Iain Purdon wrote:First time I've heard that. Enjoyable.
They are in a no-win here. Reproduce the Shadows version and it will be not as good as the lads. Do something different like add a keyboard and it'll be a mistake!
In those days, of course, everybody covered everyone else's material. That was the real mistake! But commercially it made sense.
It made particular sense in the USA, where hardly any of the target market would have heard the original.
The first time I heard The Ventures' version of The Savage was in 1975, when I bought the double LP "LEGENDARY MASTERS" (United Artists (UK) UAD 60051/60052 (stereo/mono*)
1.
Walk - Don't Run * - 2. Wheels - 3. Torquay 4. Ram-Bunk-Shush - 5. Bulldog - 6. Honky Tonk - 7. Lullaby Of The Leaves - 8. Walk - Don't Run '641.
Perfidia - 2. Raunchy - 3. Sleepwalk - 4. Telstar - 5. The Lonely Bull - 6. Green Onions - 7. The Savage *1.
Let's Go - 2. Out Of Limits - 3. Last Night - 4. Apache - 5. The Cruel Sea - 6. Slaughter On 10th Avenue - 7. Caravan
1.
Hawaii Five-O - 2. Wipeout - 3. Pipeline - 4. Secret Agent Man - 5. Theme From "A Summer Place" - 6. La Bamba - 7. Night TrainIt was the first time I'd heard most of those recordings. Before that, I only had a few of the obvious hits from the early 60s and a few assorted tracks from the "Batman" LP era (1966).
I was unimpressed (and still am) by things like
Torquay,
Bulldog,
Raunchy and
Green Onions. But the "Ventures In Space" era stuff was marvellous.