The Ventures

[bitflipper]

When I moved to Seattle in 1972, I was pleasantly surprised to find a lively and long-established local music scene. There were literally hundreds of live music venues to play at and dozens of recording studios. Today you'd have to go to Austin or Nashville to find an environment like that. But in the 60's every city had its own circuit and its own superstars.

A few of those local favorites managed to bust out of the Pacific Northwest and go national and international, which is how I knew who some of them were before coming to town. One of the biggest was The Ventures, although by '72 they had already relocated to Los Angeles and their style became mostly associated with Southern California and inspired many copycats there. Playing in my first bands in Nebraska, we assumed The Ventures and the Beach Boys were neighbors who grew up surfing. Neither of them actually did.

The main thing I took away from this documentary was the realization that The Ventures, for all their innovation, was really a cover band. I'd been unaware, for example, that Walk Don't Run was originally lifted from a Chet Atkins record. 

Another interesting snippet was the criteria for being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

• At least 25 years since first release
• Possess a significant body of work
• Significant influence on the development of rock 'n roll

I couldn't help wondering how some of the more recent inductees qualified under those criteria, e.g. Eminem, Run-DMC, Madonna, Tupac. Meanwhile true rock innovators like The Ventures had to wait almost 50 years for their nomination. I think 250 albums qualifies as a "significant body of work".

 

[bitflipper]

btw, if you're curious what Chet Atkins' version of Walk Don't Run sounded like:

 

[scook]

16 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

for example, that Walk Don't Run was originally lifted from a Chet Atkins record. 

which was a cover of a Johnny Smith song

here are a few more covers

 

[Notes_Norton]

I knew "Walk Don't Run" as a Johnny Smith song. A guitar playing friend had it on an LP.

The Ventures covered a lot of others, I particularly used to like their take on "Lullaby Of The Leaves"

 

[Grem]

Listened to all three versions. And I still like the Ventures version. Has more energy. That's not taking anything away fromChet or Johnny. I really like both thier versions too.

 

I am just a little partial to the Ventures. I remember hearing this song for the first time on a school bus on our way to school (not many buses had a radio in the back then!). Being a aspiring drummer, this was the best song I had ever heard.

 

 

[Grem]

Found this from that 'mysterious YouTube' algo! Nice couple of  short interviews at the end. It appears to be a Japanese show. Makes you wonder why they don't do this over here.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Grem

[Bapu]

1 hour ago, Grem said:

Listened to all three versions. And I still like the Ventures version. Has more energy. That's not taking anything away fromChet or Johnny. I really like both thier versions too.

 

I am just a little partial to the Ventures. I remember hearing this song for the first time on a school bus on our way to school (not many buses had a radio in the back then!). Being a aspiring drummer, this was the best song I had ever heard.

 

 

Wha? The bass player has the samllest amp?

[Grem]

Just now, Bapu said:

Wha? The bass player has the samllest amp?

Just to ease your mind, I think that may be an optical illusion!!

But it could just be my old age playing tricks on me and my mind trying to justify it!!!

[craigb]

4 hours ago, Grem said:

Just to ease your mind, I think that may be an optical illusion!!

But it could just be my old age playing tricks on me and my mind trying to justify it!!!

Yes, yes...  That's right.  Just keep telling yourself that it only looks smaller. ????

[Pragi]

On 12/27/2022 at 9:27 PM, bitflipper said:

When I moved to Seattle in 1972, I was pleasantly surprised to find a lively and long-established local music scene. There were literally hundreds of live music venues to play at and dozens of recording studios. Today you'd have to go to Austin or Nashville to find an environment like that. But in the 60's every city had its own circuit and its own superstars.

Thanks a lot for this great video. 

From now on you can call me a newbie caus I haven´t known   The Ventures before. 

[craigb]

1 hour ago, Pragi said:

Thanks a lot for this great video. 

From now on you can call me a newbie caus I haven´t known   The Ventures before. 

I'm not far behind you!  I definitely knew of the Ventures, but didn't really know just how big they were (similar to how Deep Purple is known in the U.S.).  I'm going to make some time later to watch the video. ?

[Jim Fogle]

I'd say The Ventures were the premier pop instrumental group in the US.  Many baby boomers were inspired to learn how to play guitar, bass or drums by The Ventures.  As stated in the first video there arrangements were sparse enough that you could clearly hear each instrument.  The Ventures continued to be popular in Japan long after their fame dimmed in the US.

While somewhat popular in Europe I don't think they were as popular in Europe as the British instrumental group, The Shadows.  In one of the videos above I'm surprised to learn The Shadows did not record "Walk, Don't Run" until 1977.

[paulo]

On 12/27/2022 at 8:49 PM, scook said:

which was a cover of a Johnny Smith song

Which was lifted from the 1951 recording  "Run, don't walk" by the almost very appropriately named S(tephane) Cooque.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not really. I just wanted to see how long it took for scook's google dirty fingers to stop twitching......?

[steve@baselines.com]

Same atmosphere was part of the Boston sound in the 70's - A great time!  Thanks for sharing. 

[craigb]

16 minutes ago, steve@baselines.com said:

Same atmosphere was part of the Boston sound in the 70's - A great time!  Thanks for sharing. 

Man did I love that sound!  I had several of the Rockman units (instant Boston sound!) and my friend had this:

He (August, the guy I've mentioned before who now plays the Tommy Shaw parts in Dennis DeYoung's band) was given this by a fan.  August (and some other friends) used to have the only Boston tribute (i.e., "cover") band in the nation called Smokin'.

Although this isn't the exact line-up that I was onstage with (as roadie, playing the soundcheck and a VERY minor backing role) when they played a casino near me, it gives you an idea!  They played one night as Smokin' and a second night as Grand Illusion (a Styx tribute band and how August - in the red shirt - was discovered by Dennis DeYoung).  Fun times!

 

[bitflipper]

On 12/29/2022 at 11:51 AM, Jim Fogle said:

While somewhat popular in Europe I don't think they were as popular in Europe as the British instrumental group, The Shadows.

I didn't know who The Shadows were until I moved to England in 1969. I was listening to the radio and they were doing a game where they'd play a record and listeners could call in and identify it for a prize. Everybody guessed it was The Shadows, and everybody was wrong. It was in fact The Beatles doing a tribute to The Shadows,  who they were big fans of. This despite nobody in The Beatles having guitar chops equal to Hank's. Like The Ventures, The Shadows remained popular in Japan long after their glory years had passed elsewhere.

And to take it full circle, here's The Ventures covering The Shadows:

 

[user 905133]

4 hours ago, bitflipper said:

And to take it full circle, here's The Ventures covering The Shadows:

I remember the song Apache from back in the day and as a fan of instrumental music, loved it.  From your video, I knew the version I heard was not The Ventures.  Based on a 1960s recording I just listened to, it was probably not The Shadows, either.  WABC's Top 100 list has a cover by  Jørgen Ingmann and His Guitar.  Wikipedia leads me to believe this was the cover those of us were most familiar with:

Quote

The single entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the final week of January 1961 and peaked at number 2 ten weeks later at the beginning of April for two weeks behind "Blue Moon" by the Marcels. In Canada, "Apache" topped the CHUM Chart for two weeks in March 1961. . . .

Cliff Richard has said that "Ingmann put in a few tricky bits, but essentially it was a cover job. If the Shads had made the charts there [in the US] with 'Apache', things might have been very different for us".

I suppose fans of The Shadows can blame Ingmann for their lack of popularity in the US.

In any event, I still think its a great song.  Glad to finally know the name after all these decades!!

[craigb]

Finally took the time to watch the Ventures documentary!  Definitely worth it.

Makes me wish I had spent the time to learn about them back in the 60's and onward... 

[bitflipper]

I just got around to watching the Smokin' vid you posted. Holy Crap, those guys were good. Imagine the hubris needed to gather some guys in a garage with the intention of doing Boston material. If I was going to form a tribute band, I'd choose something easier! Like The Ventures.