For me, The Ventures - Another Smash was their definitive album. Every musician had a distinctive part to play and the resultant driving beat was absolutely, irresistibly magnificent. The all-Fender sound was terrific, with distinctive tonal character. Very little else the Ventures did could match up to that album (IMO). It was a totally different sound from The Shadows. It surprised me then and it still does, that I could like both bands so much and yet not feel at all torn between them. A bit like comparing say, Susan Hampshire with Claudia Cardinale.
I have an mp3 of The Ventures' doing The Savage and it sounds just as raucously awful as the one kindly linked earlier in this thread! What a horrible mess. Not a patch on The Shadows. The Shadows' version, to me, ranks every bit as good as anything they ever did. It wasn't a huge hit with the public but I don't care. I absolutely loved it and I still do.
