Knock Me Out! – THE VENTURES***

I Feel Fine/Love Potion No.9/Tomorrow’s Love/Oh Pretty Woman/Mariner No.4/When You Walk In The Room/ Gone Gone Gone/Slaughter On Tenth Avenue/She’s Not There/Lonely Girl/Bird Rockers/Sha La La

Knock Me Out! comprises the usual mixture of Ventures originals and recent hit covers, and highlights one of their strongest cuts Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. (US:31)

“The best of their original material is the echoey song Mariner No. 4. One thing that's immediately noticeable is the ability to perfectly recreate the percussion parts of familiar tunes. They do rely a little too much here on fuzz guitar and organ. Only Sha La La has a vocal chorus; all the rest are straight instrumentals, often done with a surf music twist.”

“The performances are simply awesome. The Ventures are so much fun to listen to; it makes you want to go out there and play those songs yourself. Just about every song is extremely listenable. The covers of hits of the day are fun.”

“An example of The Ventures in their 60s prime, Knock Me Out is one of their best albums. One of the great guitar instrumentals of all time, Slaughter On Tenth Avenue, is worth it alone. The driving guitars are showcased in some outstanding tunes. An original, Mariner #4, surprised me when it first came out, obviously influenced by their earlier albums, but is a standout and an often missed classic.”

“This is The Ventures at their best; the songs are infectious, the playing is top-notch, and it is easy to se why they have endured throughout the years.”

“One of their absolute best and hardest rocking LPs. It was The Ventures' response to the British Invasion, and they include several songs that Brit rockers brought to the US in 1964 or 1965. There are toughened, fuzzed-out cover versions that even those most sceptical of the British Invasion would welcome.”

“The Ventures have a ton of filler albums, and given the amount of popular covers on here you'd think this would be one of them, but these are much more listenable than a lot of their own material. Slaughter On Tenth Avenue is my favourite Ventures song.”