''Wild Things!'' is a 1966 studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American band

the Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

, released on

Dolton Records Dolton Records was a record label based in Seattle that was originally known as Dolphin Records. It was initially owned by Bob Reisdorff and Bonnie Guitar. Success for the label came early with "Come Softly to Me" by the Fleetwoods, the first si ...

BLP-2047 (mono) and BST-8047. A 4-track

reel-to-reel Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is plac ...

release was subsequently issued by Music Tapes, Inc. The album is noted for its marked turn towards a heavier sound in comparison to earlier Ventures releases, and the standout track ''Wild Child'' which was prominently featured as a sample in " Start the Commotion" by

The Wiseguys The Wiseguys were a British electronic duo active in the mid to late 1990s. They produced the song "Start the Commotion", which was featured in a Mitsubishi TV advertisement, as well as the films ''The Lizzie McGuire Movie'', '' Zoolander'' a ...

Background

Recorded directly after completing a tour of the central United States in the summer of 1966, the album presents The Ventures updating their sound to a "mod, go-go" style. Allmusic notes that the album is consistently "hard-edged" thanks to fuzztone

Mosrite Mosrite is an American guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the early 1990s. Founded by Semie Moseley, Mosrite guitars were played by many rock and roll and country artists. Mosrite guitars were ...

s, and that the original instrumentals are better than throw-a ways. Leading off the album is a cover of

The Troggs The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English garage rock band formed in Andover, Hampshire in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You" and "Love Is All Around", all o ...

' "Wild Thing". The track features a "vocal" by Don Wilson, doing an impersonation of

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

reciting parts of the original lyrics, to humorous effect. The next track, "Fuzzy and Wild", is the first of the original instrumentals, each of which included the word "wild" in the title. "Wild and Wooly" was not a Ventures original, but was originally called "Murfreesboro" by its composer, Danny Hamilton. Perhaps the oddest title belongs to "How Now Wild Cow", a play on the phrase of elocution suggested by one of

Mel Taylor Mel Taylor (September 24, 1933 – August 11, 1996) was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the Ventures from 1962 to 1996. He was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, and was the older brother of Canned Heat bassist Larry Ta ...

's sons.

"Wild Child"

The track "Wild Child", featuring a "catchy guitar loop", was prominently featured in The Wiseguys'

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

song "Start the Commotion". The Wiseguys' recording was subsequently used in a television commercial for

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

automobiles, and in a promo for '' Ally McBeal''; this exposure ushered in a new chapter into the Ventures' career. Having been alerted to the use of their recording, The Ventures confirmed with EMI that they owned rights to their composition, and subsequently received two-thirds of the writing royalties for "Start the Commotion". Additional income for The Ventures came in the form of synchronization rights from the song. The Ventures at this point realized that royalties from their back catalog, as well as performing new music specifically designed for use in multimedia productions, could produce a significant source of additional income.

Reception

''Wild Things!'' first appeared on the Billboard Top Albums chart on September 17, 1966. It maintained a position on this chart for a sum of 26 weeks, achieving a top position of #33.''The Billboard Albums'', 6th edn. Joel Whitburn. 2006. Record Research Inc. p. 1101. . Allmusic gives a mildly favorable rating to the album, but compares it unfavorably to some earlier Ventures records.

Track listing

Personnel

Ventures

* Don Wilson – rhythm and

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

Nokie Edwards Nole Floyd "Nokie" Edwards (May 9, 1935 – March 12, 2018) was an American musician and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was primarily a guitarist, best known for his work with The Ventures, and was known in Japan as the 'Ki ...

– lead guitar *

Bob Bogle Robert Lenard Bogle (January 16, 1934 – June 14, 2009) was a founding member of the instrumental combo The Ventures. He and Don Wilson founded the group in 1958. Bogle was the lead guitarist and later bassist of the group. In 2008, Bogle and oth ...

– bass , lead guitar *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Technical

* Joe Saraceno – producer * Ami Hadani –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Woody Woodward –

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

* Peter Whorf – cover

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

References

{{Authority control 1966 albums The Ventures albums Dolton Records albums