Present The Battle Of The Bands – THE TURTLES***

The Battle Of The Bands/The Last Thing I Remember/Elenore/Too Much Heartsick Felling/Oh Daddy/Buzzsaw/ Surfer Dan/I’m Chief Kamanawanalea/You Showed Me/Food/Chicken Little Was Right/Earth Anthem

Battle Of The Bands was a concept album from The Turtles in which a different style of music is impersonated on each track. The battle was won by the US No. 6 and UK No. 7 single Elenore, with US No. 6 You Showed Me the runner up. (US:128)

“One of the more interesting concept albums it is presented as a battle of the bands. Each song is presented as played by a separate band each in their own unique style, ranging over a wide set of genres. Obviously, The Turtles themselves are the only band behind these tracks. Luckily, the quality of the writing stays consistently quite good throughout the entire record, and the tongue-in-cheek humour helps things along. Overall, a worthy listen; but if you're looking for songs that match the two hits you'll probably be disappointed.”

“Some really good songs here, especially Elenore and The Earth Anthem, but also a lot of forgettable tracks. Not everything here works, but you have to give them credit for at least trying something creative.”

“The idea is that they are pretending to be a series of different artists depending on the song you select which actually works really well surprisingly. This has a variety of different stuff and it has a sort of cheekiness to it which makes the album all the more compelling.”

“The Turtles are usually lumped in the sunny 60s American pop group category. But here they were doing something that was definitely cooler than most of their contemporaries. An interesting concept album, they are capable of creating quirky, yet touching songs. None better than Elenore obviously. The Turtles had something good going on. Very good, enjoyable album. Unfortunately it is usually overlooked by the casual rock fan.”

“In a sense I found it refreshing to see the group take on many different forms of music. After all, groups from the 60s cannot live entirely on sunny pop sounds, psychedelia and folk-rock alone. However, this may have sounded a little too bizarre. In some ways it is a comedy disc, but that's OK because they parody different musical styles and do it with affection.”