Flo and Eddie – Illegal, immoral and fattening – 1974

[Roland Bru]

Flo and Eddie are really the Fluorescent Leech and Eddie. No really, they are Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. No really, they are the voices of The Turtles (Happy together). Seriously, folks, they provided vocals, backing vocals and on-stage antics with Frank Zappa from 1969 – 1971, until Frank first lost his music equipment in a fire in Montreux (giving Deep Purple the hit Smoke on the water) and then got kicked from stage by a jealous fan in London and was confined to a wheelchair for some months and went on to make fusion music.

OK, you’ve got the background, now go buy this album: great song selection (and composition) great playing (almost up to Zappa standards) and great, often fun lyrics. The album is half studio and half live. It’s the live part where their dynamic stage banter amuses and informs. This was unique in 1974!

The Pop star massage unit is a case in point: it is a story about basic dildos that are pimped with the cover of the pop star of your choice. Appearently they were willing to model and license the shape, size, whatever. This story may not be actually true, but is greatly entertaining.

Like Zappa, they gladly run the risk of offending anyone, and they get away with is because they do not really discriminate: any minority runs the risk of being made jokes off. As the title song implies, they did not spare themselves either. Great fun!