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STARBURST [1978]

The very first K-tel post HERC wrote on HERC's Hideaway was about the fabulous Music Machine, which still occupies the penthouse suite of The K-Tel Scale Ranking Top 10 chart with the only score of 37 (or more) to date.  In that post, HERC mentioned that another one of his favorite K-tel albums was Starburst, which gets its own post here today.  With eighteen tracks spread across two records, Starburst was definitely a tastemaker album for HERC, influencing both his tastes at the time (which were largely influenced by Chicago's WLS) and continuing to inform and influence the music he listens to today.  Looking back, this was also HERC's most played K-Tel album, garnering more spins than any other.  All of the eighteen tracks were Top 20 hits with eleven going Top 10 and three of those rising to the top of the chart.  HERC is predicting at least a 30 on the K-Tel Scale based on the number of Top hits as well as crossover potential on other charts.

Starburst (1978)
K-tel Scale:
32.58
Billboard Top 40s
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
Shadow DancingAndy Gibb111811
Hot Child in The CityNick Gilder111
ShameEvelyn "Champagne" King978817
Boogie NightsHeatwave253621
Every Kinda PeopleRobert Palmer162213
It's A HeartacheBonnie Tyler31035
Handy ManJames Taylor4123
EmotionSamantha Sang3511
Smoke From A Distant FireThe Sanford-Townsend Band934920
Two Out Of Three Ain't BadMeat Loaf1131911
My Angel BabyToby Beau1311020
Too Much, Too Little, Too LateJohnny Mathis and Deniece Williams11121
I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me TonightAtlanta Rhythm Section1416
Dance With MePeter Brown with Betty Wright854811
You And IRick James and the Stone City Band13131513
Get OffFoxy9118176
I Can't Stand The RainEruption18619
Baby Hold OnEddie Money115

A 32.58!  That's good enough to land in the Top 10 scores thus far at #8.  Those crossover hits helped, with an additional four #1s from the R&B and AC charts.  As they almost always did with their double albums, each record was individually released in 1979 as Starburst Volume 1 (TU-2650-1) and Starburst Volume 2 (TU 2650-2).  While Volume One retained the original artwork and coloring, the 2 Record Set phrase on the front cover was replaced by Volume One.  Volume Two (below) saw the title Starburst colored blue with Volume Two appearing where 2 Record Set had been on the original.


Listen to the Spotify playlist below to hear most of the songs from Starburst.

"My Angel Baby" is not currently available on Spotify


If you were paying super close attention while watching the commercial above, you probably caught on that it is for the Canadian version of Starburst.  As you can see from the K-Tel Scale scorecard below, there are a few Canadian songs that failed to crossover to the US charts.  And below the scorecard is a Bonus Playlist featuring 24 of the songs from both the Canadian and US versions of Starburst in one playlist.

Starburst (1978) CAN
K-tel Scale:
28.26
Billboard Top 40s
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
Shadow DancingAndy Gibb111811
If I Can't Have YouYvonne Elliman1919
You And IRick James and the Stone City Band13131513
Take Me AwayPrism
Baby Hold OnEddie Money115
(Love Is) Thicker Than WaterAndy Gibb11812
All I Wanna DoDoucette
I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me TonightAtlanta Rhythm Section1416
Arms Of MaryChilliwack
It's A HeartacheBonnie Tyler31035
Handy ManJames Taylor4123
After The Lovin'Engelbert Humperdinck8156
Every Kinda PeopleRobert Palmer162213
Too Much, Too Little, Too LateJohnny Mathis and Deniece Williams11121
Dance With MePeter Brown with Betty Wright854811
ShameEvelyn "Champagne" King978817
The Groove LineHeatwave73106
Use Ta Be My GirlThe O'Jays412158





3 comments:

  1. Playing the US version on my show tomorrow. Join me live at 2PM on AshevilleFM.org

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the tip. The player has been embedded at the end of the post above.

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  2. This may have been the first (or one of the first) K-Tel albums I ever got. There are certain songs on this where I'll listen to it, and in my mind I'm automatically thinking of what song will come next based on this album. A few of these, I already had on 45 but of course back then, it meant to be able to have it all in one place/on one album, a bit like gathering together a good mix tape. This was a good one.

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