Sometimes you have a guilty pleasure that you’re not even honest with yourself about. I think I love Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, but it feels wrong.
The pair were introduced to me, as far as I knew, by the music of Frank Zappa. I was — and remain — a fan of The Mothers of Invention. Kaylan and Volman joined the band in 1970 as co-lead vocalists, just as the group were transitioning from their initial lineup to The Mothers. It wasn’t clear to me until later that the pair had previously been the co-lead vocalists of The Turtles. That’s them on their smash hit Happy Together — a track The Mothers would routinely perform at live shows as part of a song cycle where Kaylan plays a pop star, and Volman a groupie playing hard to get. Volman will only sleep with a musician who has a “big hit in the charts” — which culminates in them performing Happy Together. At the time, Happy Together hadn’t been in the charts for more than three years.
Part of their charm, of course, is that neither Volman nor Kaylan are teen idols. Volman was, and remains known, for his distinct appearance — slightly hefty, bespeckled and sporting big, frizzy hair a la Noel Redding. Kaylan was of a similar body type, with long straight hair, puppy-dog eyes and a salt-and-pepper beard. To me, he slightly resembles Kim Thayil of Soundgarden. So right away, I like that they weren’t just manufactured, pretty boys. Plus, they are supremely skilled and talented vocalists. Volman tended to handle more of the leads, with Kaylan providing harmony and rhythm guitar. Their versatility is my favourite thing about them. No matter what Zappa threw at them, they could handle it, with gusto. That’s no easy feat, considering this is the era when Zappa’s music was becoming increasingly challenging.
The L.A. pair — who met in high school — were founding members of The Turtles in 1963. Initially a surf group, by the time they released their first single in 1965, a cover of Bob Dylan’s It Ain’t Me Babe, they had switched to folk-rock. Who knows how things would have gone if they had a better relationship with management or their indie label, White Whale Records. The bass player and drummer quit in 1966, just before the group got big. Part of that breakthrough had to do with new bassist Chip Douglas, who arranged the horns and elaborate vocals on the band’s next single, Happy Together. The pop masterpiece was released in April ’67, pushing Penny Lane out of No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and staying there for three weeks. Suddenly, The Turtles found themselves appearing on shows like Ed Sullivan and The Smothers Brothers, followed by appearances on Top Of The Pops and American Bandstand to promote their followup, She’d Rather Be With Me.
Happy Together wasn’t written by The Turtles. It was written by two members of a New York garag- rock band called The Magicians. Drummer Alan Gordon basically wrote it, but got help from vocalist Gary Bonner. The pair would go on to write a number of songs for other artists, including Celebrate for Three Dog Night, The Cat In The Window by Petula Clark, and My Heart Belongs To Me by Barbra Steisand. Gordon and Bonner also wrote more for The Turtles, including She’d Rather Be With Me, She’s My Girl, You Know What I Mean and Me About You. The Magicians are included on the seminal compilation Psychedelic Nuggets, with their 1965 single An Invitation To Cry. They were great, but never got popular outside N.Y.C.
Anyway, in 1967 The Turtles put out an LP called Happy Together and toured extensively, prompting guitarist Jim Tucker to quit. Douglas also left and was replaced on bass by Jim Pons. As a five-piece, they issued two singles and the 1968 concept album The Turtles Present The Battle of the Bands, which Douglas returned to produce. It’s a clever idea — The Turtles pretend to be 11 different groups competing against each other in a battle of the bands — but the results are hit and miss. The following year, they became the only band not called The Kinks to be produced by Ray Davies. The result was the good, but unsuccessful Turtle Soup. This critical success and peer admiration in the face of waning commercial success put the band at odds with their label, which wanted them to be more like The Monkees or Archies. Anyone familiar with Kaylan and Volman’s work won’t be surprised to learn they were opposed to rebranding themselves as manufactured pop sensations. The label’s pitch to the vocalists: Fire the band and sing over tracks by session musicians. No go. The Turtles did try to get poppier to appease the label, issuing the single Who Would Ever Think That I Would Marry Margaret? They hated it.
So, no more albums — just a B-sides compilation before the band called it quits. The label went tits up without them, but didn’t stop causing problems for the group. Kaylan, Volman and Pons were all recruited into The Mothers Of Invention, but the vocalists were contractually forbidden from using their real names. The first Zappa record Kayland and Volman appeared on was 1970’s Chunga’s Revenge — credited as “The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie.” Eventually, this would be shortened to Flo (Volman) and Eddie (Kaylan). Pons didn’t appear until the next album, Fillmore East June 1971. He was allowed to use his real name, as were Volman and Kaylan.The trio are also on the soundtrack to Zappa’s 1971 film 200 Motels, and featured in the movie as well. Their final appearance is on the overlooked live album Just Another Band From LA, which was recorded just two months after the Fillmore album, but not released until March of ’72. There are a bunch of later rarities compilations that feature them, but this was the end of their time in The Mothers.
Their time in the band is surprisingly contentious among Zappa fans, I’ve discovered. I’ve already told you that I consider them a guilty pleasure. Guilty because, let’s face it, this is an era when Zappa’s humour got kinda bawdy. It’s all groupies, sex, sex with groupies, sex afflictions, touring war stories, sex on the road, on the road with groupies… you get the idea. It’s all over the top and absurdly animated, sometimes to the point of annoyance.
But the pleasurable part comes in the music. For me, the best records Zappa made were the 16 albums from 1966 to 1972. Kaylan and Volman were on four of them. The songs Zappa wrote for the vocalists were often rockin’ and musically accessible — crowd-pleasers written specifically for live shows. Chunga’s Revenge is one of my favourite Zappa albums. The non-soundtrack material on 200 Motels is great as well, and that Fillmore album is incredible — juvenile at times, but still incredible. If I had been at either of the two shows (June 5 and 6) recorded for the album, I would have loved it.
Incidentally, John Lennon & Yoko Ono performed five songs with the band on the second night during the half-hour encore. You can hear those on the anniversary edition, or on the 1992 archival release Playground Psychotics, compiled from shows in 1970 and 1971. Lennon also released most of the set on Side 4 of his 1972 album Some Time In New York City. But the songs titles differ because John & Yoko never credited Zappa for parts of his song King Kong, which they performed. Instead, their record credited him and Yoko, and renamed the song Jamrag, British slang for tampon. Zappa was pissed off. But the first song they do — Oh Well (Baby Please Don’t Go) — is sick. So good. Though it would have been even better with Volman & Kaylan providing backing vocals instead of Yoko.
Playground Psychotics is actually a really interesting listen because it’s 50/50 live songs and dialogue. The latter features fly-on-the-wall field recordings Zappa made of his band kabbitzing on the road — at airports, in planes, in cars, backstage, in hotel lobbies and rooms and on the set of 200 Motels. There’s even a recording of bassist Jeff Simmons quitting the group.
Almost six months to the day from the Fillmore recording, Volman & Kaylan’s time in The Mothers was nearly at an end, through no fault of their own. The band were on a European tour and performing at Montreux Casino in Switzerland. They were playing King Kong, right at the end of the show when “some stupid with a flare gun” fired the device and burned down the venue, destroying all the band’s equipment. This, of course, was immortalized in the song Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple, who were there. The actual gig was recorded and released by Zappa as part of his Beat The Boots II box set. It’s on an album he released in 1992 called Swiss Cheese/Fire!
Six days later, the band played a benefit show at London’s Rainbow Theatre with rented gear. The encore was a cover of The Beatles’ I Want To Hold Your Hand, sung by Kaylan & Volman. After the song, Zappa was attacked and nearly killed — pushed off the stage by a fan who was angry about his girlfriend’s interest in the musician. He spent the next year in a wheelchair, recovering from numerous fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx that permanently lowered his voice. Again, there is a recording of this incident — released posthumously in 2022 on The Mothers 1971 box set.
With that, Kaylan & Volman’s time with Zappa came to a close. With their leader unable to perform, The Mothers (with Gary Rowles replacing Zappa on lead guitar) backed Kaylan & Volman on their debut solo album The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie, released in 1972. It’s so-so. This was followed by 1973’s Flo & Eddie, which was overproduced by Bob Ezrin. It kinda goes downhill from there. Illegal Immoral & Fattening (1974) is a dated-sounding attempt to revisit the sound and style of The Mothers, but the songs aren’t there. Two years later came Moving Targets, which is worse. The reggae album they put out in 1981 called Rock Steady is unlistenable. Personally, I’m out after the first two solo records, and I see no need to buy any of them. That’s mostly because I’ve done two playlists — the first is a compendium of their Turtles, Mothers and solo highlights. It’s all you need for those passing moments of fondness:
The second is a playlist of their astounding career as studio “guest vocalists” for other artists — including Bruce Springsteen, T. Rex, Alice Cooper, Steely Dan, Burton Cummings, Blondie, Duran Duran and more. The broad range of acts who wanted Flo & Eddie on their songs really says something about their talent and appeal. Did you even know they were on these songs?
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
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Want more Flo & Eddie? Read Darryl Sterdan’s 2002 interview with Mark Volman HERE and watch a full live show by the duo below.
