While the debate over the Ventures being a Surf Band may be seemingly endless, what is agreed upon is their profound influence on many of the bands that pushed the genre. The group's one unattested surf album was released in 1963, yet if any album other than Surfing with the Ventures should be a contender for the classification of ‘surf release’ it is The Ventures in Space.

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Here you have a perfect blend of Halloween, monster, spacey, and otherworldly mystery themes amid a few standard surf tunes thrown in. At first glance, the Chantays’ ‘Penetration’, and the Marketts’ ‘Out of Limits’, are the biggest draws here, yet there’s a plethora of other surf tunes present. The original ‘The Bat’ fits well into the surf zeitgeist, and the spooky ‘He Never Came Back’ is a perfect blend of surf and Halloween tropes - is that a coffin sound effect? ‘Moon Child’ demonstrates the mellower side ala ‘Telstar’.  ‘Fear (Main Title From "One Step Beyond")' is yet another eerie tune, while the band's own ‘Exploration in Terror’ is a wink to Henry Mancini's 'Experiment in Terror' and one of the surfiest tunes the group ever put out. ‘War of Sattelites’ is mostly forgettable and mainly a showcase for some guitar slides with some unique chord voicings. ‘Love Goddess of Venus’ is a bit of a snooze fest. ‘Solar Race’ is a country-tinged space jam, which is followed by another downtempo highlight, ‘The Fourth Dimension’. ‘The Twilight Zone’ appropriately closes us out on a high note.

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For a so-called "non-surf band", the Ventures sure have one vibey album. It fits squarely in the oft-lauded cross-section between surf music and Halloween music, along with other juggernauts like The Deadly One's Monster Surfing Time, Don Hinson and the Rigamorticians' Monster Dance Party, The Ghouls' Dracula's Deuce, Sonny and the Demons' Drag Kings, The Munsters' The Munsters, and Gene Moss' Dracula's Greatest Hits. There's a great deal to like here and it gets my high recommendation - especially around October.