The Ventures - Theme from "Shaft"/Rocky Road (CD)

All Music Guide

This CD mixes one pretty fair album and one fairly dire album together, and it's always a question what to say about something like that. On the one hand, Theme From Shaft was a decent album with some pleasant surprises, including a pleasant piece of Firefall-style country-pop stuck in amid the often bracing instrumental pieces, most of which gave good play to Jerry McGee's lead guitar prowess; it is good to be able to get that material cheaply and easily on this CD. On the other, Rocky Road was just about the nadir of the Ventures' recorded history -- officially credited to "the New Ventures," it was a disco album, heavy on the dance beat and the female chorus and lacking anything like the nimble instrumental work that characterized the group's best work. So listeners, unless they are possessed of a masochistic streak or an insatiable appetite for mid-'70s popular culture, are advised to skip over tracks 13 through 19 on this CD. But, as a bonus, One Way has included three old-style Ventures instrumental tracks (recording dates not listed), "Rebel Rouser," "Bamba" (a version of "La Bamba"), and "Moon Journey," the presence of which enhances the value of this disc but also gives even greater emphasis to the horrendous material off Rocky Road that preceded it.

- Bruce Eder, All Music Guide