THE TURTLES
The Complete Original Album Collection
(Manifesto)

 

L.A. based Manifesto did a great job on their early 2016 Lee Michaels CD box set and they do an equally remarkable job on their late 2016 six CD box set by The Turtles entitled The Complete Original Album Collection. Coinciding with the box set is a double Turtles CD set on Manifesto, called All The Singles—pairing all the A and B sides of a wide range Turtles hits. One of the first bands to burst out of the mid 1960's Los Angeles pop scene that gave us rock legends like The Doors, Love and The Leaves, The Turtles were the brainchild of singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan. Kaylan—from the Bronx in NYC—and Los Angeles native Volman, hit upon a brilliant AM radio pop hit formula with The Turtles, who quickly became a favorite among the trendy teenybopper fans who were just coming into their teens in the age of Sgt. Pepper. Despite being pegged as a singles only band, The Turtles actually released a number of studio albums. Rhino reissued a double CD best of back in 2002 and Sundazed even took a crack at the Turtles’ back catalog. Even so, seeing it all “under one banner” in Manifesto's appealing box set, with all the mono / stereo mixes and a wealth of ear opening Turtles rarities—plus an extensive booklet and liner notes by Andrew Sandoval—is a timely reminder of the power of AM radio and pop music in the 1960s. Like The Mamas & The Papas, the Turtles’ albums were overlooked during the age of mid ‘60s Beatlemania—that incredible 1965 period when the teenyboppers were slowly graduating to buying Lps. Pressured by their label White Whale into constantly trying to recreate their monster hits, like “Happy Together”, the band’s identity and true potential got lost in the power play shuffle of the music biz—as did so many great bands of the era. Also remember that, so great was the power of the Beatles that no one could encroach upon their domination of the pop singles charts and the pop album charts. In many ways, The Turtles were merely an opening act for Volman and Kaylan, who evolved into Flo & Eddie due to record company control of their names. Post-Turtles work with Frank Zappa and T. Rex is historic, but the Turtles’ legacy keeps growing into the 21st century with Manifesto’s tasty Turtles box set. www.manifesto.com



 

 
   
Attention Artists and Record Companies: Have your CD reviewed by mwe3.com
Send to
: MWE3.com Reviews Editor Robert Silverstein
2351 West Atlantic Blvd. #667754
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066

E-mail: mwe3nyc@gmail.com
New York address (for legal matters only)
P.O. Box 222151, Great Neck, N.Y. 11022-2151

 
 
CD Reviews Feature Reviews & Features Archive Photo Archive Contact MWE3 Home
 

 

Copyright © 1999-2016
MWE3.com - All Rights Reserved