NUT ROCKER
(Pyotr Tchaikovsky: arr. Kim Fowley)
Ventures: February 1966 LP Where The Action Is (US No.33)
Shadows: September 1981 LP Hits Right Up Your Street (UK No.15)
The madcap 1962 hit from B Bumble & The Stingers, re-titled ‘Nutty’, was taken through its paces con brio by The Ventures in red-hot form on one of their very best albums of the 60s and surely one of the best instrumental sets on the planet: tightly played, brightly lit, stupendous in every way. Their return to the fray on the May 2001 CD (Japan) V-Gold III (there is also a live outing on the November V-Gold Live II) is likewise chock-full of the necessary vim and vigour. What a contrast The Shadows’ version presents! A showcase for Cliff Hall, it is highly polished – not stuffy exactly but not nearly uninhibited/free-wheeling enough.