SONGBIRD [1981]

Anyone else get a Jimmy Buffet read from the cover graphic of the 1981 K-tel album, Songbird?  How about Bertie Higgins?   Must just be me then.   Songbird is the third in a trilogy of K-tel albums featuring soft rock and adult contemporary music.  Five of the album's fourteen tracks can be found scattered across a few different albums in Rhino's all too brief Radio Daze series.

If the 14 songs on Songbird were boxes of cookies and you came to my door selling them so you could attend summer camp, I would buy eleven of them provided you didn't overcharge me.  Is $3 a box doable?  I can't do $4 a box.  You do $4 a box and I'll take three or four tops and that's only $16 towards camp.  You do $3 a box, I'll buy eleven boxes and that is $33 towards a fun summer.  Is that your Mom out there on the sidewalk, minding the wagon full of cookies?  What kind of price you giving her?  Looks like she's eaten a few boxes of these cookies.  $3.50?  You know I can't do $3.50 like I'm gonna go digging for change.  Let's say $3 and you can go charge the next guy $4?  $3.25?  Did you watch Glengary Glenn Ross before you hit the bricks today?  I have $35 dollars American right here in my hand and the AC is fixin' to come back on so I'm either gonna shut this door with my $35 or without... Smart girl.  Have fun at camp.

SONGBIRD [1981]		K-tel Scale:				28.64
		Billboard Top 40s
		Pop	R&B	COU	AC	CB	WLS
Every Woman In The World	Air Supply	5			2	9	10
How 'Bout Us	Champaign	12	4		1	10
Crazy Love	Poco	17			1	14	17
Games	Phoebe Snow	(46)				(80)
Together	Tierra	18	9		30	23	29
Biggest Part of Me	Ambrosia	3	35		3	2	9
Crying	Don McLean	5		6	2	6	15
More Than I Can Say	Leo Sayer	2			1	3	8
Lookin' For Love	Johnny Lee	5		1	10	4	6
The Winner Takes It All	ABBA	8			1	11	12
Fool In Love With You	Jim Photoglo	25			12	23
Killin' Time	Fred Knoblock and Susan Anton	28		10	5	(64)
Her Town Too	James Taylor with J.D. Souther	11			5	8	20
Somebody's Knockin'	Terri Gibbs	13			3	10

Snow, Photoglo and Knoblock wouldn't make the cut.  (Those last two aren't even on Spotify.)  And all  three were the lowest charting records from Songbird on the Top 40.  Eleven of the songs were Top 10 on the AC chart and there was an even amount of both R&B and Country crossover.  Unfortunately, "Games" missed the Top 40 entirely resulting in Zero points and several of the songs got no love or airplay on WLS.  All totalled, it is a slightly below average score of 28.64 - counting this album, the average K-tel Scale score is 28.77 after 49 albums.  Which means only one thing: the next album will be the 50th featured here on the Kollection!

Listen to original vinyl rip of Songbird:

Listen to Show N K-tel's Songbird show:

Though the Songbird album seems easy to find, I could find no trace of an 8-track, a cassette or even a Canadian version of it.  If you have any of the three please drop me a line and let me know.  Join us next time out as our special 50th album here on the Kollection will be Pure Rock, both literally and figuratively: