The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands

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The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands
Studio album by
The Turtles
ReleasedNovember 1, 1968
Recorded1968
Genre
Length37:07
LabelWhite Whale
ProducerChip Douglas
The Turtles chronology
Happy Together
(1967) 		The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands
(1968) 		Turtle Soup
(1969)
Singles from The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands
  1. "Elenore"
    Released: September 1968
  2. "You Showed Me"
    Released: December 1968
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone(negative)[2]
Tom HullB−[3]

The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands is the fourth studio album released by the American rock band the Turtles. Produced by Chip Douglas (who returned to work with the Turtles after a brief stint shepherding The Monkees' transition into a live band), it was released in November 1968 by White Whale Records. It includes John Barbata's final recorded performances with the band; he left shortly after its release to join Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Barbata's eventual replacement, former Spanky and Our Gang drummer John Seiter, also contributed to the album.[citation needed] Some issues of the album were retitled Elenore.

It is a concept album, with the band pretending to be a series of different groups, playing in varying styles.

Music[edit]

The Battle of the Bands is a pop and rock album[1] which encompasses multiple styles of music, including country, psychedelic, and R&B.[1]

As part of the album's concept, The Turtles adopted 12 different band names, and recorded 12 songs, each in a different genre or style, representing different groups competing in a mock Battle of the Bands. The outer cover shows the Turtles in evening dress, playing hosts of the "show", while the inside gatefold shows them in different costumes for each song. The entire album is filled with puns and hidden jokes. (According to liner notes on various Turtles CDs, White Whale Records was in reality, a one-artist label and they were consistently pressuring The Turtles to come up with another "Happy Together," which resulted in "Elenore," a humorous reworking of the classic "happy pop" single.)

"Kamanawanalea" was a made-up Hawaiian idol ("the god of lust and perversion") with a pun name. The lyrics of "Food" included a recipe for brownies, with cannabis as a special ingredient. "Surfer Dan" was billed as being by The Cross Fires, a nod to the Turtles' previous incarnation as a surf-music band known as The Crossfires before it had signed with White Whale Records. "You Showed Me" was written by Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark of The Byrds, and became the last major Turtles hit. The final song, "Earth Anthem," was recorded at 3:00 A.M. by candlelight, to capture the exact mood the Turtles wanted. "Can't You Hear The Cows" was supposed to be on the album but was rejected by the label for the photo of the band wearing cow heads.

"I'm Chief Kamanawanalea" has been sampled in many tracks, such as "Say No Go" by De La Soul and "Jimmy James" by the Beastie Boys. It was also used in an episode of the TV show "Life on Mars" (US version) in a discotheque scene.

Charts and awards[edit]

The album peaked at number 128 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, but its singles were more successful. "Elenore" and "You Showed Me" both reached number 6 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Johnny Barbata, Howard Kaylan, Al Nichol, Jim Pons, and Mark Volman, except as noted

No.TitleWriter(s)"Band"Length
1."The Battle of the Bands"Harry Nilsson, Chip DouglasThe U.S. Teens featuring Raoul2:14
2."The Last Thing I Remember" The Atomic Enchilada2:55
3."Elenore" Howie, Mark, Johny, Jim & Al2:31
4."Too Much Heartsick Feeling" Quad City Ramblers2:43
5."Oh, Daddy!" The L.A. Bust '662:45
6."Buzzsaw" The Fabulous Dawgs1:59
7."Surfer Dan" The Cross Fires2:42
8."I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're the Royal Macadamia Nuts)" Chief Kamanawanalea and his Royal Macadamia Nuts1:34
9."You Showed Me"James McGuinn, Gene ClarkNature's Children3:16
10."Food" The Bigg Brothers2:40
11."Chicken Little Was Right" Fats Mallard and the Bluegrass Fireball2:47
12."Earth Anthem"Bill MartinAll3:54
Sundazed Records CD re-issue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Sound Asleep" 2:29
14."The Story of Rock and Roll"Harry Nilsson2:38
Repertoire Records CD re-issue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Goodbye Surprise" 2:54
14."She's My Girl" 2:35
15."Sound Asleep" 2:29
16."Umbassa And The Dragon" 3:00
17."The Story of Rock and Roll"Harry Nilsson2:39
18."Can You Hear The Cows" 2:16
19."Elenore" (mono single mix) 2:33
20."You Showed Me" (mono single mix) 3:13
Manifesto Records (Flo and Eddie, Inc., 2016) CD re-issue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."She's My Girl"  
14."Chicken Little Was Right" (stereo single version)  
15."Sound Asleep"  
16."Umbassa The Dragon"  
17."The Story of Rock and Roll"Harry Nilsson 
18."Can't You Hear the Cows"  
19."The Last Thing I Remember (The First Thing I Knew)"  
20."The Owl"  
21."To See the Sun"  
22."Earth Anthem" (previously unreleased alternate version)  
23."Battle of the Bands Radio Spot"  

Personnel[edit]

The Turtles
Additional personnel

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Ofjord. "The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  2. ^ Miller, Jim (January 4, 1969). "The Battle of the Bands". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc.
  3. ^ Hull, Tom (November 2013). "Recycled Goods (#114)". A Consumer Guide to the Trailing Edge. Tom Hull. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
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