STARS [1977]



Show of hands, how many of y'all watched the video above?

It is the original commercial for the Canadian version of 1977's Stars, one of them there K-tel hits collections packed with ORIGINAL STARS performing ORIGINAL HITS.  In today's post, HERC runs the American version of Stars through the old K-tel Scale to see how it ranks among other K-tel albums in HERC's quest to determine the most hit-packed K-tel compilation ever!  Though Canada has been banned from the K-tel Scale competition, HERC imported the tracklist and presents it below, with tracks in common with the US release colored blue:

1Don't Give Up On UsDavid Soul
2Year Of The CatAl Stewart
3Devil WomanCliff Richard
4Are You Ready For LovePatsy Gallant
5Right Before Your Eyes (Rudolf Valentino)Ian Thomas Band
6You, Y' Look GoodJoani Taylor
7Fly At NightChilliwack
8BethKiss
9So In To YouAtlanta Rhythm Section
10Torn Between Two LoversMary MacGregor
11Don't Leave Me This WayThelma Houston
12Enjoy YourselfThe Jacksons
13Lido ShuffleBoz Scaggs
14Cause There's AnotherMoxy
15The World Is A GhettoWar
16Fightin' On The Side Of LoveTHP Orchestra Feat. Wayne St. John
17Save It For A Rainy DayStephen Bishop
18Dock Of The BayPagliaro
19Carry On Wayward SonKansas
20Tryin' To Love TwoWilliam Bell

Did HERC ever tell you about the time he cracked the inscrutable K-tel matrix code?  No?  Well, maybe another day.  The Canadian version of Stars features 20 songs while the US edition contains 18, including four Number One pop songs.


HERC's 45 collection has four singles heard on Stars and though the scans below are from Discogs users and not HERC's stash, they are accurate depictions of his records EXCEPT his copies have his legal name scrawled across the label:


HERC's copy of "So In To You" even has a smiley face teacher's ink stamp because he won it in sixth grade music class for answering trivia questions.  HERC is gonna play it safe and say Stars scores a 30 on the K-tel Scale.  Let's do this.

STARS [1977]
K-tel Scale:
30.97
Billboard Top 40s
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
The Things We Do For Love10cc51241
Rich GirlHall & Oates111
Year Of The CatAl Stewart8842
Torn Between Two LoversMary MacGregor1111
A Little Bit MoreDr. Hook1115927
Love MeYvonne Elliman1451018
So In To YouAtlanta Rhythm Section71158
Devil WomanCliff Richard63052
Slow Dancin’ Don’t Turn Me OnAddrisi Brothers20341831
I’m Your Boogie ManKC & the Sunshine Band13912
Heaven Must Be Missing An AngelTavares1531181020
Don’t Leave Me This WayThelma Houston1114034
Coal TownStanky Brown Group
The World Is A GhettoWar73910
Theme From Roots (aka "Roots" Medley)Quincy Jones3221
Hard Luck WomanKiss15197
Tryin’ To Love TwoWilliam Bell10125825
Couldn’t Get It RightClimax Blues Band374

Pretty dang close, huh?  The two songs that missed the Top 40 definitely brought the score down and there was a noticeable lack of crossover except on the AC chart.  Still, the score of 30.97 puts it in the K-tel Scale Top 10 so things kinda worked out.  Instead of a Spotify playlist, HERC leaves you with a link to listen to Stars in its entirety over in the Mixcloud where DJ Adrian Qitana plays it "from the top of the A side to the bottom of the B side".  Look for more of Adrian's K-tel shows going forward and check out his two websites via links in the Phriends of the Kollection section in the lower left of this page.

3 comments:

  1. Had this album back in 1977, the Canadian Version, and did you notice the last songs on side 1 & 2 have a thing in common....ha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, yes I did notice. ;)
      You think it was accidental or on purpose?

      Delete
  2. Ive got the Canadian version still unopened

    ReplyDelete