The Turtles - Almost There

The Turtles weren't exactly known for  hard edge rock-n-roll, but this may change your mind (a little). 

The Turtles released their first single in July of 1965. That single, on White Whale Records, was a harmless cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. But the lucky kid that bothered to flip the record over was treated to an original composition by the band's lead singer, Howard Kaylan. That song is Almost There, a pounding beat number reminiscent of The Kinks' instrumental, Revenge. The song tells the tale of a young man on a journey to see his girl. The poor lad has to travel 10 miles everyday just to see his baby. Thank goodness, like all Angelenos, he had a car to use to see her, bye and bye. 

It appears that this single is not only the first record ever released by the Los Angeles band, but also the first record ever released by the short lived White Whale Records. Not a bad start for either. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

White Whale Records Spotlight: The Turtles - Outside Chance

We're wrapping up our White Whale Records spotlight with arguably the best song ever published by the little label that only lasted five years. The song is Outside Chance and is performed by the label's standard bearer, The Turtles. The Turtles scored a few hits for the label such as Happy Together and the rather painful to listen to Elenore. But this wasn't one of those hits. Outside Chance was released in the Summer of 1966 and was the band's 5th single. The copy you see above is particularly rare as it appeared only as a promo in the Pacific Northwest in July. The single was officially released a month later with a different Flip-Side and a different serial number. Just geekin' out for you record collectors. 

Outside Chance is a superbly crafted song written under a pseudonym by the late Warren Zevon. It just drips with "60s-garage cool" juices. Killer opening riff, defiant lyrics and a remarkably odd bridge. Throw in the jazzy electric piano solo and Howard Kaylan's wonderfully diverse vocal delivery as he easily goes from gentle to growly, and you have a perfect song. Perfect. Mark Volman does most of the harmonizing and Chip Douglas, John Barbata, Al Nichol and Jim Tucker rounded out the band.

The Chesterfield Kings covered this number on their 1979 debut album. Click here for a song-by-song run down of that album. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

White Whale Records Spotlight: The Clique - Superman

In search of the elusive White Whale (records) for another day. You can call us Ishmael!

The Clique hailed from Houston, Texas and emerged out of Houston garage band, The Lavender Hour, perhaps best known for their 1967 song, I've Got A Way With Girls. That number was covered by The Chesterfield Kings sometime around 1986. (We wrote about their version a couple of years ago. Check it out here). 

Back to The Clique: Truth be told, I don't have much positive to point towards when it comes to The Clique. They did an okay cover of The 13th Floor Elevators' Splash 1, but their bubblegum sound took over on way too many of their songs other than this one fabulous pop song called Superman. It is of course the Flip-Side to a lesser song pimped out as the A-Side. And it would have stayed largely obscure if not for a band from Georgia called R.E.M. who covered Superman nicely in 1986 for their Life's Rich Pageant album. The harmonies on this song are superb and the simplicity of the structure of the song make this irresistible. I'd argue that the song sounds like a song from earlier in the 60s, but this was released in the Summer of 1969 as the music all around them was getting very heavy and very self indulgent.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

White Whale Records Spotlight: John's Children - Smashed! Blocked!

Day 2 of our hunt for White Whale records leads us to a little known UK mod band called John's Children. Today they are probably best known for being the launching pad for T-Rex frontman, Marc Bolan. But Marc wasn't in the band when John's Children (previously known as The Silence) released their debut single. It was released in the UK on Columbia Records in October of 1966 as The Love I Thought I'd Found. In the US it was released in November of '66 under it's intended name, the more abstract title of Smashed! Blocked! It would prove to be the only release in the US the band would ever get. The song was composed by bassist John Hewitt and ostensibly producer Simon Napier-Bell. We look at writing credits by producers with a VERY jaundiced eye, however. Andy Ellison was on vocals, Chris Townson on drums and Geoff McClelland on guitar.

Smashed! Blocked! is a wonderfully odd number that starts off with haunting disembodied intro that climaxes into a full chorus of "Smashed, Smashed, Smashed". Then it goes into a totally new direction - a rather soft and melodic croon. All that before it fades off with a horn section. The song is a funky little thing, indeed. Most of the band's work was a little odd. After just two singles they were dropped by Columbia and then picked up by their mentor's label, The Who's Track Records. After a handful of singles and one UK album called Orgasm, the band smashed apart.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

White Whale Records Spotlight: Bob And Earl - Harlem Shuffle

For the remainder of this abbreviated week (in the US, that is), we're going to take a look at a few records from the short lived White Whale Records label out of Los Angeles, California. The label only lasted from 1965-1970 and fed almost entirely off of the success of Los Angeles band, The Turtles. 

Today we start with Bob and Earl and their original composition, Harlem Shuffle. Bob Relf and Earl Nelson hailed from Los Angeles and recorded for a bunch of different labels. Harlem Shuffle is today their enduring legacy. The cool groover was originally released in 1963 on the Marc Records label but was re-released on White Whale in 1969. The song has been covered many times by many bands, including The Rolling Stones who released the version of the number as a single in 1986. But none is better than the original.

Until tomorrow, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!