Decades before Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and even well before anyone had heard of Ann and Nancy Wilson, Seattle gave the rock and roll world The Ventures, one of the single most influential rock bands of all time, and perhaps the biggest-selling all-instrumental band ever, with the possible exception of the similar British band The Shadows. With a sound based on tremolo electric guitars and drums, as envisaged on their classic 1960 smash "Walk Don't Run", the Ventures helped pioneer what I call the West Coast Offense of rock, which led inevitably to the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and even the Eagles. And even though they were eclipsed somewhat by the British Invasion in 1964, unlike a lot of early American rock bands, they weren't exactly banished to obscurity, as their albums kept selling at a rapid pace and as more aspiring rock guitarists took from their example.
So here we come to their 1969 album HAWAII FIVE-O, a prime example of what their "formula" is: taking current hits and giving them an instrumental sheen. Given the time this album was released, with psychedelia still the rage and heavy metal beginning to creep into the rock and roll scene, the formula should have been wearing thin, especially since many of the tracks on this album ("Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In"; "Dizzy"; "Galveston") were already big hits for others at exactly the same time. And yet, it is clear that the band, which included Don Wilson, the (now sadly) late Bob Bogle, and Jerry McGee, still had it in spades. The album also included a minor hit in their beach-flavored version of "Theme From A SUMMER PLACE"; and this expanded version includes versions of "Mission Impossible", "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", and Paul Mauriat's 1968 smash "Love Is Blue."
Of course, the real attraction is the title cut, the theme to the then-burgeoning, soon-to-be-classic CBS crime drama "Hawaii Five-O", composed by Morton Stevens. Done with a somewhat harder sound than their previous hits, and including orchestral brass, "Hawaii Five-O" proved to be an unexpectedly huge hit, cresting at #4 on May 10, 1969 (the only three songs ahead of it on the Billboard Hot 100 that week were "It's Your Thing", by the Isley Brothers; "Hair", by the Cowsills; and the aforementioned "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In", by the Fifth Dimension). Meanwhile, the album itself was a huge seller for the band, reaching #11 on the Billboard Album Chart in June 1969, going Gold by July 1971, and adding to the band's sales totals, not only in America but also (and especially so) in Japan.
This album is one of five dozen albums (and hence, five dozen reasons) that made the case for the Ventures to have been enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. More than just a prototypical surf rock band (having formed before the craze took shape, and well outlasting it), this band inspired countless guitarists around the world. This album is a prime example of that.
Tracklist:
01. Hawaii Five-0 01:49
02. Lovin' Things 02:31
03. Galveston 02:40
04. The Letter 02:10
05. Don't Give In To Him 02:11
06. Theme From (A Summer Place) 02:15
07. Medley: a)Spooky; b)Traces; c)Stormy 04:22
08. Medley: a)Aquarius; b)Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Faitures) 02:39
09. Games People Play 02:46
10. I Can Hear Music 02:35
11. Dizzy 02:31
Bonus Tracks:
12. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly 02:46
13. Mission Impossible 02:26
14. Torquay (Verison 1969) 01:47
15. Love Is Blue 02:39
16. Classical Gas 02:50
17. Raunchy 02:03
18. Radio Spot (Hawaii Five-O) 01:06
Media Info:
Bitrate: 320 kbps
Channels: joint stereo
Samplerate: 44100
Encoder: LAME 3.98
MPEG-1 layer 3
*many thanks and much respect to v3122, Sket4er and all those who care enough to share
