The Turtles Albums Ranked

The Turtles are an American rock band led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, later known as Flo & Eddie. The band had several Top 40 hits beginning in 1965 with their cover version of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe”. They scored their biggest and best-known hit in 1967 with the song “Happy Together”
1967 proved to be the Turtles’ most successful year on the music charts. “She’d Rather Be with Me” reached No. 3 on the US charts in late spring and actually out-charted “Happy Together” overseas, reaching No. 4 in the UK. Two successive Top 15 songs followed: “You Know What I Mean” and “She’s My Girl”. Both 45s signaled a certain shift in the band’s style. Golden Hits was released later that year, charting in the top 10. The similar album covers for The Turtles! Golden Hits and its follow up More Golden Hits were designed by Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean.
The band broke up in 1970. Kaylan and Volman later found long-lasting success as session musicians, billed as the comedic vocal duo “Flo & Eddie”. In 2010, a reconstituted version of the band, “the Turtles Featuring Flo & Eddie”, began performing live shows again. Here are all of The Turtles’ albums ranked.

Don’t miss out on the classic music of The Turtles! Click and enjoy the familiar tunes that became part of the some great movies!

8. Wooden Head (1970)

“”Wooden Head” was released by the Turtles in 1970, so one would think that it contained the style of pop rock that the group played in the latter part of their career, but the album largely consists of folk rock songs from several years earlier that were never released. Not every song here is great, but all in all, the album holds up well–my favorites were “Tie Me Down” and the mesmerizing “She’ll Come Back.” It is the mark of a great group when, at career’s end, the band has enough unreleased material to put out another pretty good album on its way out the door.”

7. 20 Greatest Hits (1984)

“After reading Shell Shocked, Howard Kaylan’s new OUTSTANDING autobiography, I got nostalgic for all of those great Turtles songs. I had a few here and there on cd, but my vinyl had long since lost its verve. Out of all of the Turtles hits collections, I looked at one here, this one had the most songs that I wanted to hear again. Yep, they’re all here, Let Me Be, It Ain’t Me Babe, She’s My Girl, of course, Happy Together and all of the other great songs. Howard Kaylan wrote that he didn’t much care for Grim Reaper of Love, but it was always one of my raves and it is included in this collection. If you’re needing some Shell Shock of your own, this is the collection to get.”

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6. Happy Together Again: The Turtles Greatest Hits (1974)

“These guys made it to the list of household names with -Happy together- but a lot of their songs as great as they are they were never hits, i don’t care if a song is a hit or not because there are a ton of great songs that aren’t, and when you hear their version of a song that a member of the Mothers of invention wrote, the song is -Lady-o-it is a beautiful song that makes the moment a little more stress free, other songs which is a lot to talk about include a Dylan cover called- it ain’t me babe, if you search youtube for the Turtles other great songs to look up are: -Elenore- you don’t have to walk in the rain- and- somewhere friday night-“

5. Turtle Soup (1969)

“Produced by Ray Davies, fresh off the success of Village Green, Turtle Soup could have been great.  What hurts the album most is loss of the excellent drumming of John Barbata.  The point is made on the Happy Together DVD that John Seiter was nowhere near as good a drummer as John Barbata.  Listen to Battle of the Bands and compare it Turtle Soup and you hear the drums go from great to adequate.  The result is an album with great songs, wonderful vocal harmonies, and nice production but lacking the energy and power that Barbata brought to the mix. The verse on “House on the Hill” is pure Kinks.  The CD reissues both add the final single that the band actually wanted to release “Lady-O”.”

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4. The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands (1968)

“It was very interesting! Of course loved Elenore but also loved the country song Too Much Heartsick Feeling. A little tongue in cheek but could have easily fit right in on any country station! The Gin Blossoms did a similar album almost 30 years later with New Miserable Experience, which contained pop, hard rock, country, and even zydeco. The Turtles were a great band that got screwed around too much to where they weren’t appreciated for the gifted band they were. You Showed Me is a beautiful example of there talents, vocally, lyrics and arrangement. chicken little Was Right, very enjoyable, and Earth Anthem still relevant. Top it off with the psychedelic The Last Thing I Remember and you have a great representation of a very vital band!”

3. It Ain’t Me Babe (1965)

“The Turtles’ first album “It Ain’t Me” has been re-re-released by Flo & Eddie. This bare bones set has the original mono album and then copies the set in stereo which for the most part splits the vocals into one speaker and much of the backing instrumentation in the other. The P.F. Sloan song “Eve of Destruction” which was a protest hit for Barry McGuire is here. Sloan, sometimes compared to songwriter Jimmy Webb, also penned the Turtles hit “Let Me Be” that shines here. Howard Kaylan’s “A Walk in the Sun” shines well on the disc. “Last Laugh” also puts a smile on my face with Kaylan running up and down the scales. The Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil penned “Glitter & Gold” is a sterling pop tune from mid-60s. “

2. You Baby (1966)

“The smooth, commercial, at times almost bubblegummy sound of the Turtles’ biggest hits – “Happy Together”, “She’d Rather Be With Me”, “Elenore”, and “You Showed Me” – might make Frank Zappa’s choice of the two leading members (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) to join the Mothers of Invention seem incongruous.  A listen to this album, however, will go far towards clearing up the confusion.  True, some of the tracks are quite conventional, such as the title cut (a triumph of sunshine pop by Steve Barri and P. F. Sloan); “I Know That You’ll Be There” (also by Barri-Sloan) and “Just a Room”, which have a sound reminiscent of what the Beach Boys were doing at that point; and “Give Love a Trial”, co-written by bassist Chuck Portz, a winsome, Sonny & Cher-like folky waltz.”

1. Happy Together (1967)

“”Happy Together” carries its joy on its face and uses it to its very best. It’s a brainless, innocent song, but it’s performed with the innocence that’s needed to make it work. The Turtles penned a number of great sunshine pop songs in addition to “Happy Together,” but none of the other ones clicked so perfectly as this one. The unrelenting crescendo to the chorus and the bright trumpet line expose the melody’s underlying elegance, and it all feels fun. That’s what good pop music should do, and that what “Happy Together” excels at.”