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I have quite a large collection of releases by The Ventures. I don't have all albums, but all from the 1960's and 1970's and a couple from the 1980's, 1990's and 2000's. A lot is great to listen to, especially the 1960's tracks. I find it difficult to really like their 1970's output, a lot of covers and just not as catchy as the 1960's tracks. Also, some from the later years a nice, but I find a lot of them (and I hate to say this) boring. What's your opinion?

I would guess the classic album period from 1960-67, released 45s at
that time, and the 1965-66 Live in Japan sets, are pretty definitive for
an essential collection.
However their extensive use of studio musicians to enhance albums
is a subject all to itself.
The Edwards/ Bogle/ Wilson/Taylor plus McGhee line up will always
remain the framework of "Their Sound"

Mike

I liked the Ventures from the early '60s, my formative years. Lost track of them by the mid '60s, apart from the occasional track, like 'Hawaii Five-0', which we heard about here. I bought their first EP issued here (Perfidia, Night Train, No Trespassing, Walk don't Run), & liked them. Many years later, apart from one or two tracks, I was rather disappointed with most of their recordings.
I do respect The Ventures as a great instrumental band, who were the US equivalent of our Shads. I think they may have been rather let down by the lack of imagination & quality on their subsequent studio recordings. They were still the local pub band, although great musicians & a working combo right to the end. The Shads had all that the Ventures had, but with an extra sparkle on the top.
We still play their original instros (WDR, Perfidia,Lullaby of the Leaves) with my band, as our opening intro at gigs. It's part of our nostalgia of our teenage years.

Tony.

I liked most of their early stuff from about 1960 to 1965....unlike a lot of Ventures fans, I enjoyed the sound when they changed from Bob Bogle's lead guitar to Nokie Edwards- the difference between say, the original Walk Don't Run (1960), Perfidia, etc and WDR '64 (1964) and Rap City, Slaughter on 10th Avenue.. from Fender to Mosrite.

Obviously, having been going for so long, and having recorded and released a LOT of albums, some are bound to be a bit so-so- but some of the extensive Shadows discography also has its good and mediocre material- although BOTH groups have always had great players and they always play well, even if sometimes the material doesn't appeal to everyone..

I love both groups- I don't want to get partisan about which is best, or worst...comparisons are odious, as the old saying goes...

I might be wrong, but weren't they the first group to use a fuzz guitar sound on 'The 2000 bee'? Which i think came out in 1962.
I also like Walk Down Run, Torquay, Lullaby of the leaves, Perfidia and Flight of the bumble bee (live version).

I agree with the OP. The early albums with Bob Bogle on lead guitar are my favourites. I have never liked Nokie Edwards so much, even though he may be technically superior to Bob Bogle. The Ventures have recorded profusely and consequently there hasn't always been enough time to devote to the arrangements. The group hasn't hesitated to copy arrangements and parts of melody from others, as shown in these two versions of Manchurian Beat. The original is by a Finnish group called The Sounds and the other version is by The Ventures.

The Sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQZX04wQZgg
The Ventures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU35Ax5Wt-g

Not to forget: "Yellow Jacket" I like to cover with some of my bands.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/816 ... GR3%29.mp3

Regarding Ventures covers, I'd love to know how they came by Bert Weedon's 'Ginchy' - which they covered....or was this originally an American tune which Bert covered? Which came first?

cockroach wrote:Regarding Ventures covers, I'd love to know how they came by Bert Weedon's 'Ginchy' - which they covered....or was this originally an American tune which Bert covered? Which came first?

Ginchy was a Bert Weedon composition: http://www.45cat.com/record/jar537

You can take it as read that The Ventures' management was constantly on the lookout for internationally-released instrumentals for the group to use as album filler. They also found The Savage, no doubt by the same route as Ginchy.

Id like to hear The Ventures version of The Savage, that would be interesting.