The Turtles, Flo and Eddie and The Crossfires

 

Once upon a time, there was a high school band called "The Nightriders" with Mark Volman, Don Murray and Dale Walton. Like most high school, garage bands, they went through changes in members. In 1963, they changed the band name to The Crossfires and began performing guitar-driven surf instrumentals.  The band now included other Los Angeles high school students - Howard Kaplan (changed in 1965 to Kaylan), Al Nichol, and Chuck Portz. The Crossfires as a surf-rock group was active from 1963 to 1965.

When the rock and folk-rock sound became the most popular genres, they rebranded themselves as a folk-rock group under the name The Tyrtles. The stylized misspelling follows that of The Byrds and The Beatles but soon opted to correct the spelling.

Kaylan and Volman dropped the saxophones and became the band's vocalists with Kaylan as lead singer, and one of the keyboardists. Meanwhile, Volman began to harmonize with Kaylan's lead and became the third guitarist and percussionist in what was now a sextet.

They were now The Turtles on White Whale records. Their breakthrough hit was a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" which reached the Billboard Top Ten in the late summer of 1965.

Their biggest hit is "Happy Together" which knocked the Beatles' "Penny Lane" out of number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1967. It was The Turtles' only #1 single and it remained there for three weeks.

In 1968, they released a concept album called The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands. They recorded 11 songs in 11 different styles and pretended to be 11 different bands with names like "Nature's Children" and "The Fabulous Dawgs." They got two hits from the album:  "Elenore" and "You Showed Me" which h both made it into the top 10.

Their 1969 single "You Showed Me" (written by Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds) was their last top 10 single.

The Turtles released a second compilation album, More Golden Hits, and a B-sides and rarities album, Wooden Head in 1970 and disbanded.

Kaylan and Volman made an unlikely move and joined the Mothers of Invention. They used the name The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie. Their contract with White Whale Records prohibited them from using the name The Turtles or even their own names in billings! Eventually, the name was shortened to Flo & Eddie. They recorded with the Mothers, appeared in Zappa's film 200 Motels in 1971, and later released records on their own.

Starting in 2010, the Turtles Featuring Flo & Eddie toured throughout the United States as part of the "Happy Together" tour that has continued and has included other acts from the 60s and 70s such as Gary Puckett, Mitch Ryder, Mark Lindsay, Mark Farner, Gary Lewis, Micky Dolenz, the Buckinghams, the Cowsills, the Grass Roots, and the Association.

Two box sets, The Complete Original Album Collection and All the Singles. 

 

Mystery

 

The mystery of the locked room
Photo: PxHere

Today, I think the first association people have with "mystery" is as a fiction genre in books and movies. In its earlier usages, it was more "mystical."

In Middle English, it had more of a sense of a mystic presence and was associated with hidden religious symbolism - "the "mysteries of the faith." The even earlier Old French form, mistere, or Latin mysterium came from the Greek mustērion.

That earlier religious meaning survives both in the sense of a mystery being something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. In its earliest usage, the secret rites of Greek and Roman pagan religions, or of any ancient or tribal religion, were mysteries known only to accepted initiates. This survives in "secret" societies such as the Masons.

Sometimes the practices or the skills of an activity that seem to be unknowable to most people are regarded as mysteries. Neuroscience and lots of technologies are mysteries to most people. Do you actually know how a movie "magically" appears on your TV screen or how your smartphone works?

When I was a youngster and getting some Catholic education, there were the mysteries of the faith that could only be understood through divine revelations. Otherwise, they were regarded as beyond human understanding.

The word is now used for many hidden or unsolved things, from the mysteries of the universe to a puzzle, riddle, or unsolved problem. These things are not unknowable, just unknown to some or unknown at this time. When you read that someone's financial records are "shrouded in mystery," at least that someone knows the answer to the mystery.

Ad-lib and Improvise

I'm sure you've heard the expression "ad-lib." To ad-lib (verb) means "to improvise" or "to deliver spontaneously and the noun form is what is produced in that way. 

It is most commonly used with acting. That makes sense because ad-lib is a shortening of the Latin ad libitum, which means "in accordance with one's wishes." In its earliest usage, ad libitum referred to acting and any activity where the performer was free to do whatever they liked for as long as desired. 

The term was extended beyond performance to drawing, public speaking, singing or playing an instrument, playing a sport, doing an experiment, making a repair and many other situations. 

In performance, "improvisation" is a similar term and used more often than ad-lib. To improvise is to create and perform (particularly music or drama) spontaneously, without preparation or script or sheet music.

Improv or ad-lib?

The two terms are not exactly the same. I think of a performer such as Robin Williams. He was known for his improvisation. Was he sometimes ad-libbing? I learned that he often used bits that he had done before but it seemed like an ad-lib to audiences because it might be in a new context. Improvisation suggests something new, but you could ad-lib lyrics to a song if you forgot the actual lyrics or wanted to extend it.