Howard Kaylan & Mark Volman - The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie download free

The first & best of Howard & Mark's Flo & Eddie persona. Obviously the songs were the best of what they wrote after The Turtles broke up (except for "Goodbye Surprise" which was initially recorded as a Turtles song) and during their collaboration with Frank Zappa as part of The Mothers Of Invention from 1970 - 72. This album was recorded during the time that Zappa was healing from an incident that happened at the London Rainbow theatre in which a male audience member pushed Frank off of the stage resulting in hislarynx being crushed(lowering his voice a third), and damaged his spine, which kept him wheelchair-bound for the best part of a year.Probably in an effort to make the best out of this situation, Howard & Mark recruited M.O.I. memebrs Ansley Dunbar, Jim Pons & Don Preston as well as Gary Rowles and recorded this album. My guess is that the "Flo & Eddie" project was done in order to keep busy and to make a living while Zappa was recovering. Whether it was the fact that Zappa's musical direction went into a jazz big band vibe with the releases of "Waka / Jawaka" and "Grand Wazoo"or if Kaylan & Volman decided that it was time to move on and continue as "Flo & Eddie" is anyone's guess. This album which Creem Magazine in the section that gave mini reviews presented this album with a rating of 3 1/2 BOOTS (their version of thumbs down). This made no sense because unless the person reviewing at the time expected a "Zappaesque" album because this release is a fine piece of pop. The 13 track ( Oh OK, 12 track - the first track is the "Flo & Eddie Theme" !)album is chock-a-block with gems from the rockin pop of "Goodbye Surprise", "Thoughts Have Turned" and "Feel Older Now" to the ballads "Lady Blue", "Who But I" and "Really Love". Two other standouts on the album are the wacky "Nikki Hoi" and their solution to boredom "Burn The House". A few tracks from this album were released on Rhino Records Best Of Flo & Eddie but it really is an injustice that this had never had an official CD release. Unless a label like Collector's Choice finally puts it out, this one of those RIY (rip it yourself) deals if you can find a copy of the vinyl.