Ventures Beach Party CD

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this 1962 album. With 100 million records sold, The Ventures are easily the most commercially successful instrumental group of all time. They are an institution in both America and Japan and if their popularity in the United Kingdom is more modest, this is only because Britain had in the early 1960s its own generation of guitar combos in the Shadows and the Tornados. The song that started The Ventures phenomenon was their arrangement of 'Walk, Don't Run.' The group was in awe of Chet Atkins and were inspired to adapt his slightly baroque interpretation of the Johnny Smith composition. The hit brought The Ventures to national prominence and began a career of five decades and more, which has seen the release of over 250 albums worldwide. Their 1962 long-player, Beach Party is undoubtedly one of the finest and most coherent of all original µ60s Ventures concept albums and is the centerpiece of this anthology of their early years. This edition comprises selections from each of their first nine albums and some rare single-only releases (including Part One of Mel Taylor's '2,000 Pound Bee' on which a fuzz tone / distortion box was used for the first time), all complimented by the addition of the historic Johnny Smith & Chet Atkins recordings of the seminal 'Walk, Don't Run.'

1. Lucille 2. Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes) 3. Hernando's Hideaway 4. Mashed Potato Time 5. Summertime 6. Hot Summer (Asian Mashed) 7. Poison Ivy 8. The Wah-Watusi 9. Instant Mashed 10. Scratch 11. (Baby) Hully Gully 12. Spudnik 13. Telstar 14. Calcutta 15. Apache 16. Green Onions 17. Theme from Come September 18. Venus 19. The Intruder 20. Lolita Ya-Ya 21. Driving Guitars (Ventures Twist) 22. Gringo 23. Besame Mucho 24. Silver City 25. Blue Moon 26. Perfidia 27. Ginchy 28. Home 29. Walk, Don't Run 30. 2,000 Pound Bee (Part 1) 31. 2,000 Pound Bee (Part 2) 32. Genesis 33. Walk, Don't Run - Johnny Smith 34. Walk, Don't Run - Chet Atkins