It Ain't Me Babe

by The Turtles

Overview

The Turtles' first album was recorded in a frantic hurry, in response to the hit status achieved by their debut single, "It Ain't Me Babe." At the time, the members were barely out of high school, a situation that might have caused a lot of other young musicians to fold up under the strain of the moment -- there was no time to write (and barely time to find) the songs the members might have seemed worthy of so momentous an event (which it would have been) as a debut long-player. But the members were smart and they were also lucky -- they reached out to more of Bob Dylan's songbag, and also back to their own high-school past in folk music as the Crosswind Singers. Thus, their debut album led with a chiming electric rendition of Howard Kaylan's 1963-vintage "Wanderin' Kind." That genial opening number led into their overwrought, almost folk-punk reinterpretation of "It Was a Very Good Year," which showed audiences to expect the unexpected from this sextet -- and in case anyone missed that point, the almost garage-punk style of "Your Maw Said You Cried" (which trod onto Paul Revere & the Raiders territory) brought it home in high amplification (for the time and the genre). The rest of the record veered across the folk-rock spectrum in smoothly polished form, as the bandmembers successfully shaped an artistic statement out of the flotsam and jetsam of their past, anchored by some prime Dylan material and a surprisingly un-ironic rendition of P.F. Sloan's "Eve of Destruction" (which belatedly became a hit single five years later, as a posthumous release by the record label). Heard with the benefit of hindsight, this album may now seem a very tame and predictable body of music from this band, but it has a geniality and polish that make it an enduring classic of its genre and period, if not exactly representative of the Turtles' range or their very best work. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	06/26/2020
Label:	Manifesto Records
UPC:	0767004804118
Rank:	56848

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Turtles   Primary Artist
Howard Kaylan   Vocals,Keyboards
Mark Volman   Guitar,Vocals
Al Nichol   Bass,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Don Murray   Drums

Technical Credits

B. Glazer   Composer
Bob Irwin   Producer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Bill Inglot   Engineer
Chuck Portz   Composer
Cynthia Weil   Composer
Carole King   Composer
S. Schlaks   Composer
Howard Kaylan   Composer,Producer
Mark Volman   Producer
P.F. Sloan   Composer
Al Nichol   Composer
Gerry Goffin   Composer
Barry Mann   Composer
Ervin Drake   Composer
Stephen Schlaks   Composer
Hughie Charles   Composer
Ross Parker   Composer