K-Tel Collection

K-Tel Collection

I bought a few K-Tel albums back in the day. One of the best was Rock 80, a compilation of New Wave tracks from 1979 - 1980. Good stuff !

If you are under 50, it's going to be a little hard to explain what K-Tel was all about......you see, back in the vinyl / 8-track / cassette era, you couldn't hear a song on the radio and then promptly go to YouTube, or Spotify, or iTunes, and listen to it and download it if you were so inclined.

 

Back in those Old School days, you could buy the song as a single, if it was in fact out as a single; you could hunt for the album on which the song was featured; or, you could look to see if it had been included on the compilation records K-Tel issued on a regular basis during the 1970s and 1980s.

According to his obituary, K-Tel was the brainchild of Canadian salesman and huckster Philip Kives, who invented (among other things) the 'Veg-O-Matic.' In 1966, Kives released a country music compilation, the very first K-Tel record, which did well enough for Kives to pursue issuing further compilations.

 

K-Tel assembled 'greatest hits' compilations for all sorts of genres, such as pop, rock, country, disco, soul, and R & B. 

 

K-Tel even released compilations of TV show themes...... !

 

For some of these albums, along with the top 40 hits you'd occasionally get some more obscure songs, added to fill out the track listing. Some of these well are worth a listen. Take, for example, this Velour Soul, smoove groove song, 'Sad Sweet Dreamer,' by the U.K. band Sweet Sensation. It's off the1975 compilation K-Tel's Superhits of the Superstars, Volume One.

I've already highlighted a forgotten gem, 'Baby Come On,' from the soundtrack to a 1976 documentary, Sex O'Clock USA, made by French director François Reichenbach (?!). 

 

You can find 'Baby Come On' on 1977's Disco Rocket. What a funky groove ! DISCO-DYNA-MITE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Then there's Street Beat, from 1984, that has all the top 40 hits from the early 80s. 

If you are getting nostalgic thinking about those long-ago days of K-Tel records, or if you are a younger person curious about the music of 50 years ago, well, the 'K-Tel Collection' blog is a good place to see all the stuff issued by K-Tel from 1973 to 1984. Looking at the albums on display at the blog, there are quite a few songs that send me to YouTube for a listen. Or, you can check out Discogs and see what's available; many K-Tel LPs in Very Good or Like New condition are quite affordable. Go ahead, give it a try !