The Turtles - Save The Turtles: The Turtles Greatest Hits

Sixteen sunny, slightly mischievous hits fill one LP on Save The Turtles: The Turtles Greatest Hits, a reminder of how much joy this Los Angeles band packed into the late 1960s.

Fronted by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, The Turtles started out as folk-rockers and ended up somewhere much harder to pin down, part harmony-pop hitmakers, part studio pranksters with a gift for melody. This collection follows their run of singles from 1965 onward with an ear for the songs that owned the radio.

Side one opens with "Happy Together", still one of the best-built pop singles of its decade, all hushed verses and a chorus that bursts wide open. "It Ain't Me Babe" shows where they began, turning Dylan's song into a jangling hit, while "She'd Rather Be With Me" bounces along with irresistible cheer. Over on side two, "Elenore" is the band's knowing wink at the music business, a deliberately corny love song that became a hit anyway.

"You Showed Me" adds a slower, dreamier shade, proof the band could do moody as well as merry. Played front to back, the record feels like a perfect afternoon of AM radio, the kind that sends you humming into the evening, and a fine place to start with The Turtles.