Turtles best out of their shell
By GREG HAYMES, Times Union Staff writer
First published: Friday, July 14, 2006
ALBANY -- You can count the number of Top 10 records that the Turtles made
on just one hand, and the band hasn't had a hit since the '60s. But more
than 35 years later, the Turtles can still draw a huge crowd.
And more importantly, they still put on a wonderful show -- just ask any
Of the more than 10,000 or so people who packed into the Albany Riverfront
Park on Thursday evening. So, while most oldies acts seem to just go through the motions, why are the Turtles so good? A large part of it comes from the fact that the gray-bearded Howard Kaylan and the frizzy-haired Mark Volman are among the very finest, funniest entertainers in rock 'n' roll. They proved it in the Turtles with top-shelf songwriting like "Elenore," (one of the biggest crowd-pleasers on Thursday), featuring such wry love song lyrics as "You're my pride and joy et cetera."
After the break-up of the Turtles in '70, the duo moved on to become lead
actors in Frank Zappa's merry Mothers of Invention, where they uncorked
such off-the-wall masterpieces as "Billy the Mountain" and "Magdalena."
And Volman and Kaylan (also known as Flo & Eddie) continue to display
Sharp wit, wry commentary and endless self-effacing humor in the current
incarnation of the Turtles. Backed by a crack quartet of musicians helmed
by former Scandal keyboardist Benjie King, Flo & Eddie were free to cajole
the audience, run amok onstage, tell stories and jokes and generally crack
wise throughout their 70-minute performance. Along the way, they poked fun at everyone and everything from Ed Sullivan to "Total Request Live," from
Linda Ronstadt to Ellen DeGeneres, from Iron Butterfly to Yo La Tengo, from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to "The Lion King," from the French soccer team to Italian wine.
In one of his rare lead vocals, Volman stepped up to the microphone to
deliver Cole Porter's "I Love Paris" as re-imagined by Jim Morrison and the Doors, and then they somehow segued into a medley of KC & the Sunshine
Band, Sister Sledge, Britney Spears and Eminem. Definitely not your standard
oldies concert fare.
And, of course, they sang the hits -- the sunny "You Baby," the defiant
"It Ain't Me, Babe," the slink finger snapper "She's My Girl," the semi-baroque
"You Showed Me," "You Know She'd Rather Be With Me" (complete with cowbell solo) and the closing "Happy Together," perhaps the best feel-good
sing-along song of the rock era. As they whipped into the final chorus,
Kaylan urged the crowd to sing even louder, "C'mon, just like a big Nick
Lachey concert!" Priceless.
The Daily Gazette - Friday, July 14, 2006 - Page D4 - MUSIC REVIEW
Turtles bring their hits, and some humor to Albany
BY JEFF WILKIN - Gazette Reporter
"Ba-ba-ba-baa, ba-ba-ba-baaa."
Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan can probably expect this verse from "Happy Together" etched onto their gravestones some day.
It won't be anytime soon: The two 1960s-era rockers are still kicking, singing and busting chops on stage.
Volman and Kaylan, also known by their 1970s stage names Flo and Eddie, Thursday brought the Turtles to Albany's "Alive at Five" party at Riverfront Park. They showed up with all the band's monster pop hits from 40 years ago on a sweltering evening that attracted about 7,000 people to the Corning Preserve. The Buckinghams were also on the Oldies Night ticket.
The Turtles' 70-minute concert was equal parts music, comedy, rant and banter. Kaylan introduced himself and his longtime musical partner as the two newest "American Idols" and jumped into a wild, warbling "You Baby."
"One song and we haven't died yet," said Volman, a hip hippie dressed in multi-colored longsleeved shirt, purple vest, sunglasses and worn jeans. No shorts, no T-shirts sleeves; Turtles apparently dig hot weather.
And these turtles apparently love to talk. After a strong, jamming "Dirty Water" and "It Ain't Me Babe" (an old reliable from the band's catalog), the guys began yaking it up. Kaylan, well aware many Turtles fans are in their 50s and 60s, reminisced about "Shindig" and "Hullabaloo," two television shows from the mid-1960s that were tops with teens of the day.
"Rock and Roll did not start with MTV!" added Volman.
The rants gave way to bits of humor. Introducing "She's My Girl," Volman said the band performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show, the CBS Sunday night variety hour that ran from 1948 until 1971. "Ed Sullivan was dead when we did the show," he cracked.
A lot of the comedy worked, like Kaylan calling his frizzyhaired friend "the Brillo pad that walks like a man." And Kaylan tellling younger members of the audience that they were probably conceived while their parents listened to Turtle tunes. "There's probably a good chance that this was one of them," he said, as the band launched into the dreamy "You Showed Me," one of the great make-out and slow dance songs of rock history.
"Flo and Eddie" showed they can still harmonize and work with four crackerjack backing musicians. Sometimes, the vocal work was a little raw, but their voices are still strong and still spiral. And those monster hits - like "Elenore," "She'd Rather Be With Me" and "Happy Together" define feel good, good-time rock and roll. And they seem perfect for a summer evening.
This just in from Mark:
"...we have a new My Space site. http://www.myspace.com/floandeddie
I have added some really great stuff from our days with Zappa, i.e. 200 Motels, Strictly Genteel, Magic fingers, John & Yoko and more... Click here: 
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