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BLOCK BUSTER [1976]



When the United States celebrated it's Bicentennial in 1976, the U.S. Mint issued commemorative Quarters and $2 bills. K-Tel celebrated the Bicentennial in the only way they knew how - cranking out 20 song collections of popular hits on vinyl and 8-track tapes!



Block Buster features the ever-popular "20 original hits 20 original stars".  Whatever your take on that tried and true slogan, we may have a couple of technicalities here today:
  1. there are only 19 original stars as War appears twice and
  2. one song is a cover version of a classic Beach Boys tune!


Johnny Rivers made a career out of covering other peoples songs including early rock and blues classics as well as seminal Motown tracks and in 1975, ten years after the Beach Boys took the original to the top of the charts, Rivers made it to #22 with his harmonica heavy take of "Help Me, Rhonda" featuring Beach Boy Brian Wilson, the man who wrote the song, on backing vocals.  (If Brian gave his blessing, so shall HERC.)  Two years later, Johnny-on-the-spot took an obscure tune originally recorded by the overlooked singer/songwriter super group The Funky Kings, increased the tempo a bit and cracked the Top 10, giving HERC his favorite Johnny Rivers song of all, "Swayin' To The Music (Slow Dancin')" aka "Slow Dancin' (Swayin' To The Music)":


As much as he likes that version, HERC returns to the original much more often.  It is even slower-dancing and more passionate and one of the few songs he usually keeps in his private stash, songs that he plays only for himself and "no one else in the whole wide world."


Block Buster [1976]
K-tel Scale:
29.75
Top 40 chart peaks
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
Fly, Robin, FlySilver Convention111618
That's The Way (I Like It)KC & The Sunshine Band111811
Why Can't We Be FriendsWar6956
Pick Up The PiecesAverage White Band1511112
Part Time LoveGladys Knight And The Pips2241727
Only WomenAlice Cooper1210
Please Come To BostonDave Loggins517
Air That I BreatheThe Hollies6372
FrankensteinThe Edgar Winter Group111
I Want'a Do Something Freaky To YouLeon Haywood15720
Sky HighJigsaw3454
Chevy VanSammy Johns555
The Last Game Of The SeasonDavid Geddes182227
Swearin' To GodFrankie Valli63149715
Doctor's OrdersCarol Douglas1192107
Help Me RhondaJohnny Rivers223830
Caribbean FestivalKool & The Gang6
Peace PipeB.T. Express315340
Slippin' Into DarknessWar1612
I'm On Fire5000 Volts262433

With only one song narrowly missing the Top 40 and two dozen others crossing over, not to mention four #1s, Block Buster just misses a 30 on the K-Tel Scale, coming in with a not-too-shabby 29.75.  Let's see how it's Canadian counterpart performs:


Block Buster [1976]
K-tel Scale:
17.10
Top 40 chart peaks
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
Bad BloodNeil Sedaka12511
Sky HighJigsaw3454
Low RiderWar715
I'm Not In Love10cc21032
The Last Game Of The SeasonDavid Geddes182227
Rainbows, Pots Of Gold and MoonbeamsStudebaker Hawk
Saving All My LoveCharity Brown
Oh Mama MamaBrutus
Lazy LoveNew City Jam Band
What The Hell I've GotMichel Pagliaro
Get Down TonightK.C. & The Sunshine Band111111
That's The Way Of The WorldEarth, Wind & Fire12513
I Want'a Do Something Freaky To YouLeon Haywood15720
Part Time LoveGladys Knight And The Pips2241727
Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)The Stylistics181334
Anna MarieSusan Jacks
Cowboys To GirlsSweet Blindness
Carolina In The PinesMichael Murphy21423
Every Bit Of LoveKen Tobias
Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)Johnny Wakelin & The Kinshasa Band21229

You know how Freddie Prinze, "Chico" in Chico & the Man, always said "lookin' good"?  This would not be one of the times he said it because the Canadian Block Buster variation achieves one of the lowest K-Tel Scale scores yet. A whopping nine songs failed to make the US Top 40, costing it dearly.  


The playlist below features the songs from the playlist above PLUS eleven more from the Canadian version for a 30 song trip back to music from 1972-1976!




And how can you have an album called Block Buster without the glam-rock stomper "Blockbuster"?

4 comments:

  1. That's a great compilation and I'm diggin' the 8-track pic. That Blockbuster track is sweet!

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  2. I bought the 8-track of the Canadian version in the cut-out bin at a store in Kearney, Nebraska in the early 80s. There are two songs by the exact same group on this album that are under two different names. Studebaker Hawk came out with the song "Rainbows, Pots Of Gold, and Moonbeams" and then their management makes them change their name and their sound. They became the New City Jam Band and hit in Canada with "Lazy Love".

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the information, sir. Love knowing stuff like that.

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  3. Some of the uncharted Canadian hits are actually pretty good stuff. Charity Brown does a sexy soul cover of a Polly Brown song, and the Brutus (featuring Walter Zwol) song is first-rate pop. Studebaker Hawk is decent MOR and the Pagliaro selection is one of the greatest Canada-only singles.

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