This month on Adventures in Vinyl - A K-Tel Classic from 1976!

We are taking the K-Tel time machine back to 1976 for Dance Machine!  This album features some of the best disco hits from 1974-1976. Tune in at 12:30 pm (Central) on September 1 for a live broadcast!

Block Buster from 1976, this month on AiV

This month, we are traveling back to 1976 for K-Tel's Block Buster. This was one of my favorite albums when I was a kid.  Not only did it have K.C. and the Sunshine band, the Silver Convention and Jigsaw, the cover was adorned with flaming meteor-like blocks.  As if the designers at K-Tel decided, "We need flaming blocks for this one."

Like many of the K-Tel albums from this time, it was advertised on TV. And here is the delightful commercial:

Adventures in Vinyl is the only radio show dedicated to the glory of the K-Tel record compilation.

Catch Block Buster at the following times throughout the month of March (all times Central)

Saturday: 12:30 pm
Sunday: 4 pm
Tuesday: 1 pm
Wednesday: 2 am
Thursday: 10 am

November is "Power House" Month!

This month on Adventures in Vinyl, we are going back to 1976 for the K-Tel classic, Power House.  This is a great album, eclectic and odd---just as you would expect from K-Tel.   The variety on this album is pretty impressive.  From some early disco hits by Silver Convention and Andrea True Connection, to Heart and Styx, to Glen Campbell and Seals and Crofts, Roxy Music to Hall & Oates.  Actor Keith Carradine also makes an appearance with his hit song, "I'm Easy" from the film Nashville.

As they say in the commercial:  "20 Original Hits, Original stars!"  Fifteen of the songs on this album made the Billboard Year End Chart for either 1976 or 1975. 

Join us this month for K-Tel's Power House.  As usual, we'll play the album in its entirety.  Plus, visit some of the events of 1976, review the music and movies as well.

Adventures in Vinyl, the only radio show dedicated to the lost art of the K-Tel record compilation.

Times:  Saturday, 11 am (CT); Sunday, 4 pm (CT); Tuesday 1 pm (CT) Thursday 10 am (CT) and Wednesday 2 am (CT).

Don't forget, if you can't hear Adventures in Vinyl at any of these times, just let us know when you would like to hear it and we'll play it for you them.

When KISS Rocked My Junior High

I used to doodle the faces of all of the members of the band KISS. We’d debate among friends who was our favorite band member. Mine: the drummer, Peter Criss. He was the “cat,” in case you’re wondering.

There was something magical about a band that wore bizarre costumes and make-up. I longed to go to a concert and imagined the fireworks, the spitting blood and the sound. Oh, that sound. I could only imagine how loud it actually was. The only thing I knew was that it would have been louder than my record player.

I first became acquainted with KISS in 1976 with, believe or not, a K-Tel album called Disco Mania. That’s right---you read correctly: Disco Mania. The song “Rock and Roll All Nite” appeared late on the second side. And I loved it. I played it all the time. I got other KISS albums. I imagined what it would be like to see them in concert.

In 1976, KISS played a concert at my soon-to-be junior high. River Trails Junior High in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, had recently won a promotion sponsored by a local radio station. The contest: the school that collected the most 3 x 5 cards with the word “snickers” on it would have KISS play a show in their gym. The kids at River Trails anteed up and KISS was coming. The concert occurred on May 4, 1976.

And I did not go.

I knew kids who went. In fact, the concert became legendary. By the time I got there in 1980, people were still talking about it. Kids my age were now claiming that they had attended with older brothers or sisters. Gene Simmons killed a chicken on stage, it was said.

There’s not much about this event online. But there is a Facebook discussion and someone posted a couple of pictures:

Photo by Ken Jenks

Photo by Ken Jenks

This month on Adventures in Vinyl, we will be taking a nostalgic trip back to 1976 through K-Tel’s Disco Mania album. Like all K-Tel albums, this one contains a diverse mix of tunes. There are, of course, some big early disco hits here, such as the ubiquitous “The Hustle.” Of course, Gloria Gaynor makes an appearance.

But then there’s Styx. Bachman Turner Overdrive.

And of course, KISS.

“Rock and Roll All Nite.”

I always wondered what Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley thought about that.

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Adventures in Vinyl can be heard on the Vinyl Voyage Saturday Mornings at 11 AM CT with encore broadcasts throughout the week. This is the only radio show dedicated to a K-Tel record compilation. Each month, a new K-Tel album is featured.

More information can be found here.