As you all probably know, tonight is the first show of the new Hawaii Five-O series on CBS. You all probably also know that The Ventures were not asked to re-record the theme, or to participate in any other way. Sad, but true.
However, there are some lights on the horizon:
First of all, while some fans may be aware of the ‘Original Hawaii Five-O’ soundtrack album that was released in 1969, some may not. This was not, in fact, a Ventures’ project. Mort Stevens, the writer of the Hawaii Five-O theme, knew Mel and, together, they worked on a soundtrack album. Mel was the producer, and Mort was the composer, arranger and conductor. The album contained not only the title theme but 11 other tracks that were ‘source music’, including one titled ‘Up Tight’, on which Mel, Bob Bogle and Gerry McGee were featured. There is some indication that Gerry played on one or more other tracks, but nobody seems to know for sure. The album has now been released on CD by Screen Archives Entertainment: it has great liner notes with some historical facts that, I’m sure, most people didn’t know. The CD may be found at www.screenarchives.com – and is budget priced at $12.95. It is also available for download.
Next, The Ventures – never wanting to stay out of the spotlight or play second fiddle (excuse me, guitar) to anyone, will be releasing their own ‘Hawaii Five-0’ CD within the next couple of weeks. We hope to have it for sale on the website by October 1. It will include a great group of tracks, including a completely new title ‘Crouching Lion’ (surfers will know what that refers to) written by Bob Spalding and Don Wilson, ‘Truth’, a wonderful recording of an incredible Japanese song from the early 1990s that we have never released in the US (with guest musicians Jeff Baxter and Edgar Winter), ‘Mahalo’ (a retitled version of Gerry’s song ‘Santa Cruz’), ‘The Big Island’ (aka ‘Spanish Armada’), along with several other titles that have not appeared on a gazillion compilations – and of course, the obligatory songs such as ‘Surf Rider’, ‘Black Sand Beach’, ‘Diamond Head’, etc. – after all, this is a seriously Hawaii-oriented CD! Downloading will be available.
And talking of downloads, it seems that Capitol-EMI has decided to dig out and dust off some older material. The Ventures’ ‘Swamp Rock’ album is now available on-line and for download. We have no idea what prompted the release but we can only hope that they will decide to offer more of the same – heaven only knows, the vault is overflowing.
As you all probably know, tonight is the first show of the new Hawaii Five-O series on CBS. You all probably also know that The Ventures were not asked to re-record the theme, or to participate in any other way. Sad, but true.
However, there are some lights on the horizon:
First of all, while some fans may be aware of the ‘Original Hawaii Five-O’ soundtrack album that was released in 1969, some may not. This was not, in fact, a Ventures’ project. Mort Stevens, the writer of the Hawaii Five-O theme, knew Mel and, together, they worked on a soundtrack album. Mel was the producer, and Mort was the composer, arranger and conductor. The album contained not only the title theme but 11 other tracks that were ‘source music’, including one titled ‘Up Tight’, on which Mel, Bob Bogle and Gerry McGee were featured. There is some indication that Gerry played on one or more other tracks, but nobody seems to know for sure. The album has now been released on CD by Screen Archives Entertainment: it has great liner notes with some historical facts that, I’m sure, most people didn’t know. The CD may be found at www.screenarchives.com – and is budget priced at $12.95. It is also available for download.
Next, The Ventures – never wanting to stay out of the spotlight or play second fiddle (excuse me, guitar) to anyone, will be releasing their own ‘Hawaii Five-0’ CD within the next couple of weeks. We hope to have it for sale on the website by October 1. It will include a great group of tracks, including a completely new title ‘Crouching Lion’ (surfers will know what that refers to) written by Bob Spalding and Don Wilson, ‘Truth’, a wonderful recording of an incredible Japanese song from the early 1990s that we have never released in the US (with guest musicians Jeff Baxter and Edgar Winter), ‘Mahalo’ (a retitled version of Gerry’s song ‘Santa Cruz’), ‘The Big Island’ (aka ‘Spanish Armada’), along with several other titles that have not appeared on a gazillion compilations – and of course, the obligatory songs such as ‘Surf Rider’, ‘Black Sand Beach’, ‘Diamond Head’, etc. – after all, this is a seriously Hawaii-oriented CD! Downloading will be available.
And talking of downloads, it seems that Capitol-EMI has decided to dig out and dust off some older material. The Ventures’ ‘Swamp Rock’ album is now available on-line and for download. We have no idea what prompted the release but we can only hope that they will decide to offer more of the same – heaven only knows, the vault is overflowing.
Enjoy the music and come back for more!