THE VENTURES MUSIC REVIEW

 

NEW DEPTHS, THE VENTURES (GNP/CRESCENDO):

This instrumental guitar rock band has spanned four decades yet they still sound fresh. 

With this collection, the Ventures ride the wave of the surf sound future with tunes such as Web Surfin’, an original composition, and Wipeout 2017, a modernized cover of the Surfaris’ tune.

All of the musicianship on New Depths is superb, but it’s the guitar work that really commands attention.

It’s especially fitting that a track titled Spanish Armada finds the band working for the first time with guitar great Duane Eddy. 

Eddy also plays lead guitar on the group’s exotic, spirited rendition of the Bobby Fuller hit, I Fought the Law.

Other choice tracks include versions of two Henry Mancini songs, Banzai Pipeline and Peter Gunn. 

The former is, according to the liner notes, “(a) good example of the great influence of the early ‘60s West Coast surf sound...” 

The latter is the instantly recognizable theme from the TV series of the same name and is given the Ventures’ touch with inspired guitar work.

The percussion-heavy Drums A Go-Go and the bluesy Hide Away are also delightful.

The only clinker – and the only track with lead vocals -- is Kanari Kiteru Koi.

 The Ventures wrote the tune, but the lyrics were penned by a Japanese songwriter for the Japanese vocal group, the Rice Girls. 

The Girls’ cutesy-poo voices may bring on nasty flashbacks of the short-lived NBC series, Pink Lady, so be warned.

                                                                                     

--Heidi Johnson-Wright