The Turtles - 20 Greatest Hits

The Turtles

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1983
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00000329G
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,228 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Though they may not have possessed the hip cachet of The Beach Boys or The Byrds, this California combo (led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, a.k.a. Flo and Eddie) were one of the most consistently satisfying, inventive and subversive American pop acts of the '60s. Shimmering and infectious hits like "Happy Together," "Elenore," "You Baby," "She'd Rather Be with Me," and their impassioned rendering of Bob Dylan's, "It Ain't Me, Babe," remain some of the era's loveliest pop-rock tunes, embodying a good-humored sense of optimism that still sounds fresh more than two decades later. Rhino and Sundazed have done a fine job of keeping the Turtles' extensive catalogue in circulation in the CD era, but this generous single-disc best-of is an excellent place to start. --Scott Schinder

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stick Your Neck Out and Buy This Album!, January 31, 2000

By	Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In the late-seventies, I began to get serious about establishing a serious collection of sixties pop music. [Something I couldn't afford to do as a teenager.] One of the major stumbling blocks was finding anything by the Turtles. Sure, I could find "Happy Together" on countless various artists collections, but nothing else. Rhino Records has changed all that. In fact, Rhino at one time re-released all of the Turtles' albums. Except for the fanatics, this 20-song collection will do nicely.

Although they started out as the Crossfires, a surf band, they quickly found success following in the footsteps of other folk-rock bands of the period like the Byrds. [They even covered the Gene Clark-Roger McGuinn song "You Showed me," the band's last Top 40 hit in 1969.]

The songs are presented chronologically, beginning with their folk-rock version of Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe." Their follow-up single, "Let Me Be," continued in the same vein. They recorded a second P.F. Sloan tune, "Eve of Destruction," but it lacked the gritty vocal of Barry McGuire's hit version that came out the same year (1965).

Beginning with their next single, "You Baby," the Turtles abandoned their folk sound for the pop-rock sound that became their trademark. This was followed by the group's only million-seller, the No. 1 "Happy Together." The rest of the hits are here as well: "She'd Rather Be with Me," "You Know What I Mean," "She's My Girl" and "Elenore." All feature the lead vocals of Howard Kaylan and harmony singer Mark Volman. [After the break-up of the Turtles, they would perform and record as Flo and Eddie, adding harmony vocals to such acts as Frank Zappa and T. Rex.]

In addition to the hits are failed singles and album tracks that are all worth a listen. "Grim Reaper of Love" has a psychedelic quality to it. "Can I Get To Know You," written by the same Barri-Sloan team that wrote "You Baby," stalled at No. 89. "Outside Chance" is an early Warren Zevon-penned rocker. "Me About You" features a horn section and would show up in a nearly identical arrangement on the Joe Butler-led final album by the Lovin' Spoonful two years later. "Guide for the Married Man" is a fairly inconsequential theme song to a movie of the same name. "Sound Asleep," the band's attempt to produce themselves (and write their own songs), is an interesting song--it even features the sound of cutting a tree down! "The Story of Rock & Roll" is Harry Nillson's update of Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music." The band's last single, "Lady-O," has the distinction of coming from an album produced by the Kinks' Ray Davies.

If you grew up during the sixties, this album is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. RECOMMENDED

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant American group of the sixties, February 5, 2004

By	Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Turtles were strongly influenced by British groups like the Zombies and Gerry and the Pacemakers (although their appearance was more like the Rolling Stones) but they only had three significant UK hits - Happy together, She'd rather be with me and Elenore. Of course, they had many more hits in their native USA and you can find them all on this excellent collection. Although they began as folk-rockers, their style evolved into mainstream pop rock and bubblegum.

The Turtles began their assault on the American charts with It ain't me babe, a cover of a Bob Dylan classic that made the USA top five. Their three UK hits were all massive USA hits, with Happy together going all the way to number one in America. Other major American hits included Let me be, You baby, You know what I mean and You showed me. Some of the others were only modest hits but 17 of the 20 songs here made the Billboard top 100 with another (Me about you) just failing to make it, bubbling under at 105. One of the two other tracks here, Guide for the married man, was a film title track. Although released as a single, it was never seriously marketed.

The Turtles were one of America's finest rock groups of the sixties. This compilation includes all that most people will ever need of their music but also serves as a great introduction to those that want to explore further.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Better get the originals, January 20, 2000

By	Steven D. Miller (Sebastopol, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This CD is a good set of the Turtles' hits, but it's a low-quality recording (and lower volume than almost any other CD in my collection), and Sundazed (and others) has since released pretty much the full Turtles catalog. The re-released originals, esp. the first five or so albums, will definitely reward multiple listening, contain the hits in their proper context, and provide numerous non-hit gems.