on "Smile". “The Owl” is another interesting outtake; Turtles psychedelia with citar.
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