Customer Reviews

It Ain't Me Babe

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Turtles were throughout their career a band with serious identity issues. "It Ain't Me Babe" represents their beginnings, aurally and conceptually miles away from their later hits like "Happy Together."

For in the beginning, the Turtles were a Serious Folk Rock group. This, of course, was a bit odd in the first place--heck, they had only recently ceased to be a Rockin' Teenage Surf Combo--but as Mark and Howard tell it in the Happy Together retrospective DVD, Folk Rock was marketable, so the group jumped in.

The result is an interesting stab in a direction the group would soon abandon. While I personally prefer the material on Wooden Head, "It Ain't Me Babe" caries a strong set of material, from a fairly-inspired set of Dylan covers (the title track, "Love Minus Zero") to...well, a "why did they even bother?" Dylan cover ("Like a Rolling Stone"). The songwriting is embryonic, but is still fairly pleasant, and while the band certainly has chops, they do sound fairly mannered and anonymous on some cuts. It's still *good*, though, and if the Turtles as Angry Young Men appeals to you, It Ain't Me Babe is a great place to start.

Strangely, while Sundazed usually turns out impeccable CD issues, this particular album is an unpleasant exception. The sound quality of the album (which, by the way, is presented in its original we-want-to-be-the-Beatles-unnecessary-vocals-on-one-side-instruments-on-the-other-EXTREME stereo...check out the Repertoire CD for a more listenable mono mix, or the various hits compilations for a more sensible mix of the title track) is fine, but the bonus tracks are skimpy, with only one track unavailable anywhere else (this stereo mix of We'll Meet Again only shows up here, as far as I recall). "Grim Reaper of Love" is an excellent tune, but is on several other CDs. The liner notes are uninspired and confusing, implying that "Eve of Destruction" wasn't issued until 1970 (its appearence here suggests otherwise).

But worse, FAR worse, than any of the other problems is the fact that Sundazed *deleted* one track from this album. Now, that track--Let Me Be--happens to also be on You Baby, so collector-wise it isn't a big deal (and it apparently allowed Sundazed to fit an extra bonus track on the disc), but c'mon...it's part of the album! You can't just delete it! Bah. Consequently, the Repertoire disc--which contains mono/stereo versions of the album, plus a few bonus tracks--is probably a better bargain.

This was The Turtles first album, released in the wake of the title song becoming a Top Ten hit. "It Ain't Me Babe" is a cover version of a Bob Dylan song, and the rest of the album is folk rock in that vein. There are two other Bob Dylan covers here, which are decent, if uninspired. There are four other folk rock covers, which are good efforts. I especially like "Your Maw Said You Cried" and "Eve of Destruction". "It Was a Very Good Year", incidentally, pre-dates Frank Sinata's version. There are four original songs here, contributed by singer Howard Kaylan. Howard's songwriting would later improve, but these songs are good early efforts. The CD adds three bonus tracks. "We'll Meet Again" is a fun version of a World War II era British song. The strange "Grim Reaper of Love" was the Turtles fourth single, which was a flop, but it's a great song. "So Goes Love" is a pretty ballad, which was later recorded by The Monkees. It has to be mentioned that the songs are in primitive binaural (two-track) stereo (with the exception of the last two bonus tracks). The instruments are in the right speaker and the vocals are in the left speaker. If you have heard the stereo versions of The Beatles early albums, you know what I'm talking about. I would recommend this album to The Turtles fans, or fans of folk rock in general.

"Grim Reaper of Love" has got to be one of the best raga-rock tunes ever, in addition to being one of the best titles for a song ever. The droning break seems to go on for an eternity, but that's good in this case. Get this CD for this track alone. The rest are good too.

When I first bought this, I thought it was going to be another song copying band, but it was great. If you have money to spend on a cd, buy this one. It is my favorite cd and is unbeatable.

The Turtles 1965 debut album, full of period charm and youthful verve. "Happy Together" is a better album overall, but this has more nostalgiac appeal for fans of the genre and the era.

The turtles had just morphed from a surf band 'the crossfires' (you can get that release on amazon.com) into this incarnation a electric folk and pop rock band! And they really make one of the best discs of this type ever. They were obviously influenced by bob dylan and others and they cover folk songs like 'glitter and gold' and make them electric and poppy even! This split is even evident on their next release 'you baby' with some of the electric folk/pop mix still on that one with great pure GUITAR driven rock pop. This would be gone by 1967's 'happy together" which is pure rock pop but this one was a great cd in it's own right. Casual fans will enjoy this one but will want to start perhaps with later releases.
But even so there isn't a bad song on this one!

The Turtles' first album is very unlike their later work; unlike the "good-timin'," sardonic approach of their later work, the Turtles here go for more of a direct folk/protest rock approach. The album's title song was a big hit, but your enjoyment of this album is strictly based on how much you like this genre (unlike some of their later work, which is just GOOD).

Oddly enough, the Turtles catalogue is one of the few that legendary reissue label SUNDAZED did a less-than-satisfactory job on. Thankfully, this REPERTOIRE RECORDS corrects most of those issues, and is absurdly geared towards completists; it offers the complete mono and stereo versions of this album, along with two bonus tracks! (by comparison, the Sundazed issue is only in stereo, has different bonus tracks, and is missing Let Me Be).

To conclude, this is a good enough album, but is definately not for the first-time Turtles listener. And if that doesn't sound professional...