Longing for my K-Tel records

RIB’S RAMBLINGS

Mark Ribble

I heard a song on the radio the other day that reminded me of my old record collection.

The song was Rock Around The Clock, which was one of the first great songs of the rock and roll era, released in 1955.

Later, it became the theme song for the Happy Days TV show, at least for the first season or two.

My record collection was pretty lame by 1970s standards, mainly because my musical interests fell into the 50s rock and roll category.

Although Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens died two years before I was born, I’m probably more familiar with their music than many acts from the 1980s.

At the age of about 11, my first album purchase was K-Tel’s 25 Rock Revival Greats.

It was an orange coloured album with a jukebox on the front cover.

In addition to the aforementioned song, it also contained such classics as Johnny B. Goode, Great Balls of Fire, It’s My Party and Book of Love.

I think that may have been right near the beginning of such compilation albums, designed to re-sell songs to the public that may have fallen off the charts.

The K-Tel era was lots of fun. I ended up with a few of their albums over my young teenage years.

One in particular was ‘Goofy Greats’, which was released in several versions in about 1975. A lot of the songs were just that — goofy. From Ahab the Arab, to Alley Oop, to Bony Marone and Yummy Yummy Yummy, these songs were mostly done one-hit wonders who didn’t do much before or after.

Except of course, Ray Stevens, who had a long illustrious musical career in the novelty song category. His biggest hit was The Streak in 1974 and had everyone in stitches.

He also did Guitarzan, Ahab the Arab, Mississippi Squirrel Revival and Would Jesus Wear a Rolex.

What many don’t know, however, is that Ray Stevens won two Grammys for songs he recorded that were not goofy songs.

Misty, a timeless classic written by Errol Garner and made famous by Johnny Mathis in 1959, was a hit for Ray Stevens in 1975.

He also wrote and recorded a song called Everything is Beautiful in 1970, which was Number 1 for three weeks that year. It was a complete departure from his usual ‘novelty song’ status.

I don’t know if K-Tel is still putting out records but I suspect they are not. But the memories of listening to those 25-song compilation albums are great ones. Some of the songs were not my favourites, but some of them made me a fan of the original artists, just from listening to those albums.

I’ll save my adventures with Columbia House records for another column, but suffice to say I’ve likely still not fulfilled my commitment of buying 10 records to make up for the 10 I got for a penny the previous year. I hope they don’t come after me.