I have a few Ventures albums, and with the admittedly few I have heard, I am very frustrated. I keep hoping (really, expecting) to hear more like "Walk Don't Run," "Telstar," and "Hawaii Five-O" and get a bunch of straightforward instrumental songs (usually covers) instead. My latest purchase is this one:



I loved the cover, the vinyl is in great shape, and it was $1, so I picked it up. Granted, I could tell by the cover it's chock full of covers, but still I was hoping for a better sound I guess. I want Dick Dale and this is closer to Muzak. Is this a case of the record label execs stepping in and watering these guys down to be more palatable to the masses (they had 17 top 40 albums, for chrissakes)? Or did they never really have an edge to them at all?

Anyone familiar enough with their catalog to know if they put out one or more real surf rock albums (as opposed to the occasional true surf rock song stuck in among a bunch of easy listening tunes)? Maybe their first few? Or am I barking up the wrong tree with these guys?

Probably nothing else at least what I have heard is better than Walk Don't Run. Walk Don't Run Vol 2 is decent as well. But yeah, most all of their albums that I have heard contain a ton of filler. I do really like Ventures in Space though. I can upload that if you wanna check it out.



If you're wanting more of a surf sound, they have one called Surfing that may oblige:



But you're not gonna get the frantic approach of Dick Dale or anything on any of their albums. And most of them are more filler than anything.

Come to think of it, their Self-Titled record's pretty good too.

Thanks. I'll check those out. I don't need it to be Link Wray, but I'm not interested in hearing straight instrumental versions of tunes that seem like they could be elevator music.

I don't know who this guy is or how I feel about his reviews, but this post got me thinking about the Ventures and I came across someone who has at least given a listen to and reviewed a ton of their records:
http://www.markprindle.com/ventures.htm

I saw a surf band called the Slacktones many years ago at a mountain bike festival. Got a couple of their CDs, they're pretty rockin'.

Don't know if they're real surfers like the Ventures, tho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxs6F2gm ... re=related

I'll read some of those this weekend. I like the fact that there are reader comments too.

I think I've heard of those guys, but I could be confusing them with someone else. I recently listened to Jim Clark's You Can't Surf in Kansas comp, which is a good one.

I think you would be happiest with Live in Japan 65.

Thanks.

I'm not a huge fan of the deluge of surf covers from that era or the Ventures catalog, but I love their cover of Blue Moon.

haha. I don't know much about Prindle, but his interviews are pretty great.