New Year's Day K-Tel Marathon

What better way to celebrate the beginning of a New Year than to take a trip to years past with the magic of K-Tel.

We kick off a marathon of K-Tel starting with the 2013 premiere of Dynamic Sound at 11 am (central).

Then, back to back episodes of Adventures in Vinyl follows:

Right On, 1976
Rock 80, 1980
Fantastic, 1973
Music Machine, 1977
Pure Rock, 1981

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

Retro Repeat on Adventures in Vinyl

We have been on the air now for 7 months.  That's 7 K-Tel albums on Adventures in Vinyl.

Over the months we have gained listeners from all over the world:  Canada, Israel, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa and many others.

Even Syria.

This month we are going to take a break on Adventures in Vinyl and replay the 7 past episodes as we catch our breath and give people an opportunity to listen to some albums they may have missed.

Here's the schedule (all times CENTRAL):


Fantastic 
Saturday, September 3 (11 am)
Tuesday, September 6 (1 pm)
Sunday, September 25 (4 pm)

Dynamite
Sunday, September 4 (4 pm)
Thursday, September 8 (1 pm)
Wednesday, September 21 (10 am)

Music Power
Saturday, September 10 (11 am)
Tuesday, September 13 (1 pm)


Music Express
Sunday, September 11 (4 pm)
Thursday, September 15 (1 pm)
Wednesday, September 28 (10 am)


Disco Mania
Wednesday, September 14 (10 am)
Saturday, September 17 (11 am)
Tuesday, September 20 (1 pm)

Block Buster
Sunday, September 18 (4 pm)
Thursday, September 22 (1 pm)
Thursday, September 29 (1 pm)

Rock 80
Wednesday, September 7 (10 am)
Saturday, September 24 (11 am)
Tuesday, September 27 (1 pm)


Up next in October:  back to the 80s with Hit Express.

Fantastic, a K-Tel Classic from 1973

In 1973, Vicki Lawrence had a hit with "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia." Of course, who knew that a decade later she would be starring in Mama's Family.  Most people know her from her stint on the Carol Burnett Show.

It was also a big year for Elton John:  "Rocket Man" and "Crocodile Rock" were quite popular.  Gary Glitter had "Rock and Roll Part Two."  Tony Orlando was tying yellow ribbons on oak trees.  Donny Osmond was singing something about the "Twelfth of Never,"  whatever that means.

K-Tel's 1973 compilation Fantastic had these hits and many more.  As the commercial states:  "22 Original Hits! 22 Original Stars!"

 

This is a very interesting album.  It has some great hits and many misses---typical K-Tel actually.  I was 5 years old when this album came out.  I remember listening to some of the songs--Elton John and Tony Orlando in particular.   As I listened to it again recently, I realized there were many songs that I simply do not remember.  Blue Mink?  New York City?  Gunhill Road?  Whatever happened to these bands?

More than any other K-Tel album I own, this album suffers from short versions of the songs.  K-Tel managed to fit a lot of music onto their vinyl.  This was often accomplished by making the gaps between the songs shorter and the grooves not as wide.  K-Tel albums were not known for their fidelity.  Many of the songs on this album fade early or are edited shorter.  Some of the songs are less than two minutes long. 

But that's okay.  They still manage to give us almost 45 minutes of music on a single album.  And the thing that Fantastic demonstrates about K-Tel is the eclectic variety that often appeared among the tracks.  Nothing like going from Maureen McGovern with "The Morning After" to Rod Stewart's "Twisting the Night Away."  K-Tel was the early version of the iPod "shuffle."

Join us in the month of June for a nostalgic trip to 1973, complete with music and movie trivia and much more. Fantastic will be featured on Adventures in Vinyl:  the only show dedicated to the lost art of the K-Tel record compilation.  We'll play the entire album---and we'll even flip it over for you.

Adventures in Vinyl can be heard Saturday mornings at 11 am (central)  and on Sunday afternoons at 4:00 pm (central).  And, as always, this program is completely commercial free.