The most popular rock instrumental groups of their day, The Ventures found a formula that worked and returned to it time and time again over the next ten years or so, recording some 40 albums during the period, of which 17 became Top 40 hits in the US. Most of their albums picked a theme, be it colors, dance moves or surfing and milked it for all it was worth. One of the exceptions was Play Telstar And the Lonely Bull, which was a collection of cover versions of other hits. Kicking off with Telstar, which had recently been a hit by a rival surf group, the album proved to be one of the group's most popular, hitting #8 on the US album chart and earning the group their first gold disc for sales in excess of a million copies. Perhaps the best of The Ventures albums for party consumption, Play Telstar is the epitome of well crafted pop music with a tint of rock and roll. Hallmark.