The GTO's-Permanent Damage (Full Album)

The GTO's

The GTO's were a collection of groupies from the late 60's L.A. music life. The group began as the Cherry Sisters after which grew to become the Laurel Canyon Ballet Company, functioning as an opening perform for the Mothers of Invention, featuring 'performance art' in a mix of theatrics, off-key singing, dance and spoken word.
The group were:
Miss Christine (Christine Frka)
Miss Cynderella (Anon)
Miss Lucy (Lucy Offerall)
Miss Mercy (Mercy Fontenot)
Miss Pamela (Pamela Miller)
Miss Sandra (Sandra Leano)
Miss Sparky (Linda Sue 'Sparky' Parker)

Performances by the group were occasional, even though they established a good impression at their 1968 performance at the Shrine Auditorium. A mix of theatrics, singing, and dance were staples of their act. Their activities received consideration from a larger audience with the launch of their album Permanent Damage.
The album actually were released on Zappa and Cohen’s Straight Records. Nevertheless, the original Bizarre Records idea failed to work out as expected due to problems with distribution and administration. This resulted in some very uncommon albums on the Straight label particularly those by Captain Beefheart, Alice Cooper and The GTOs. Zappa along with the Mothers of Invention were the only artists who stuck with Bizarre Records. Zappa introduced eight of his own albums with and without the Mothers of Invention on Bizarre from 1969 to 1972.

The album was produced in 1969 by Frank Zappa with the support of Lowell George and Russ Titelman (tracks 7 and 11). The latter track additionally features Titelman's brother-in-law, guitarist Ry Cooder, each of whom appear on Captain Beefheart's Safe As Milk album. Track 5 "The Captain's Fat Theresa Shoes" is a GTO comment on Beefheart's preference in shoes (his cousin Victor Hayden had also effected Beefheart's introduction to Pamela Des Barres). The tunes are mixed in with discussions between the members of the group, friends, among others, such as Cynthia Plaster Caster and Rodney Bingenheimer. The album features songwriting contributions from Lowell George, Jeff Beck and Davy Jones. A young Rod Stewart also happens on the vocalist of one track. Permanent Damage was re-issued on CD in 1989 by Enigma Retro.

As outlined by Frank, G.T.O. stands for Girls Together Occasionally, Girls Together Only, or Girls Together Often. Girls Together Only are lesbians. But the GTO's  are not lesbians; they are merely girls who happen to like other girls' company".

Tracks from Permanent Damage were also introduced on a pair of Warner Bros. "Loss Leader" series compilation albums:

"Do Me in Once and I'll Be Sad, Do Me in Twice and I'll Know Better (Circular Circulation)" - on Zappéd (1969);
"Kansas and the BTO's; "The Captain's Fat Theresa Shoes"; and "The Original GTO's" - on The Big Ball (1970).