Bring up the subject of surf instrumentals, and The Ventures usually becomes the first group entering the conversation. Yes, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame embraced them, and their name is nearly archetypal with surf strumming, yet I still say there are several superior surfadelic tribes in the history of rock music.

Spin the very best of The Ventures’ classic tracks like Telstar, Solar Race or Apache (yeah, I know, virtually every surf group has covered Apache, but The Ventures cover it exceptionally well), and you receive a blessed, beautiful rush that impels your soul to rent a space-age bachelor pad in the Hollywood Hills where you and and your X-Ray Spec pals will channel the souls of Esquivel and Henry Mancini.

Worst case scenario -and it happens too frequently with The Ventures- you listen to one too many bland covers of songs like Mexico, Love Goddess of Venus, or Classical Gas, and you hear a sugary-sick audio nightmare that hurls you back to those Sunday afternoons of your childhood when Mom & Dad dressed in your white starched suit, sent you hunting for easter eggs in 100 degree heat, nauseating music like this hurling somewhere within hearing range. These tunes leaves us wondering “Who the fuck dropped a blotter of Herb-Alpert-&-The-Tijuana-Brass in The Ventures’ drinks? ” Us? Yes, all of us! No, I’m not kidding. That really is what we think and feel - every one of us (did The Ventures ever cover Born Free? Please tell me “No!”).

But all in all, I like The Ventures, so it would be terrible to debate their strong versus weak hands, when in fact, they have one contribution that kicks ass on everything else they’ve done (including Walk Don’t Run and their bitchin’ rendition of Slaughter on 10th Avenue). The 1998 album New Depths is one album by The Ventures where opiates and adrenaline collide and create an audiofeast that is essential to any collector of rock music.

New Depths is unlike anything The Ventures have ever touched before. This is traditional surf music enhanced with a sharp metal-edge, surf music with heavy attitude. Most songs have that thunder that Dick Dale brings to Miserlou; while I can’t picture anybody making a more kick-ass treatment to a surf tune that Dale gives to Miserlou, I don’t recall Dale ever putting out an entire album that is both as kick-ass and melodic as New Depths.

Being strictly an audiophile-fanboy rather than a musician, I can only surmise the technical reasons why this piece of work lit my brain into high gear over ten years ago (and keeps lighting it brightly today when I crank it up). In addition to the traditional members of The Ventures, listed on this work is a stellar group of guest artists: Duane Eddy (the one and only!),  Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (formerly of Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers), the late Bruce Gary (most famous for his stint in The Knack), Larry Taylor (an alumni of Canned Heat, not to mentioned having played with Tom Waits), Bob Spalding (an acclaimed solo act who has recorded frequently enough with this group that he is often dubbed “The Fifth Venture”) and keyboardist David Carr. Was it the presence of these maverick musical influences that added the consistent aggressive edge to this album, or did the traditional members decide to navigate a different vessel?

My personal favorite song on this album is Bombora; there is something simple but thoroughly bitchin’ in David Carr’s keyboards in this song, sounding like the melodic tumbling of ocean waves. I’ve heard guitars deliver this oceanic sensation in surf instrumentals all the time, but these keyboards deliver a delicious buzz all its own! Other key tunes to check out are the opening energy-blast of Hurricane, and a melodic Calhoun Surf that, electric as it is, could almost lull you into a transcendental state.

The other extremely cool aspect of The Ventures is their LPs bear some of the coolest cover designs known to mankind!