GOLD RUSH 79 [1979]

Here at The K-Tel Kollection warehouse and showroom, we pride ourselves on accurate information although it should come as no surprise that every album featured thus far may not reside on the K-Tel shelf on the Vinyl Wall.  When HERC started writing them up, he had 47 albums in the Kollection.  A supporter of the kause donated two pristine albums to the Kollection back in April and then in September HERC found a few more gently loved K-tel albums at a small shop just off the Vegas Strip.  Within the last month, more than a dozen albums were donated by that original donor, pushing the entire Kollection up near seventy in total, not counting a few duplicate copies.  Today's album is part of that most recent generous gift but before we get to that, a couple of shout-outs to a kouple of HERC's fellow K-Tel Komrades:
  • Since the beginning of October, YouTube poster (and HERC fave) Billboard Top Hits 1980 has been pulling from his K-tel and other similar hit collection stash in storage and ripping/posting them in all of their click popping glory.  HERC has counted nearly half a dozen of these posts that have been forcibly taken down, sometime within a couple of hours of posting, by complaining rights holders. Because of this, HERC advises you to subscribe to his channel and check it often.
  • Next week will be the one year anniversary of one of HERC's mandatory weekly listens.  Adrian Qitana is the man behind Show N K-Tel, a weekly radio show where he plays "a different K-Tel Records compilation from the 70s & 80s from the top of the A-side to the bottom of the B-side".  The rips are extremely clean, probably the best vinyl rips HERC has ever heard and he wouldn't be surprised one bit to hear Brother Adrian admit that they are modern day recreations.
Gold Rush 79 is the ninth double album featured here on K-Tel Kollection.  Three of the previous eight are among the Top 10 albums based on their K-Tel Scale scores.  Will Gold Rush 79 break into that select group?  Based on the tracklist, HERC thinks that is a definite possibility.  Like the previous double album sets, Gold Rush 79 serves as sort of a round up of songs that were featured on preceding K-Tel albums.  Many of the twenty-four songs on the album remain favorites of HERC's so before he runs the album through the K-Tel Scale, he's going to share a few videos of his favorite songs from the album.









Gold Rush 79 [1979]
K-tel Scale:
32.92
Billboard Top 40s
PopR&BDiscoACCBWLS
Heart of GlassBlondie112
Shake ItIan Matthews13211017
Right Down The LineGerry Rafferty121819
Every Time I Think Of YouThe Babys13820
Love Takes TimeOrleans111312
Love Is In The AirJohn Paul Young711315
Time PassagesAl Stewart71916
Baker StreetGerry Rafferty2414
ReminiscingLittle River Band31036
Sharing The Night TogetherDr. Hook6414
Jack And JillRaydio8563
Hot Child In The CityNick Gilder111
Knock on WoodAmii Stewart16511
Shake Your Groove ThingPeaches & Herb54254
You And IRick James and the Stone City Band13131513
Get OffFoxy9118176
An Everlasting LoveAndy Gibb58511
Disco Nights (Rock Freak)GQ12131114
Don't Cry Out LoudMelissa Manchester1091013
I've Got Love On My MindNatalie Cole51514
Sentimental LadyBob Welch81048
Prisoner Of Your LovePlayer2730
Strange WayFirefall11241126
Every 1's A WinnerHot Chocolate67720

A good score, good enough to make #8 in the Top 10.  High points: no zero scoring tracks, all but one of the twenty-four are Top 13, sixteen are Top 10 with three of those Pop chart toppers plus an additional three Adult Contemporary #1s and four R&B #1's
As they usually did with their double albums, K-Tel quickly released each of the records separately as Volume One and Volume Two, with the former sporting the original album's blue coloring on the cover and the latter given a red background on the cover.  In case you were wondering,  HERC did run each volume through the K-Tel Scale on it's own: Vol. One (mostly soft pop and AC) scored a 32.58 and Vol. Two (mostly disco with an AC streak) scored a 30.73.

The 8-track tape version of Gold Rush 79 was released as a two tape set with the titles altered slightly as Volume 1 and Volume 2.  Also, the tagline above the title was not altered from the original "24 of The Year's Best Original Hits & Stars " as it had been on the separate vinyl versions.  K-Tel's solution to the oversight was to white out the "24 of" part as seen in the image below.
HERC's research did not turn up a cassette or Canadian version of Gold Rush 79 but he did turn up DJ DiscoCat Purrfection Remixes of just a few songs from Gold Rush 79. Click on the yellow song titles in the above K-Tel Scale chart to hear them.
Next up on The Kollection is 1980's The Rock Album.  Sadly, the record should prove to be one of the lowest rated albums yet featured on the K-Tel Scale.  Yet it is one of HERC's favorites and it has a heck of a story.

4 comments:

  1. A "K-Tel Kollection" Exclusive: **Dirk's "Gold Rush 79" Top 10!**

    10) I've Got Love On My Mind – Natalie Cole
    09) Reminiscing – Little River Band
    08) Hot Child In The City – Nick Gilder
    07) Time Passages – Al Stewart
    06) Knock On Wood – Amii Stewart

    05) Every Time I Think Of You – The Babys
    04) Disco Nights (Rock-Freak) – GQ
    03) Sentimental Lady – Bob Welch
    02) Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty
    01) Heart Of Glass – Blondie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And the other fourteen tracks are left standing out in the cold?

      "Every 1's A Winner", baby!!!

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  2. I had that K-Tel Starlight album. I need to check if you have done that one in review yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you meant the Starflight album (you forgot the letter "f") pictured as part of the Headliners gatefold, it will be appearing near the end of February 2015.

      There is also a Starlite album from 1983 that will making its appearance here on the Kollection in late February 2016.

      Posting one album every two weeks, I have them scheduled all the way out to August 2016 - that last entry is currently scheduled to be 1984's Chartbusters.

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