Shortly after my guitar lessons inspired me to explore The Ventures, with both awful and brilliant results, Stuart Maconie and his production staff did me the favour of featuring Ventures in Space as the "must have" album on Radio 2's Critical List programme. Good programme, that: Radio 2 at its best, and especially valuable in its first year or two, before 6 Music started.
Stuart's role as guide was useful, too, because it's another example of Citizen Kane Syndrome. The spacey electronic sounds and effects The Ventures deployed on this album now sound like part of the everyday palette and grammar of the electric guitar — but in 1964 they had almost no precedent (OK, just don't mention The Tornadoes). So it's a bit of a first of its kind. The twelve tracks work together very well, creating a real album feel, like a single space-surf soundscape. A kind of forerunner to The Orb or The KLF.
Flights of Fantasy, from 1968, is less distinctive. The version of Summertime Blues is neat, but that of Mighty Quinn pretty cheesy. The phasing on (groan) Innermotion Faze is naff, but Fly Away sounds briefly like a demo by The League of Gentlemen.
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Discogs entry for this album Wikipedia entry for this album Rate Your Music entry for this album Some metadata about Flights of Fantasy at Last.fm, In Space |
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