For their fifth album, the Turtles played a practical joke. They released an album which credits every song to a different band - even though they'd played all the music themselves! "The Turtles Present: the Battle of the Bands," announced the album cover, and inside it showed photographs of all eleven "bands." They had ridiculous names like "The Atomic Enchilada" and "The Quad City Ramblers." The songs were good - but the joke was even better!

They wore nothing but fig leaves when they posed as "Nature's Children" - then recorded a top-ten single. "You Showed Me" was written by two members of the Byrds, and offers a slow and beautiful love song. But on this album, it appears between a 90-second drum solo by an imaginary Hawaiian band and a song whose lyrics are just a recipe for brownies. ("You take two thirds cups of flour, a teaspoon full of sour....") The album's single were actually credited to The Turtles, and they earned another top-ten hit with "Elenore."

Even that song contains its own private joke. The Turtles singer Howard Kaylan was tired of pressure to write another big hit like "Happy Together" - so he set out to write a parody of it. (The chorus opens with the line "Gee, I think you're swell...") Ironically, his earnest vocals made the song into a top-ten single. The song ended up with top-notch production work by Chip Douglas, the band's original bassist who had gone on to produce some of the Monkees' biggest hits.

The album opens with a great song written by Harry Nilsson. Credited to "Raoul and the U.S. Teens," it's got everything - including bongos, trumpets, and a cow bell - as the band sings exuberantly about "the night they had the Battle of the Bands." This was a southern California tradition during the 60s, in which bands competed for a high-profile gig. The song is a subtle reminder about the Turtles' origins, since they'd won several contests as a local surf band called "The Crossfires." Later in the album, they'll even play a song about a surfer which is credited to the Cross Fires - as well as a heavy surf-guitar instrumental called Buzz Saw which is credited to "The Fabulous Dawgs."

In some ways, it's a secret history of a popular culture that never was. But more than that - it's a lot of fun.

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
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