Surfing

by

The Ventures

Edit

A great CD, being a slight 'expansion' of the original LP, it has a lot of the Ventures music associated with their surf sound although, as pointed out by another reviewer, the Ventures were never really a 'surf' band. They started out before the gendre came into vogue and extended into surf music during its popularity and, in true Ventures' style, became masters of the sound. The fact that many cover songs they did (Pipeline, Telstar, Out Of Limits, etc.) became definitive versions over the originals is vivid proof of their amazing musical abilities. Anything another band could do, they could do better! My ONLY complaint (and a minor one) with this CD is the fact that some of the tracks were sourced from a vinyl LP (this is especially noticable on 'Let's Go' and 'Diamonds') and no mention is made of this anywhere on the CD or in the booklet notes. Not that it would have stopped me from buying the CD, but I would have preferred some mention of this fact in the packaging. So many CD's of older music are being released these days with critical consumer information being left off such as whether the songs are the original recordings (or 're-recorded' by the original artists or groups pretending to be the original artists), or whether the songs are stereo or mono, etc.. I think a little truth in packaging should be in order so you know exactly what you're getting. Aside from that, I would definitely recommend this CD to anyone hooked on the Ventures sound as, in my opinion, their 'Surfing' album was one of their best and this expanded edition contains the entire LP in great sounding stereo with a few more rare 'gems' thrown in for good measure. A worthwhile purchase for any Ventures fan!

"Surfing" is one of the best half dozen albums by the Ventures. After an opening remake of the Chantays big hit, Pipeline, which the Ventures manage to trump, 9 of the next 11 tracks are all band originals. This musical genre (surf music) was admittedly pretty formula, but every track here is executed to near-perfection by this peerless guitar-based instrumental band, which also happened to include (for most of its "classic" period) one of the greatest rock drummers of all time: the late, great Mel Taylor. I have deducted one star from my rating due to Sundazed's stingy offering here. You get the original album, all 29 minutes of it, for a current price on Amazon of $15.

Most of the Ventures catalog was last released as two-fers, as logic dictates they should be, since you can so easily fit two of their albums on one CD. But not good old Sundazed, they've cut the Ventures CDs back to the barbones albums -- not a single bonus track is included. But hey, they're rock music purists, right? "They don't need no steenking bonus tracks!" Oh well, at least I looked forward to getting a nice booklet with some comments from band members, and an appreciation by a music writer with some expertise in this genre, etc. Wrong! No booklet, no notes - nada. Even the original album back cover (a real "period piece," complete with a surfing term glossary) is reproduced so poorly under the clear lift-out tray that you can barely read it. Luckily, I already have most of my favorite albums by the band on the prior, two-fer CDs, and thus will not need to take out a bank loan to purchase these new reissues. But had they been offered as two-fers, or with better packaging or bonus tracks, I probably would have purchased more of the later-day, post-1966 albums. Thanks Sundazed, you bunch of cheapos!!