Wooden Head

In 1970, both White Whale Records and the Turtles, their biggest act, were on the verge of collapse. This assortment of unreleased odds and ends from their early years was hastily assembled as a posthumous collection, although several of the tracks hadn't been properly finished. Surprisingly, it survives as one of their stronger albums, focusing almost exclusively on their early pop/folk-rock sound. Arguably, it's better than either of their first two official LPs, perhaps because they weren't able to sweeten the tracks with superfluous overdubs. Besides several strong originals, it features interesting compositions by P.F. Sloan, David Gates, and Peter & Gordon. The album, confusingly, has been reissued at various points by Rhino, Repertoire, and Sundazed, all with different bonus tracks. The Rhino configuration, which adds the nice folk-rocker "Is It Any Wonder?" and the odd, mordant, psychedelic-tinged 1966 flop single "Grim Reaper of Love," is a bit preferable to the Sundazed one. ~ Richie Unterberger