A friend of mine sent me a CD of major songs from 1960, the year of my birth. I thought I'd share of best (in my humble opinion) of them with you this week.
This first one came out in June of 1960 and reached Number Two on the Billboard Charts. It was one of the first big "surfing" songs. "The Ventures" later had several other big hits, including a re-do of "Walk, Don't Run" in 1964 and a cover of the classic "Hawaii 5-0" television theme.
Yeah, I remember this, but Wipe Out is still my favorite. Thanks for the memory, Doug.
ReplyDeleteThe Ventures were one of my favorite groups.
ReplyDeleteNeat idea for posts. I will look forward to them.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Jacquie. "Wipe Out" has that great drum solo. I should have mentioned that one!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mary Ellen.
ReplyDeletethanks
ReplyDeleteA great Northwest band!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping you got some good doo-wop in there - The Fleetwoods (out of Olympia) would be a good one for this compilation.
What a cool idea! A friend; indeed....
Gosh don't they look clean and well shaven. This is certainly a bouncy tune. They must have known Doug was on his way to entertain and educate us with the better side of music and film!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Tess. :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, Will, I should've mentioned "The Ventures" were a Seattle/Tacoma group originally.
ReplyDeleteThere is some great "do-wop" music form that years as well. I'm sure to include something good.
That they do Cassandra. For all the fuss about "The Beatles" and the way they looked when they came to America in 1964, Brian Epstein had them decked out wearing ties and looking anything but scruffy.
ReplyDeleteHair on guys was a big issue then. The military style seems to have been all the rage 50 years back. And hair oil companies like "Vitalis" really must have raked in money!
In those days, it certainly didn't take much to set older people off on the younger set. "Older" being anybody over 30. :-)
Just in case anyone wondered - this is one of my all-time-fave tunes; I can still play it today on Ol' Black (my Gretsch Electromatic):
ReplyDeleteOne of their best. As a guitar player yourself, Will, I 'm sure you appreciate just how innovative that sound was--and as big as The Ventures were over here, I gather they were huge in Japan as well. Maybe one of the best known American groups period.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that one.
It all looks so innocent now --- and those hair styles !
ReplyDeleteI always thought Perfidia was Duane Eddy
ReplyDeleteNope. It was actually first written and recorded by a Latin female singer (author and artist completely escape me) - it was covered by several others, but the Ventures' instrumental version remains the best-known....
ReplyDeleteExcellent choice Doug, I remember Walk Don't Run was covered in the UK by The Shadows whose sound was very similar to the Ventures (to whom I think they were somewhat indebted).....this reminds me of milk bars and juke boxes and 'teenage' stuff when it was still a new idea......A great surf sound but also quintessentially urban....or at least that's what it sounded like to me at the time....a Saturday Night Sunday Morning world with an X certificate....it was all I had ever dreamed of at the time...it has the smell of 2-stroke oil about it....which in my book is a major compliment I think.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this wonderful soundtrack to your arrival in the world Doug.......great sound!
It sure does Jeff. Impossibly so.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think "The Ventures" inspired another British band, The Tornadoes, which had a good sound as well. George Harrison acknowledged The Beatles' early debt to these groups as well--of course what those cats did was take the best of everything!
ReplyDeleteI think that's an important point, AA--"Walk, Don't Run" does come across as having an urban component. That's the way I first thought of it at least. It still has some of that delightful acoustic verve that strictly surf music like "The Pipeline" has of course.
You describe those memories quite well--there was that element of the open road, hitting the straightaways and putting on a bit of speed.
For me, it was the music of a recent era gone past that I wished I had a direct taste of--but in the 70's it was in the movies and music that we could rediscover that unique social transformation.
Thank You AA.