Song of the Week: The Ventures - The Swinging Creeper and Pedal Pusher

The Swinging Creeper

Pedal Pusher

Anyone who hangs out at this site very long knows that I have a man crush on The Ventures. I think they are simply marvy, to use the parlance of Marcia Brady. In fact, guitarist Nokie Edwards is one of my all time favorites. Catchy, tasteful, tuneful, never more than is needed for the song. No extended noodling leads. Melody all day long. Don Wilson, Bob Taylor and Bob Bogle rounded out the classic line up of Tacoma, Washington's originators of the surf sound.

We feature today both sides of one of their lesser known singles: The Swinging Creeper and Pedal Pusher released on Dolton Records in June of 1965. It's just enough fuzz to make the cool cats over at Surfadelic stand up and take notice. But not so much fuzz that you can't see the peach that are the songs. A little organ thrown in for good measure and a crap load of cool melody.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!