Flo & Eddie

10-25-07 Flo & Eddie

AFTERGLOW / CARLOS AND DE BULL REPRISE US REP 1142 7"

BEST OF RHINO US R2 71097 CD

ELEANOR (Mono) / (Stereo) promo COLUMBIA US 3-10425 7"

FLO & EDDIE REPRISE US MS 2141 LP

HISTORY OF FLO & EDDIE AND THE TURTLES, THE RHINO US RNTA 1998 LPx3

ILLEGAL, IMMORAL AND FATTENING ONE WAY US A 22673 CD

ILLEGAL, IMMORAL AND FATTENING COLUMBIA US PC 33554 LP

KEEP IT WARM (Mono) / (Stereo) promo COLUMBIA US 3-10458 7"

LET ME MAKE LOVE TO YOU (Mono) / (Stereo) promo COLUMBIA US 3-10028 7"

MOVING TARGETS MONDO RECO A 23578 CD

MOVING TARGETS COLUMBIA US PC 34262 LP

PHLORESCENT LEECH & EDDIE REPRISE US MS 2099 LP

REBECCA / ILLEGAL, IMMORAL AND FATTENING COLUMBIA US 3-10264 7"

ROCK STEADY WITH FLO & EDDIE EPIPHANY US ELP 4010 LP

Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan. To be perfectly honest, I was never much of a Turtles fan – the hit singles are OK, but I was never really inclined to buy any of those albums – though good friends of mine tell me some of the Turtles LP’s are wonderful. And I am a big fan of Chip Taylor’s songwriting.

I really warmed to them when they joined Frank Zappa’s band. I just love the albums of Zappa’s where Flo & Eddie are the featured vocalists – “Chunga’s Revenge”, “200 Motels”, “Fillmore East, June 1971” and “Just Another Band From L.A.” – not to mention their unreleased demo album, “What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning” – where one can see the “200 Motels” songs intertwined with the “Fillmore East” material.

I also knew that they sang backing vocals for Marc Bolan / T. Rex and The Psychedelic Furs. On the “History of Flo & Eddie” triple LP, one can hear Marc Bolan goofing around on their radio show, really rather amusing. I met them (briefly) at the time of their ‘reggae’ album, enough to tell them that I enjoyed their work with Mr. Zappa.

I have always felt that they should have been a lot ‘bigger’ than they were – certainly, their backing vocals were very commercially successful – particularly with T. Rex. But the quartet of Flo & Eddie albums (while very, very good) aren’t particularly well-known or observed. As far as I know, the 2 x Columbia albums have recently been re-released as a two-fer set from England – with just about everything else out of print (such as the Rhino “Best of”). Did you know they sang the theme to “Strawberry Shortcake”?

I remember hearing recently that Howard Kaylan was selling some of his music career memorabilia at auction – gee, I hope he did alright. I would’ve liked some of the Zappa stuff, but…it was all way over my head.

Thanks for the music, boys. I hope we haven’t heard the last of you!