I went to bed ridiculously early last night (7:00pm) and as a result, I'm up ridiculously early this morning (4:40am).  I guess there's no excuse then for not getting this morning's mat routine done which truthfully, was rather lack lustre last week.

So let's get right to it then! 

shoot-me-kill

Okay, so maybe I'm not excited.

But for the occasion, I do have a new Goodwill Hunting album to listen to, this Walk, Don't Run album by the Ventures.

walk2c_don27t_run_1960

You can just see how jazzed up the woman is on the front cover, so you know this is gonna be something special alright!  As it turns out, Walk, Don't Run is the debut album by the Seattle-based surf rock band, featuring cover versions of well-known songs and original compositions, released in 1960.

And it's surprisingly good too, considering that it was recorded in a huge rush during an era when all concerned couldn't help but know that rock & roll albums (apart from those by Elvis Presley) generally didn't sell very well; indeed, the fact that this is so good speaks volumes about the class and talent of the group at this early point in their history.

With a sudden and totally unexpected number two national hit in Walk, Don't Run and a burgeoning demand for live performances, the quartet went in and recorded the best 11 tracks they knew to get a long player together, all done in such a hurry that the members themselves couldn't stay around long enough to be photographed for the cover (those are stand-ins). The result is surprisingly sophisticated in its use of stereo (then still relatively unusual in rock & roll, stereo LPs only debuted three years earlier and were largely confined to classical recordings), dividing the sound of the band quite neatly on two sides, thus giving LP purchasers a treat that owners of the single Walk, Don't Run would miss -- not only the sound separation that was so prized by audiophiles of the era, but crisp presentation of each instrument, dividing the two guitars very neatly. Thus, the casual listener could play with the speaker settings and balances, and the serious fans could get in close on the actual playing.

The material is a mix of originals and hits drawn from every category, including earlier rock & roll instrumentals (Raunchy), R&B Night Train, and even film music (My Own True Love [Tara's Theme]) -- one can just make out the familiar Max Steiner Gone with the Wind motif on the latter, and it is a fairly inventive approach to an old musical chestnut, rebuilding it from the ground up. The material all has a lean jauntiness, most unexpectedly Night Train, which sounds closer in spirit to Chet Atkins than to Buddy Morrow or King Curtis. The originals were no filler, either, The McCoy being a hot piece of surf guitar showcasing all concerned.

Now I admit, the other albums I had by the Ventures I've pretty much gotten rid of over the years, but this one I think I'm inevitably going to hang onto.

giphy-downsized

Sure it's a bit banged up (as you might expect from a used record over 60 years old), but there are no skips and, yeah ... it does kinda rock.