The Best of the Turtles

AMG Review of The Best of the Turtles

Joseph McCombs
All Music Guide

Rhino Records' initial collection of the Turtles' greatest hits covers all the important bases: the Top Ten tracks "It Ain't Me Babe," "She'd Rather Be With Me," "Elenore," and "You Showed Me," and, of course, their biggest hit, the 1967 number one smash "Happy Together." All their other substantial chart singles are here too, making this the ideal collection for fans who just want access to the band's poppier hit singles. Such fans will also enjoy Harold Bronson's very fine liner notes detailing the history of the group. While the second volume of greatest-hits material, Turtle Wax, explores their more eccentric, less accessible material, The Best of the Turtles offers a great reminder of how well co-lead vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman's voices complemented each other, how underrated John Barbata's drumming was within this pop context, and how sterling the Turtles' aggregation of producers and songwriters -- particularly tunesmiths Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon -- truly were. A nearly essential possession for fans of mildly psychedelic ubblegum pop.