10 Strangest Concept Albums
6. Present The Battle Of The Bands - The Turtles
Formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965, The Turtles enjoyed several hit singles with a sound that veered from surf-music to folk-rock and pop, scoring their biggest success with 1967's Happy Together. The Turtles went through several iterations, with their best-known line-up consisting of Don Murray (drums), Jim Tucker (guitars), Chuck Portz (bass), Al Nichol (guitar, keys), Howard Kaylan (vocals, keys) and Mark Volman (vocals, guitar, percussion).
Present The Battle Of The Bands, released in 1968, is the group's fourth studio album. It was produced by Chip Douglas, the man behind some of The Monkees' biggest hits, and formed around the concept of a contest between fictional bands, each of which is actually The Turtles. The band adopted a different name for the 12 songs, each of which covered a different style or genre, from rattling country blues to psychedelica, surf, pop and R 'n B.
For further examples of fictional bands, see the even more extraordinary Morgan Fisher and his Hybrid Kids elsewhere on this list.