THE TURTLES/THE TURTLES PRESENT THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS HAU 8376 (-69) UK MONO

  Their forth album, a concept one by some called Turtles' equivalent to Sgt. Pepper. Presented as a competition between eleven bands, covering about every pop style apparent back then and supposed to give the impression the tracks were recorded by different acts. It might be fun to have that set-up in mind when listening, but even without it's simply a very nice Turtles album. The pop parody "Elenore" (#6 on Billboard) is catchy, the odd country-ish "Chicken Little Was Right" very funny, the Beach Boys style "Surfer Dan" superficially very close to the originals and "Buzzsaw", with its heavy organ and fuzz guitar, can be heard as light garage psych. This mono is without doubt a fold from the stereo tapes. I don't have a stereo to compare with, but listening close it's possible to detect some lack of symmetri in places. Anyway it works just fine as background and as long as you don't get your ears to near very enjoyable. Issued and reissued pretty much all over the world on vinyl and CD through the years, also reel, cassette and 8-track. Premiere US 1968 on White Whale (WWS 7118) came in a fold/out cover with them posing as the different bands inside. EU 2017 2xCD on Edsel (EDSK 7120) came with eleven bonus tracks. First UK, also as stereo (SHU 8376), had label as shown here in a single fully laminated cover with die-cut hole on rear and red or blue rim inners.