From 1964 on, the American record industry was desperately seeking the new Beatles. From the Byrds to the Monkees the American market became invaded by a series of imitations more or less faithful, but none of them possessing the melodic talent of the original Fabs.

The Turtles of Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, veterans of the surf scene since before it came to be known as such, became co-inventors, with the Byrds, of folk-rock, when in the summer of 1965 their cover of Dylan's It Ain' t Me Babe scaled the charts. Their successive hits were written by Paul Sloan, the author of Eve Of Destruction, the great folk rock hit of 1965. Let Me Be (1966) still belongs to the generation of folk rock anthems, while You Baby (1966) is an homage to the carefree attitude of adolescence.

With Happy Together, written by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon, the Turtles adopted a style that was subtly subversive. Here is a song presumably intended for traditional crooning, but held sotto voce, with a vaudevillian rhythm that renders ironic a text by itself very romantic, and trumpets that announce the psychedelic season.

The Turtles discovered themselves pop artisans and sent to the charts some of the most celebrated refrains of the time, from She'd Rather Be With Me (1967, again Bonner and Gordon) to the masterpiece of pop satire Eleonore (1968), with Paul Beaver at the synthesizer.

The albums of the early years, It Ain' t Me Babe (White Whale, 1965), You Baby (White Whale, 1966) and Happy Together (White Whale, 1967), had focused on catchy tunes, but The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands (White Whale, 1968) announced a whole different band: eleven songs "interpreted" by eleven bands (in realty always them) in completely different styles. Turtle Soup (1969) was the last noteworthy album. You Showed Me (1969), written by Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark of the Byrds, was their last hit. They disbanded in 1970.

John Barbata joined first Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and then Jefferson Starship. Volman and Kaylan collaborated with Frank Zappa until 1972. Later on they became Phlorescent Leech And Eddie, a satirical cabaret act that made fun of rock stars.


Source: http://www.scaruffi.com/vol1/turtles.html