K-tel Records

MrAbyss

I know this post will only appeal to a certain vintage, but recently I was going through my albums collection from when I was a kid and found a load of K-tel compilation LPs and these were little gems for the time. Generally the singles that where in the charts put out on an affordable LP at a later date. While there is a certain nostalgia to them in terms of innocence, they also introduced me to so much amazing music that brought so much joy to my entire life. I discovered Thin Lizzy, Bowie, T Rex, Roxy Music and Slade all from this albums from a very young age. The vinyl was thin, the artwork was tacky, but the fun was real. There was more magic in a single K-tel collection back then, than in tens years of radio play lists today.

Harry Palmr

I have a couple of LPs by K-Tel from 1973/4/5 era must have a look to see which titles they are.

Quantum Erasure

now, that's what I call music

Ktel was for people who weren’t really into music but had a record player or tape recorder and so got presents of them at Christmas

Exhibit a
The telephone man

From that illustrious album Disco Fever

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Disco-Fever/release/1038431

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MahswYBewb0

jos28

This was the first LP I ever bought.



http://www.45worlds.com/vinyl/album/te291




K-Tel albums with original artists were a great improvement on the cover songs on the Top of the Pops albums.

SEPT 23 1989

Hooked on classics

The horror the horror

0lddog

Deleted User wrote: »

Ktel was for people who weren’t really into music but had a record player or tape recorder and so got presents of them at Christmas ........

*** Post Reported ***

Redneck Reject

I still own a K-Tel record for Three Dog Night. On one side is Momma Told Me Not To Come and on the other side is Joy To The World.

Filmer Paradise

Quantum Erasure wrote: »

now, that's what I call music

I think those albums killed off K-Tel & it's rival Ronco Records.

Wibbs

Deleted User wrote: »

Ktel was for people who weren’t really into music but had a record player or tape recorder and so got presents of them at Christmas

Exhibit a
The telephone man

From that illustrious album Disco Fever

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Disco-Fever/release/1038431

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MahswYBewb0

Funny enough P, that "song" is one of the track list from the one K-Tel album I have laying around in the detritus pile of my life. From 1977 IIRC. I was too young to buy it, so not my fault. It also included such one hit "gems" as this,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGuFn0RPgaE

PS semi orgasmic lady breathing and singing was par for the course in the 70's. No YouPorn an that...

Wibbs

Filmer Paradise wrote: »

I think those albums killed off K-Tel & it's rival Ronco Records.

Aye F, same idea, way better advertising.

Harry Palmr

Telephone Man is on one of mine I'm sure. It's a chintzy classic.

edit - yep.

Also found Music Explosion 1974 - Carl Douglas, Rubettes, Terry Jacks, Cat Stevens, Genesis, Bryan Ferry, Ronnie Lane, Sparks and others of the moment.

kowloon

Deleted User wrote: »

Exhibit a
The telephone man

From that illustrious album Disco Fever

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Disco-Fever/release/1038431

Joe_ Public

Still have a box full of my old k tel records from late 70s early 80s. Gave up on pop round the time the now thats series started, either music was getting worse or i was growing up! Not sure which.

Chart Explosions, 1980, was one of my favourites. Along with 1979 the two golden years for pop music.

https://images.app.goo.gl/o5CwsVqrSKmq3gg48

FanadMan

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Hooked on classics

The horror the horror

Still have that somewhere, among a lot of other rubbish from the same era.

Wibbs

Wibbs wrote: »

PS semi orgasmic lady breathing and singing was par for the course in the 70's. No YouPorn an that...

Well if it’s semi-orgasmic ladies you’re looking for, look no further than Samantha Sang singing Emotion- just look at how her lip gloss sparkles - it’s so wonderfully 70s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPwpVJ-eIgg

Joe_ Public

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Still have a box full of my old k tel records from late 70s early 80s. Gave up on pop round the time the now thats series started, either music was getting worse or i was growing up! Not sure which.

Chart Explosions, 1980, was one of my favourites. Along with 1979 the two golden years for pop music.

https://images.app.goo.gl/o5CwsVqrSKmq3gg48

I had the tape- I die, you die from Gary Newman and I want to be straight from Ian Dury were standout songs- then you had the likes of D.I.S.C.O which spoiled the whole thing

Joe_ Public

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I had the tape- I die, you die from Gary Newman and I want to be straight from Ian Dury were standout songs- then you had the likes of D.I.S.C.O which spoiled the whole thing

True but didnt that just reflect pop music at the time, the way on TotP you could have bowie one minute and then Ottowan or the Winifred School choir the next. Vienna never got to No.1 because shaddup your face Joe Dolce.

Ger Roe

Being involved in pirate radio in the late 70's and 80's, the K Tel records were a godsend in getting hold of the recent chart releases, all together and relatively cheaply.

One technical drawback however was that the produced sound level on the tracks was lower than on singles or the original albums. This resulted in us having to re-calibrate the studio mixer so that slider up full (max volume) was only for K-Tel tracks, and everything else was played at about two thirds up on the slider, basically knocking down the level so that the K-Tel tracks were the loudest songs played on air. If you didn't have the extra K-Tel boost, they would sound much lower than everything else being played.

The need for a strategically placed bit of masking tape on the sliders was done away with however when audio compressors hit the scene and they could automatically raise or lower sound levels to a particular setting and so keep everything level.

I still have fond memories of having to ram a slider up to the max to play a K-Tel track.

ohnonotgmail

Joe_ Public wrote: »

True but didnt that just reflect pop music at the time, the way on TotP you could have bowie one minute and then Ottowan or the Winifred School choir the next. Vienna never got to No.1 because shaddup your face Joe Dolce.

whats a matter you, you gotta no respect for Joe Dolce?

topper75

How did licensing of the tracks work? How were the original publishers paid etc.

What would go into the decision by an artist/publisher to permit use of the track by K-tel and similar outfits?

Joe_ Public

I dont know anything about licensing but that reminds me of the top of the pops albums they used to make which involved cover versions of the biggest hits, a vision of the karaoke hell that was to be inflicted on us years later. I think i read somewhere that it was nothing to do with the bbc but that, in line with the amateurishness of their organisation, they had simply forgotten to copywrite the name.

Ger Roe

Ger Roe wrote: »

Being involved in pirate radio in the late 70's and 80's, the K Tel records were a godsend in getting hold of the recent chart releases, all together and relatively cheaply.

One technical drawback however was that the produced sound level on the tracks was lower than on singles or the original albums. This resulted in us having to re-calibrate the studio mixer so that slider up full (max volume) was only for K-Tel tracks, and everything else was played at about two thirds up on the slider, basically knocking down the level so that the K-Tel tracks were the loudest songs played on air. If you didn't have the extra K-Tel boost, they would sound much lower than everything else being played.

The need for a strategically placed bit of masking tape on the sliders was done away with however when audio compressors hit the scene and they could automatically raise or lower sound levels to a particular setting and so keep everything level.

I still have fond memories of having to ram a slider up to the max to play a K-Tel track.

BIG D 273?

Ger Roe

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I dont know anything about licensing but that reminds me of the top of the pops albums they used to make which involved cover versions of the biggest hits, a vision of the karaoke hell that was to be inflicted on us years later. I think i read somewhere that it was nothing to do with the bbc but that, in line with the amateurishness of their organisation, they had simply forgotten to copywrite the name.

The Top of The Pop's covers albums were the idea of producer and music publisher Alan Crawford.

He was involved in the very early days of UK offshore pirate radio and was fitting out 'Radio Atlanta' at the same time that Ronan O'Rahilly was fitting out 'Radio Caroline'. Their two ships were converted in to radio stations in 1964 at Greenore port in Dundalk. The O'Rahilly ship (MV Caroline) was first out of port and so sailed into radio history when Radio Caroline started broadcasting off the UK south east coast over Easter weekend 1964. Crawford always said that taking up O'Rahilly's offer to use his family owned port was a mistake, as O'Rahilly's contacts did everything they could to delay Atlanta while favouring Radio Caroline.

Radio Atlanta, on board the MV Mi Amigo, reached the UK south east coast a few weeks later than Caroline, but soon merged with the Caroline organisation when it remained at the south location and the MV Caroline sailed to a north anchorage off the isle of man. Radio Caroline North and South then offered the first UK nationwide coverage advertising opportunities on radio where adverts could be scheduled to be played out on both stations, so covering the whole country.

Harry Palmr

Ger Roe wrote: »

Being involved in pirate radio in the late 70's and 80's, the K Tel records were a godsend in getting hold of the recent chart releases, all together and relatively cheaply.

One technical drawback however was that the produced sound level on the tracks was lower than on singles or the original albums. This resulted in us having to re-calibrate the studio mixer so that slider up full (max volume) was only for K-Tel tracks, and everything else was played at about two thirds up on the slider, basically knocking down the level so that the K-Tel tracks were the loudest songs played on air. If you didn't have the extra K-Tel boost, they would sound much lower than everything else being played.

The need for a strategically placed bit of masking tape on the sliders was done away with however when audio compressors hit the scene and they could automatically raise or lower sound levels to a particular setting and so keep everything level.

I still have fond memories of having to ram a slider up to the max to play a K-Tel track.

That was essentially the result of cramming about 50-55 minutes of music (even with edits) onto 40 minutes worth of vinyl I presume. 70s era Todd Rundgren albums used to suffer likewise as he sought to fit a quart into a pint pot as the company didn't want the costs of a double album.