That is a very good idea.
The records are more than half a century old and still playable,
what will ever happen to the cds???
Some people still have those old copies and are willing to sell them.
Unfortunately the postage rates are fairly high with 16 € for a package to the USA from Germany!
If anyone here is interested (please email me: nehls-r@versanet.de)
I will ask my friend if he can send to me a list and his prices he asks for those oldies but goodies.
Ruediger

How are these Ventures songs ABOUT YOU? What did they DO FOR YOU?

Here's what these recordings did for me. They made it easier to do my homework in college, grad school, and med school. They were the rhythm that energized my working through mountains of textbooks, problems to solve and essays. The beat propelled me into and through the work. This album "Dance" was among the best for this purpose because I heard nothing distracting (such as harshness) in it.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

The Ventures' Vinyl of the month is "The Fabulous Ventures" (Dolton BLP-2020) and a red vinyl 45rpm from Japan (Liberty LR-1300) with "Cruel Sea" and "Fugitive."

Liner notes on "The Fabulous Ventures" call it the Ventures' 15th album. However, they say that Mel was the drummer on the Ventures' hit recording of "Walk Don't Run." So the music will have to speak for itself.

This album contains several originals with quite original--if not unique--guitar technique. "Runnin' Wild" showcases a shred-speed riff involving the lowest three strings, where notes on the low E string descend chromatically from A. Nokie apparently plays it fingerstyle. The recording brings to mind riding on a cantering horse. "Eleventh Hour" uses vibrato, slow tempo, and a minor key for a spooky atmosphere without harshness or dissonance. "Scratchin'" reflects the Ventures' masculine approach to the guitar, scratchin' and proud.

"Pink Panther" covers Mancini's famous movie theme with guitar replacing sax. I've seen it widely liked by people who are not fans of electric guitar. "Fugitive" faithfully covers Jan Davis' hit. "Journey to the Stars" is rousing and energetic. These half dozen songs are half of the album, and thrilling. 'Journey to the Stars" is frequently covered by other bands. It must be played very fast, as the Ventures do, or it starts to fall outside the genre.

Nokie introduces a grinding overdrive on several of the other six recordings. This overdrive thickens and sustains the notes.

The shown 45 rpm red vinyl from Japan contains two cover songs from this LP, "Cruel Sea" and "Fugitive." "Cruel Sea" is one of the most frequently covered surf guitar songs. "Fugitive" is harder to cover because of the necessary dog barks.
--comments by Conrad

The Fabulous Ventures was released in 1964-a year of changes for the Ventures. The main change was the switch from Fender to Mosrite guitars. The second change was the implementation of fuzz tone and overdrive in varying amounts. Nokie appears to play lead on every track.

Needles and Pins is the only vocal pop hit on this album. The Ventures chose to use the keys of Jackie Deshannon’s version rather than the Searchers’ version. That enabled Nokie to use the low E string very deftly. There are five instrumentals from other groups Venturized and made their own: The Cruel Sea from the Dakotas-this song makes use of the Ventures habit of playing the melody in different octaves simultaneously; Tall Cool One from their Seattle Friends the Wailers; Only the Young from Jim Seals of the Champs and Seals and Croft fame; The Fugitive; The Pink Panther Theme-adroitly played by Nokie and later found on live albums.

There are two songs that show Nokie’s penchant for taking classical or classical type melodies and electrifying them: Runnin’ Wild and Journey to the Stars. There are three Venture originals which show their clever variations on the standard 12 bar progression: Scratchin’, Ravin’ Blue, Walkin’ With Pluto. The remaining song Eleventh Hour sounds like it was a left over from the sessions for the famous In Space album, but too good to not be released on this album.
--comments by Bob Coates

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Last edited: Jan 04, 2017 15:56:09

Squid wrote:

I sailed with The Ventures and Los straightjackets in 2003 and it remains one of my best memories ever. Life is totally surf and could not be better! Cadillac Sally

I was on that cruise, and agree, memorable. The late Bob Bogle was there. John Durrell who played keyboards for The Ventures showed up. Bob Spalding, Nokie Edwards, Don Wilson, Leon Taylor were of course fantastic. Even had some great guests like Alan White(Yes), Roger Fisher(Heart), Jeff Cook(Alabama).
Ran across a video of House of The Rising Sun from the cruise.

http://tunefan.com
http://www.youtube.com/tunefan

Agreed, and thanks for posting Ivan. These Ventures recordings feel more expressive and emotive and less commercial than their later albums. I feel passion about this music. In other words, this is the album that made me a Ventures nut.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Last edited: Jan 06, 2017 12:23:45

Fabulous Ventures is a fun album fer sure. I see it mentioned above that on "Needles and Pins" The Ventures use the same key as the Jackie DeShannon version. This is true - however, not only do they use the same key but they are using the very same backing track she used on her vocal. The guitars on hers sound more acoustic but I think they either did a bit of processing in The Ventures' transfer of the track or played over the rhythm with electrics. I asked Jackie if she knew about this use of her backing track at an Amoeba records signing some years ago. She had no idea.

Another funny detail I recall about this album is the big picture of the Mosrite on the back cover (photo shown in previous post above). It is a prototype of the early side-jack model. The funny thing about it is the non-alignment of the angle of the neck pickup with the diagonal cut at the base of the neck. The production guitars had this problem corrected. -Marty

"Hello Girls!"

Last edited: Jan 08, 2017 15:44:49

I'm so glad the Ventures are still of interest to the surf crowd! I know they are not considered a hard core surf band but, but you can't deny they cut some killer rock and roll. I saw the original 4 in '81. Amazing show and super nice guys.We still play their stuff in our live shows.

I saw Nokie here my little town and he has a loose group of pick up musicians he uses when he used to play around here regularly. He calls his band "The Surf Riders", which I thought was interesting. He embraces the surf connection.

The Ventures Vinyl for Feb. are "Another Smash" (Dolton BLP2006) and an EP including Bulldog, Apache, Caravan and Perfidia (Liberty LP-4060).

"Another Smash" apparently refers to their hit "Lullaby of the Leaves." I first heard it on AM radio. The approach and tones of "Lullaby" resemble "Walk Don't Run." It recasts into rock-n-roll a song from an older pop genre. Rapid chromatic guitar riffs with echo and reverb are supported by dramatic percussion with frequent snare rolls.

Much of this album covers other instrumental hits of the time, including "Wheels" by The String-A-Longs (AKA The Fireballs), Link Wray's "Rawhide," The Ramrods' "Ghost Riders," and pianist Floyd Cramer's "Last Date." On first hearing this album back in the 60s I particularly enjoyed "Ginchy." Only now did I notice that Ginchy is by Bert Weedon of England, who calls himself "Mr. Guitar." Another standout was "Bulldog" originally by The Fireballs.

Included is a cover of Les Paul's 1952 hit "Meet Mister Callaghan" spelled sans "g." Comparing the Les Paul version on Youtube with the Ventures' version illustrates how rock-n-roll changed the feel of pop music. Despite heavy echoing tones, Les Paul's version is simply not rock or surf, it does not have a sense of motion. Rather, it seems to proclaim "I am staying right here."

The LP album text identifies the Ventures as Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, and it shows photos of only them. There is no mention of Nokie or Mel.

In contrast the The Japanese vinyl EP (Liberty LP-4060) shows Mel with drumsticks and Nokie with a bass guitar. Both Don and Bob are shown with Fender Jazzmaster guitars. The liner notes are in Japanese. This four songs on this EP are among their most popular recordings outside Walk Don't Run and Hawaii 5-0.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Another Smash is a great album! I read that their use of strings on the album started when the album producer overdubbed them to their Silver City single. Bob and Don liked the sound so much that they had strings added to several other tracks on the album. It gives it a classic sound. I have to correct the post that claims Nokie for lead on Lullaby of the Leaves. It is well published that Bob does the lead on that one (see Halterman's official biography). Bob also took the lead guitar for that song in later live performances that featured a set of songs for which he was the original guitarist (Don would also take a lead guitar spot for Ghost Riders as he did the original lead on that). The photo showing all four Ventures on the Japanese E.P. was released at least a year after the LP - the photo is from the Bobby Vee Meets The Ventures album released in '63. When The Ventures became hot in Japan in '64, the Japanese label would grab album tracks from The Ventures catalog to fashion many EPs. By that time, the classic line up with Nokie and Mel had jelled. -Marty

"Hello Girls!"

Last edited: Mar 15, 2017 13:34:22