Flo & Eddie - The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie/Flo & Eddie

Long overdue CD release for surreal-pop kings and harmonisers to the stars

Led by jocular duo Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, The Turtles epitomised 60s California sunshine pop with hits such as Happy Together. Renamed The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie by Frank Zappa, the pair found themselves translating the complex musical surrealism of 200 Motels-era Mothers Of Invention, before joining T.Rex in kick-starting glam rock. Volman and Kaylan effortlessly navigated these three wildly-disparate musical titans, while blessing many with their otherworldly vocal harmonies, including Springsteen, Lennon, Cooper, Blondie and countless others. In 1972, after Montreux casino burned around the Mothers (inspiring Smoke On The Water) and Zappa’s fall offstage rendered his group inactive, the duo started their own project, recording four albums, the first two now on CD for the first time.

As ever, it’s those exquisite harmonies which elevate each track into the heavens, the first album (originally intended to be the Turtles’ last) mixing sublime West Coast rock and perfect pop of Feel Older Now with the odd novelty detour. 1974’s Flo & Eddie was produced by bombast-king Bob Ezrin, a spectacular combination on their stellar treatment of the Small Faces’ Afterglow or Another Pop Star’s Life and Just Another Town: brilliant first-hand observations about the rock’n’roll life. Overshadowed at the time by their illustrious employers, this chance to re-evaluate these lovely records is long overdue.

Manifesto | MFO 48001

Reviewed by Kris Needs
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