THEY ARE A MACHINE

Back when I was just a kid, my family went over to my Grandma's house to welcome home my uncle, who was in his early twenties and in the military. He had just returned from a stint in Okinawa, Japan. While all the requisite back patting and hand shaking was going on, me and my brothers stared at the end of the living room with our jaws agape. There before us was a monstrous component stereo, the likes of which we had never seen. To pre-teen kids with just limited exposure to a beat ass AM clock radio, it might as well have been a wall of Marshall stacks. It was behemoth. My uncle noticed our preoccupation and asked us if we wanted to hear it. He then put on a record and turned it up. Ba boom boom. ba doom!!! It was the Ventures' cover of the theme from Hawaii Five-O. We were floored. I was 11, and the Ventures were on my radar. They've been there ever since.

It wasn't long after that that our friends around the corner had procured the Ventures' Surfing LP at a  garage sale. It began our surf music obsession, that has lasted, shit, it's still ongoing. In the ensuing years we started picking up this surf LP or that, leading us to the Chantays, the Surfaris, the Lively Ones, the Challengers, and all the others that were, at the time, all over the thrift stores. We went further back as well, with Duane Eddy, who was also a favorite of my uncle's. My brother would later start a surf band. All of this from hearing the Ventures on a giant stereo.

Just watch the video below. Even with a hit on the charts, they can't catch a break. I mean to say, the girls in the audience aren't exactly going ape shit. They look confused, like they're thinking "what is this?" (Starting at 1:40, four quizzical gals in a row.)

It's easy to take the Ventures for granted. It seems like they've always been around. Most of their output has been covers. Their records are accessible. Their output was so prolific that, at one time, used copies of their LPs were falling from the sky. But, you gotta cop to them, they are one tight instrumental machine. Technically, I know they must be hot shit, because all of the Mosrite nazis I know respect them (and if you know Mosrite nuts, they're usually excellent guitarists themselves). You? You may have heard all of the Ventures that you care to. To me they're an instrumental safe harbor, and although there are wilder instrumental combos out there, I have to tip my cap. Motherfuckers are still touring too.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Ventures - Walk Don't Run mp3 at Sampablo's Cleaning (?)
The Ventures - Hawaii Five O mp3 at LZ Center
The Ventures - Pipeline mp3 at VVA 310
The Ventures - Endless Summer Theme mp3 at Us Hawaiians
The OG:
Chet Atkins - Walk Don't Run (streaming) at YouTube
Covers of a cover: 
The Trashmen - Walk Don't Run mp3 at Tiny Vices
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - Walk Don't Run mp3 at Review Stalker
Visit:
The Ventures at Wikipedia
The Ventures Official site
The Ventures Discography