AiV 50th Episode: Time Machine!

Back in 2010, I opened up the boxes of records I had in storage in my basement and was taken back to my childhood and to simpler days. Among the albums, of course, were countless K-tel compilations. I wanted to share this with the world and in 2011, Vinyl Voyage Radio was born. In January of that year, the very first episode of Adventures in Vinyl was released. It featured the first K-Tel album that I purchased: Music Power from 1974.

And now, we are at our 50th episode!

In honor of our 50th episode, I decided to revisit an idea I had a few years ago. What if we created our own K-Tel compilation? There are songs that have punctuated the K-Tel catalog throughout the 70s. These songs were a big part of my childhood.  Last year I posted an idea: If K-tel would release a new album featuring iconic songs from their catalog, what would go on that album? My response was Time Machine.

Originally, my version had just 14 songs. For the 50th episode of Adventures in Vinyl, I decided to go all out. "20 Original Hits, Original Stars!" The album on the show will be comprised of recordings from K-tel Albums between 1972 and 1980. The Best of K-Tel.

Oh, I even made a retro commercial, too:  

The episode Premieres on September 2, 2017 at 12:30 pm (Central). Hear it throughout the month of September. 

New Episode of AiV: "Danger: High Voltage" from 1981

Join us his month on Adventures in Vinyl for a great K-Tel compilation from 1981. This is Danger: High Voltage!

This album features music from Styx, the Police, Pat Benatar, Heart, Eddie Rabbit and many, many more!

Plus, we'll take a look at the music and events of 1981. Plus, a mystery movie clip.

This episode of Adventures in Vinyl can be heard at the following times,, Central:

12:30 pm Saturday
4:00 pm Sunday
2:00 am Wednesday

Full episodes of Adventures in Vinyl can be heard on-demand via Mixcloud.

Next on AiV: K-Tel's 20 Dynamic Hits from 1972

After an extended summer hiatus, Adventures in Vinyl is back with a very special K-Tel album from 1972.  First of all, this album is brand new--never opened.  You'll be hearing it first played on AiV.

Secondly, this album was a K-Tel album, but also a "Top Star Festival" album, which was the record label of the United Nations. Yeah, that United Nations.  They had released several albums in the 60s and early 70s with all proceeds going to refugee aid.  As far as I know, this is the only one released by K-Tel.

The album came out in 1972 and was advertised like any other K-Tel album on television.  It contains hits from James Taylor, Elton John, the Osmonds, Rod Stewart and many, many more--another great sampling of music from the time.

And, as a special treat, it also has a very rare recording of Aretha Franklin covering Frank Sinatra's "My Way."  This was never released until 2008.  How K-Tel got a hold of that recording, I do not know.


Not only that, the album begins with a song that actually began as a television commercial jingle. Remember "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke"?  That song proved so popular it was worked into a hit song and was covered by two bands in 1972:  the New Seekers and the Hillside Singers.  The version performed by the Hillside Singers starts off the album.  If there is a better song to bring you back to that time, I have yet to hear it.
Adventures in Vinyl can be heard at the following times (central):
Tuesday 1 pm  Wednesday 2 am Thursday 10 am Saturday 12 pm Sunday 4 pm
Adventures in Vinyl:  the only radio show dedicated to the lost art of the K-Tel record compilation.  

Before K-Tel There Was Master Seal: the Politics of Race, Music and Originality

K-Tel was famous in the 70s and 80s for producing compilation albums with such memorable titles as Super Bad,  Right On and Music Machine.  However, K-Tel was not the first to do this.  Before K-Tel, there was Master Seal.

Master Seal was one of several companies in the 1950s to produce budget compilation albums, sold mostly through dime stores, such as Woolworths.  8 Top Hits was the title often sold by Master Seal and often featured young people either dancing or singing on the album cover.  Unlike K-Tel, however, Master Seal did not sell compilation albums with original artists.  They re-recorded the music with a sound-alike band.  Although there was an effort to make the tracks sound like the originals, often the results were laughable.

I have an 8 Top Hits from 1957.  Where I got it, I am not sure.  It features several popular songs from the time, including the hit "Little Darlin'."   You know "Little Darlin'."  It was a hit by the Diamonds in 1957.

But the thing about music in this time period was that often the hits that made the Billboard top charts were not the original versions.  "Little Darlin'" was originally written and recorded by the Gladiolas, an Aftrican-American  Doo-Wop band out of South Carolina featuring vocalist Maurice Williams.  They recorded the original version of "Little Darlin'" in early 1957 on the Excello Records label.



Much like the country at the time, music was also segregated. There were black labels and white labels.  Record labels had a difficult time marketing "black music" to white audiences.  The solution:  have white artist cover the songs.  Elvis Presley was famous for this. "Hound Dog," for example, was originally performed by Big Mama Thorton.

So, in 1957, the Diamonds, a white band from Canada, covered "Little Darlin" and that version became a hit on the Billboard charts.



To capitalize on these hits, Master Seal and other budget compilation companies placed these songs on compilation albums.  But, to save money and to sell the albums as cheaply as possible, they licensed the rights to record the songs.  Thus, no-name bands would perform the songs as closely to the original hits as possible.

On this 8 Top Hits from 1957, "Little Darlin'" is performed by Don Raleigh and his Orchestra, featuring the vocals of Jimmy Perry and Les Young.


So what we have here is a great example of a postmodern palimpsest --a cover, of a cover of an original.  And the impetus of this was simply a desire not to offend the conventions of the time by marketing a black band to a white audience. 

But listening to all of these versions of "Little Darlin'" a truth remains:  the original is most always the best.

All versions of "Little Darlin'" can be heard on Vinyl Voyage Radio--where all music is played on glorious vinyl just as it was meant to be.

A K-Tel Gem from 1976: Disco Mania

I turned 8 years old in 1976. And that was the year I got K-Tel’s classic compilation, Disco Mania. I have fond memories of this album---not because I was a huge fan of disco.  Quite the opposite, actually.  This was the album that introduced me to Kiss. Yes, you read correctly. An album called Disco Mania introduced me to the make-up wearing, hard-rocking, blood-spitting band, Kiss.

That is what makes this album pure K-Tel nuttiness. Sure, there are some early bona fide disco hits here: “The Hustle,” “Walkin’ in Rhythm,” “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “Disco Queen.” But then, there are some songs that are gloriously out of place: “Rock and Roll All Nite” by Kiss, “Lady” by Styx and “Hey You” by Bachman Turner Overdrive.

There are 19 songs on this album and it begins with the classic disco song, “The Hustle.” This song was all over the place in 1976.  I remember dancing to it in my living room.



Included are other Disco hits: “Kung Fu Fighting,” “Shame Shame Shame,” “Doctor’s Orders” and “Spirit of the Boogie.”

What’s interesting about this collection is that it was sold under a different title in Canada. In Canada, it was called Disco Rock.

Disco Rock? Are you kidding me?

That--in a nutshell--is what K-Tel was all about.

Disco Mania is the featured album this month on Adventures in Vinyl.   Join us for a nostalgic trip through this K-Tel album, played for you on original vinyl.  Catch the premiere broadcast this Saturday---April 9 at 11 AM CT. Encore broadcasts are available all month. Check the schedule here.