Vinyl Voyage Radio

The winner of the other important election of November is the 1979 K-Tel classic, Starflight . This will be the featured album on Adventures in Vinyl in December. So take a trip back to the last year of the 1970s---a time when Blondie was tearing up the airwaves with "Heart of Glass," Sigourney Weaver was battling a creature in space and a Chicago DJ was blowing up disco records in a ballpark.  Yep.  The 70s were just about over. Even K-Tel noticed that things were changing. Before 1979, the label they slapped on their discs looked like this: In 1979, it changed to this: I am not sure where I got Starflight . I think I may have picked it up in a Goodwill store. It's not in great shape.  I spent a lot of time cleaning it and it sounds pretty good.  A couple of scratches, though. That's okay---it makes it more authentic.  The album is over 30 years old, after all. Eclectic to it's core, Starflight offers up a variety of 70s hits.  It feat...

As we glide into the last week of November, we will be taking a trip back to 1976 with K-Tel's Power House  on Adventures in Vinyl.  Silver Convention and Styx.  Hall and Oates and Seals and Crofts.  Roxy Music and Heart.  This is pure K-Tel eclecticism. Adventures in Vinyl can be heard: Saturday, 12 pm (central) Sunday, 4 pm Tuesday, 1 pm Wednesday 2 am Thursday, 10 am     Don't forget: Next month's K-Tel album will be determined by you.  Make sure you vote.  Voting closes on November 25.  Vote NOW!

About two weeks ago, the local radio station here in Chicago flipped to all Christmas music all the time.  Now, for me, that is way too early. I don't necessarily like Christmas music before Thanksgiving.  I happen to really like Thanksgiving and don't like the fact that Christmas is overshadowing this equally important holiday.  Plus, my wife's birthday falls around this time, so the Christmas encroachment is pretty nefarious. I do like Christmas music, however.  But good Christmas music, not the kind played on the radio-station-that-shall-not-be named (For those of you who live in the Chicago area, you know what I am talking about.  This station literally sucks the life out of Christmas.)  How many times a day can a person hear Wham's " Last Christmas " before wanting to harm himself or others? Some of my best memories of Christmas as a kid involves music.  Good music. My parents had a rather large collection of Christmas albums.  They too...

I know:  we just finished up an election cycle and, if you're like me, very glad it is over.  No more awful commercials, robo-calls or arguments with friends and colleagues. However, we have one more important vote to make. December is coming quick and I am indecisive as ever.  Help me choose the next K-Tel album for Adventures in Vinyl.  The winning album will be featured on the show in December. Here are your choices: Super Bad is Back!  This album is from 1973 and features the Manhattans, Millie Jackson, Earth, Wind and Fire, James Brown and Curtis Mayfield. Out of Sight  This 1975 release features carl Douglas, Elton John, Stealers Wheel, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Kool & the Gang. Starflight  From 1979, this features a collection of disco and soft rock, including Robert John, Abba, David Naughton, Dr. Hook and Peter Frampton. High Voltage  This is from 1981 and features Gino Vannelli, Kool & the Gang,...

What better K-Tel album this Thanksgiving week than the 1974 K-Tel classic, Super-Bad ? We will stream Super Bad this week at the following times (all times CTS): Saturday, November 17 12 pm Sunday, November 18 4 pm Tuesday, November 20 1 pm Wednesday, November 21 2 am Thursday, November 22 10 am Next weekend, we will pull from our vaults for another classic episode.  Stay tuned for information of the December choice--you will get to vote on the album!

We here at the Vinyl Voyage love music.  Even music that is not on vinyl (but should be).  I recently wrote a review for Tom Flannery 's new album, Love and Streets .  I've been a fan of Flannery's music for years.  And with each album he gets better. Here is the review I posted on Amazon .  The album is also available in iTunes and Google Play . -------------------------------- It’s always a good day when Tom Flannery releases a new album. Earlier in 2012, he rocked it out with Teen Angst and the Green Flannel , his first venture into old school rock and roll. Now he returns to his roots with Love and Streets , a solo acoustic mediation about love, streets and much more. Ultimately, Flannery is a storyteller—the best of story tellers---and Love and Streets skillfully weaves narratives and emotions, producing an album that feels more like a novel than a collection of songs. And that is what Flannery has always done extremely well: by the time the fi...

Thanks for your patience.  The Vinyl Voyage is back, streaming live from my basement studio. Why did we take a little hiatus?  Well, the station runs from a computer that also serves as my video editing station.  I recently was working on a music video for the Civil Wars and needed the complete RAM arsenal of the computer to render this high definition video. The video was created for a competition sponsored by genero.tv .  The winning video becomes the official video for the band.  The song is "20 Years," which is off Barton Hallow , the debut album from the Civil Wars.  I wanted to do something different, so I created a video that is part music video and part documentary.  The real star of the video is Jayne Bartlett Kerr, a woman who was born in the 19th century, but lives on through the faded images of a photo album she put together at the turn of the century. Check out the video below:

Good morning, Vinyl Voyagers! Currently, we are running the station in "Basic" mode.  That means that the playlist is playing from the Live365 servers and not from the Vinyl Voyage studio (which is really a computer in my basement).  That means that you will hear commercials and less variety. Don't worry, this is only temporary. The station computer is being used for some heavy-duty video editing at the moment and can't also stream vinyl-ripped mp3s.  The station will come back in full-force in two weeks when the project that I am working on is done.   At that time, the station will go into full "Live" mode once again and with some new programming in store.  Be on the lookout for the return of the "Vinyl Brunch" and a new program entitled, "Soundtrack Spin." We'll be adjusting our playlist on Live365 as well to provide more vinyl variety. Thanks for your patience.