RIGHT ON [1976]


Looks like ol' HERC spoke too soon last time out - this is his final post covering the K-Tel albums from 1976.  Featuring 20 ORIGINAL HITS by 20 ORIGINAL STARS, Right On features Kerry Ciardelli in the commercial as well as both the front and back covers of the album.  There's a tiny little caption on the back cover, beneath the Nadia's Theme album image and the Made & Printed in U.S.A. declaration. It says our covergirl Miss Kerry is "lead vocalist, FREE FALL".


As part of his efforts to get organized and know what lies within the Audio Archives here at The Hideaway, HERC recently catalogued his collection of 45s.  Little did he know he still had over 200 of them and now he can tell at a glance what he has.  Of the twenty songs on Right On, HERC has just two of them on 45s:


Given that 75% of the songs on Right On were Top 10 hits, it should produce a fairly high score on the K-tel Scale.  A couple of songs are from 1973, some from 1974 and 1975 with the majority being from 1976.  If HERC had to guess, he'd guess that this album came out in the later part of 1976, between October and December.  One of the surprises in researching the music on Right On was finding out "Nadia's Theme" was a #1 hit on Chicago's WLS, the very same station HERC was listening to at the time. Perhaps he blocked it out but he doesn't remember hearing it that much on the radio during its chart run of 22 weeks in Oct-Dec 1976. Having heard that song again recently, HERC can say with all confidence that he doesn't have to hear it again for another 30 years.

RIGHT ON [1976]
K-tel Scale:
34.25
Top 40 chart peaks
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
The Boys Are Back In TownThin Lizzy12102
Magic ManHeart977
You Are The WomanFirefall9682
Strange MagicElectric Light Orchestra14241433
Nadia's Theme (The Young And The Restless)Berry DeVorzon & Perry Botkin, Jr.8851
Kiss And Say GoodbyeThe Manhattans1112123
Saturday NightBay City Rollers111
Love Machine (Part 1)The Miracles1520116
Love HangoverDiana Ross1111912
You'll Never Find Another Love Like MineLou Rawls214144
DanielElton John2123
Just Be Close To YouCommodores711119
One Man Woman/One Woman ManPaul Anka with Odia Coates75710
I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I DoABBA15819
You Are My StarshipNorman Connors2742623
The Cisco KidWar2522
All By MyselfEric Carmen2614
MagicPilot552
Did You Boogie (With Your Baby)Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids292533
DazzBrick31753

With a K-tel Scale score of 34.25, Right On enters the Top 10 chart at Number Three. Having five songs with no crossover success on other charts handicapped the score a bit. Half of the album's twenty tracks did manage to hit the Top 25 on the Adult Contemporary chart though.

Eleven of the tracks migrated over to the Canadian version of Right On which featured a less concentrated 60% Top 10 hit ratio.  Only two songs failed to make the US Top 40 while another only registered on the Adult Contemporary Top 40 - it came in at #43 on the Pop chart.  Nevertheless, the Canadian configuration of Right On scored just over 29 on the U.S. biased K-tel Scale barely missing the K-Tel Kollection Top 10.



RIGHT ON [1976]
K-tel Scale:
29.05
Top 40 chart peaks
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your BootyKC & The Sunshine Band1113
I'd Really Love To See You TonightEngland Dan & John Ford Coley2143
You'll Never Find Another Love Like MineLou Rawls214144
Strange MagicElectric Light Orchestra14241433
GetawayEarth, WInd & Fire121121023
The Cisco KidWar2522
I Got To KnowStarbuck1140
Take It Or Leave ItMoxy
Magic ManHeart977
The Best Disco In TownRitchie Family1712118
DanielElton John2123
Just Be Close To YouCommodores711119
She's GoneHall & Oates7669
Love Machine (Part 1)The Miracles1520116
One Man Woman/One Woman ManPaul Anka with Odia Coates75710
Who'd She CooOhio Players18135
Did You Boogie (With Your Baby)Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids292533
I Don't Beleive In MiraclesC.B. Victoria
Nadia's Theme (The Young And The Restless)Berry DeVorzon & Perry Botkin, Jr.8851
Love HangoverDiana Ross1111912


BONUS RESEARCH 

As usual, the eight track tape has the album's playlist slightly rearranged to yield four equal programs.  The length of each program is listed as 14:30 so the total length is 58:00.  Using the listed length of the each single, HERC calculated how long an unedited tracklist would run and it turns out it would be 14:37 longer.  That's fourteen and a half minutes, people.

* 8-track scans courtesy of the 8-Track Shack

1 comment:

  1. This was the first wave of snapshots that came up in my Google search for Kerry Ciardelli. If that really was her, she's not done too badly for herself.

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