The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands


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, 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.
"Kamanawanalea" was a made-up Hawaiian idol 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 it 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 "Serious" by Philadelphian rapper Steady B, "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 in a discotheque scene.
"Buzzsaw" was also sampled by rapper/DJ D-Nice for his signature song "Call Me D-Nice," from his 1990 album of the same title.

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. In Canada the album reached number 40.

Personnel

;The Turtles
;Additional personnel