When Apple announced the iPod, one of the selling points was to have access to a variety of different music at your fingertips. On October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs demonstrated the new iPod, featuring his own playlist and his ability to move between very different types of music. The songs on Steve Jobs' playlist? "Building a Mystery" by Sarah McLachlan, "Porcelain" by Moby, "Sweet Sixteen" by Chuck Berry, "One Week" by Bare Naked Ladies and "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan.
Although you can't randomly shuffle an album, one of the iPod's primary functions is to deliver music, sometimes in a very eclectic way. K-Tel was doing that throughout the 70s and 80s. And one needs to look no farther than Radio Active to see this in practice.
Radio Active contains 14 songs from 1980-1981. The artists include REO Speedwagon, the Police, Blondie, Devo, the Moody Blues, Genesis, Rick James, the Commodores, Pat Benatar, Hall and Oates, Rick Springfield, Carl Carlton and the Who.
Most of the album falls in the pop/rock genre. On side two of Radio Active, however, the very popular "No Reply at All" by Genesis is preceded by Rick James and his funky "Super Freak." Funk meets pop rock.
Steve Jobs demonstrated this ability of the iPod in 2001. He showed how you can move from the Beatles to Yo-Yo Ma. The crowd oohed and aahed at this demonstration, apparently forgetting that you could get the same kind of eclecticism 20 years earlier by throwing a K-Tel album on the turntable.
Radio Active is a solid K-Tel album. It had only 14 songs and marks a time when the company was less inclined to edited the songs in order to fit more music on an LP. By the 80s, K-Tel was going more for quality rather than quantity, ditching its "20 Original Hits. 20 Original Songs." tagline.
This month on Adventures in Vinyl, take an eclectic trip back to 1982 through the magic of K-Tel. Radio Active is the album of the month and we will play it in its entirety.
You can listen to Adventures in Vinyl:
- 12 pm Saturday (all times Central)
- 4 pm Sunday
- 1 pm Tuesday
- 2 am Wednesday
- 10 am Thursday
Adventures in Vinyl is an exclusive production of Vinyl Voyage Radio and the only radio show dedicated to the glory of the K-Tel record compilation.
I just purchased this album at a record shop inside an antique bizarre in Frisco, Texas. It was only $2, and I picked it up because the cover art reminded me of early Steve Lisberger work. He created Tron. Still researching to see if there's really a connection!
ReplyDeleteI'll need to clean the record thoroughly, but it should be quite playable, and the cover is in great condition!
Thank you because you have been willing to share information with us. we will always appreciate all you have done here because I know you are very concerned with our. Two-Way Radios
ReplyDeleteGMRS radios operate in the UHF band so the radios are compact and light weight. The power of these radios is generally from 1 to 5 watts, and they are most often sold in pairs for about the price of one handheld CB radio.two way radios
ReplyDeleteThis way the parents know they will always be able to contact the child. long range walkie talkies
ReplyDeleteI have created a "Radioactive - K-Tel//Tracklist on Spotify. Loved the artwork and ALMOST all the songs hold up. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6CiVkNTzgS2ZIpmoFBnUPk?si=e3eb0487806a4794
ReplyDeleteI have created a "Radioactive - K-Tel//Tracklist on Spotify. Loved the artwork and ALMOST all the songs hold up. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6CiVkNTzgS2ZIpmoFBnUPk?si=e3eb0487806a4794
ReplyDelete