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Personally, after the first couple of records, I
thought the Ventures were like many of the studio
projects bands of the day, except that they acfually
existed. But then, the Shadows seemed that way to me
as well, though I didn't really look at it in the
beginning. I was initially turned off to them after
buying "Surfing With The Shadows" on Atlantic, only to
discover it wasn't surf at all. It took decades to
muster up enough interest to go back and even give
them another listen, much as it did with the Ventures
once they drifted off reverb. Both bands still boil
down to a small percentage of tracks from their vasts
archives, more from the Ventures because of the shear
volume of tracks.
Also significant in differentiation for me is that the
Ventures stayed more in a rock 'n' roll vein, while
the Shadows did a lot of easy/soft music, which is an
area I seldom take notice of.
Both were accomplished musicians and capable of great
things, as well as mediocrity. I do think the Shadows
were more serious about music per say than the
Ventures, maybe took their place in music more
seriously. The Ventures seemed to be more of a music
machine, cranking out income streams at will. This is
how the music business works, like it or not. Both
seemed to retain some control over most of their
career, unlike many, and, much to their credit, both
have sustained for a very long time.
Phil
--- Marty Tippens <> wrote:
---------------------------------
No two ways about it, the Shads had more integrity.
The Ventures were indeed mostly a business with their
rushing out 4 albums a year. They recorded their
Batman album within one week writing the originals in
the studio on the fly and within two weeks the album
was in the stores. Yet I contend that that's not a bad
way to do it in Rock and Roll. Many of the best songs
are written on the fly. If ya go the carefully crafted
route, ya lose the "it's only rock and roll" spirit.
The Batman album may have had a strictly-commercial
intended goal, yet it stands among the best Ventures
albums. And it's not an isolated incident. Most of
those Fender and Mosrite era albums were put out
quickly.
In the '60's there are only two Ventures cuts, "Wipe
Out" and "More" that were all session players. In the
'70's there is a complete "New Ventures" disco album
that is all session players with the Ventures acting
as producers.
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: ipongrac
To:
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 8:00 PM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] The Ventures have NEVER
played in England!
... It always seemed that the Shadows had much more
integrity
and were INTO their music as a passion rather than
as a business. My
impression was always that to the Ventures it was
mostly a business.
Thus all the cuts where it was all studio players
and no Ventures,
etc.
Ivan
PS God, it drives me crazy on that On Stage album
when the announcer
says something like (for the England portion of the
album, no less -
some nerve!!!): "And now with their giant hit,
Apache!!!!" The
Ventures never had a hit with Apache anywhere, as
far as I know, and
certainly not in England. Can you believe those
cajones?
.
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