New book chronicles the history of THE TURTLES and FLO & EDDIE, with stops at Zappa, Springsteen, Alice Cooper, Ray Davies, and T. Rex
New book chronicles the history of
THE TURTLES and FLO & EDDIE, with stops at Zappa, Springsteen, Alice Cooper, Ray Davies, and T. Rex.
Zoom interview with authors Mark Arnold and Charles Rosenay!!!
Harold Lepidus (Boston Harold Video Podcast)
You know their biggest hits - “Happy Together” and “Elenore.” If you’re like me (they were a bit before my time), you may have heard some of their most popular songs yet not known they were by them - “She’d Rather Be With Me,” “You Baby,” “She’s My Girl,” and an electric folk-rock version of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” (They’re playing in your head right now, aren’t they?)
From their surf rock start as the Crossfires, to their commercial zenith as pop stars (including recording an album produced by Ray Davies of the Kinks), to having to maneuver through various legal battles where they couldn’t even use their real names, this book recounts their story through interviews, images, and lovingly detailed minutia. The two main vocalists - Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan - were rechristened the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie, then the more simplified Flo & Eddie, and became members of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention.
When a couple of mishaps sidelined Zappa, the duo went out on their own, not only recording albums as Flo & Eddie- initially with members of Zappa’s band - but became in-demand backing vocalists in the studio. Their voices can be heard on such classic hits as Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” (both the studio version and the 1975-1985 box set) and T. Rex’s “Bang a Gong (Get It On)”, as well as on albums by Blondie, Roger McGuinn, Alice Cooper, and Keith Moon, among many others. They were even radio disc jockeys for a while.
I spoke with Mark and Charles for about an hour in a wide ranging interview, not only talking about the Turtles, but we took various pit stops along the way, including their upcoming projects - books about the Monkees and Mad Magazine, and (briefly) my parents taking my sister and me to see Frank Zappa's film, 200 Motels.
I was happy to discuss all this and more, together with Mark and Charles.
(Gift from DJ Freeze)
