I found this album when searching for "surf guitar." It's not Dick Dale, but it is mighty fine. The Ventures were one of the top instrumental groups of the sixties with guitar driven twang. This best of album includes twenty-five songs (none of them longer than three minutes), providing a chronological look at their music from their first hit, "Walk Don't Run" through their last big hit, the theme from Hawaii Five-0. Also included are several vintage radio commercials for their albums, which are a real hoot, a six minute interview with the band from "Rocketing Rhythms", and extensive liner notes (printed so small none of their originals fans can possibly read it.)
The Ventures were a simple band - drums, bass, and two guitars (except for Hawaii Five-0). They wrote plenty of their own good stuff, but covered with abandon. They have a great guitar sound - driving beat, twanging guitars - the archetype sixties guitar music. There are jazzy (Walk — Don't Run), bluesy (Night Drive), and psychedelic (Underground Fire) songs. My favorite is "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" - it's the kind of song that you makes you understand how you can talk about both lead vocals and lead guitar, all the while undergoing numerous tempo and style changes — all packed into a two minutes twenty song. You owe it to yourself to check this great music out.
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