The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands

1968 studio album by The Turtles

Studio album by The Turtles

Released

November 1, 1968

Recorded

1968

Studio

Gold Star (Hollywood, California)

Genre

Pop
rock

Length

37:07

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

"Elenore"
Released: September 1968
"You Showed Me"
Released: December 1968

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone	(negative)
Tom Hull	B−

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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. 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

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

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 television show Life on Mars (U.S. version) in a discotheque scene.

Charts and awards

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

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

No.	Title	Writer(s)	"Band"	Length
1.	"The Battle of the Bands"	Harry Nilsson, Chip Douglas	The U.S. Teens featuring Raoul	2:14
2.	"The Last Thing I Remember"		The Atomic Enchilada	2:55
3.	"Elenore"		Howie, Mark, Johny, Jim & Al	2:31
4.	"Too Much Heartsick Feeling"		Quad City Ramblers	2:43
5.	"Oh, Daddy!"		The L.A. Bust '66	2:45
6.	"Buzzsaw"		The Fabulous Dawgs	1:59
7.	"Surfer Dan"		The Cross Fires	2:42
8.	"I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're the Royal Macadamia Nuts)"		Chief Kamanawanalea and his Royal Macadamia Nuts	1:34
9.	"You Showed Me"	James McGuinn, Gene Clark	Nature's Children	3:16
10.	"Food"		The Bigg Brothers	2:40
11.	"Chicken Little Was Right"		Fats Mallard and the Bluegrass Fireball	2:47
12.	"Earth Anthem"	Bill Martin	All	3:54

Sundazed Records CD re-issue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"Sound Asleep"		2:29
14.	"The Story of Rock and Roll"	Harry Nilsson	2:38

Repertoire Records CD re-issue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(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 Nilsson	2:39
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.	Title	Writer(s)
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

The Turtles

Howard Kaylan - lead vocals
Mark Volman - vocals, special effects
Al Nichol - guitars, organ, piano, Moog synthesizer, vocals
Jim Pons - bass, vocals
Johnny Barbata - drums, percussion, vocals

Additional personnel

Chip Douglas - producer
Gold Star Recording Studios - Studio
Jim Hilton - engineer
anonymous - strings, woodwinds, banjo on "Chicken Little Was Right"
Lee Michaels - organ on "Buzzsaw"
Arrangements by The Turtles and Chip Douglas
Album layout designed by The Turtles
Photography by Rod Dyer

References

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

v t e The Turtles
Howard Kaylan Mark Volman Al Nichol Jim Tucker Don Murray Chuck Portz Chip Douglas Joel Larson John Barbata Jim Pons John Seiter
Studio albums	It Ain't Me Babe You Baby Happy Together The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands Turtle Soup
Compilations	Golden Hits More Golden Hits Wooden Head
Singles	"It Ain't Me Babe" "Let Me Be" "You Baby" "Happy Together" "She'd Rather Be with Me" "You Know What I Mean" "She's My Girl" "Elenore" "You Showed Me" "Grim Reaper of Love" "Eve of Destruction"
Related articles	Discography Flo & Eddie My Dinner with Jimi "Christmas Is My Time of Year"
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