Turtle Soup is the last album by legendary
LA pop band
The Turtles.
Inspired by The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, the band invited Ray Davies of The Kinks to produce the album - the only album outside his own band he's ever produced - and it paid off. The resulting album combines the best elements of the Turtles' own pop cheesiness with the lyrical, pastoral beauty of the Kinks at their best. Unusually for a Turtles album, several tracks have members other than Howard Kaylan singing lead, and it provides proof of Frank Zappa's later claim that 'Howard is one of the best singers in the world, and Mark is an excellent tambourine player and fat person'. Jim Pons on the other hand does a shockingly good impression of Davies on Dance This Dance With Me
Shortly after this album was released, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan went on to join the Mothers Of Invention, and Jim Pons later also joined them. Volman and Kaylan went on to cult status as 'Flo & Eddie'.
Track listing:
- You Don't Have To Walk In The Rain
- House on The Hill
- Somewhere Friday Nite
- John & Julie
- She Always Leaves Me Laughing
- Torn Between Temptations
- Love In The City
- Bachelor Mother
- Dance This Dance With Me
- Come Over
- Hot Little Hands
- How You Love Me
The band line-up was Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (vocals), Al Nichols (guitar), Jim Pons (bass), and John Seiter (drums).