PURE MAGIC [1983]

Remember me? I haven't posted a new K-Tel album in five months. Despite that, the popularity of the K-Tel Kollection has never really wavered or waned - we just surpassed 100,000 page views this past week. The bad news is there are only twelve more albums left on the shelf to write about. But I have a few ideas...

Pure Magic, the latest in a line of K-Tel albums with the word "Pure" in the title, is one of those final dozen albums. Copyrighted on January 15, 1983, along with Starlite and Chart Action '83, Pure Magic has thirteen songs and is billed as featuring TODAY'S SOFT SOUNDS. Looking at both the artists and tracklist, it's easy to see that is a fair description except for one song which has never struck me as a "soft sound."

Released in June 1982 over in the UK where it was Number One for four weeks in August 1982, "Come On Eileen" belatedly premiered on the Rock chart here in the States in December 1982 before eventually topping the Hot 100 in April 1983. I first heard this unique song on the Virgin Vinyl show in late December 1982 or possibly early January 1983. Most people I've talked to said they first heard/saw it on MTV which jibes with the first MTV chart provided in the issue of Billboard dated January 29, 1983, with the date reported listed as January 19th. According to that chart, "Come On Eileen" was in Medium Rotation at the time, getting 2-3 plays a day. It was in pretty good company, too, as seen below:

	MTV Medium Rotation (2 -3 plays a day):
	Africa	Toto
	Burning Heart	Vandenberg
	Goodbye To You	Scandal
	Winds Of Change	Jefferson Starship
	It's You, Only You	Lene Lovich
	Save It For Later	The English Beat
	Love My Way	Psychedelic Furs
	I Know There's Something Going On	Frida
	Be My Lady	Jefferson Starship
	Come On Eileen	Dexy's Midnight Runners
	Friend Or Foe	Adam Ant
	1999	Prince
	Lies	Thompson Twins
	Do You Really Want To Hurt Me	Culture Club
	Mexican Radio	Wall Of Voodoo
	Living On The Ceiling	Blancmange
	I Melt With You	Modern English
	Desperate But Not Serious	Adam Ant

Notice Prince's "1999" among the videos listed - it was the first video by a "black" artist to receive regular airplay on the music video channel though Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" always gets the credit for breaking the color barrier. While it seems perfectly normal for an artist as videogenic as Adam Ant to have two videos on the list, what the heck is Jefferson Starship doing on there? They would soon be in mayday mode and would reemerge as simply Starship, boisterously claiming urban architecture and planning skills.

Getting back to the Pure Magic compilation, I imagine all of the other songs got airplay on the AC stations as well as the Top 40 and CHR stations in 1982 and 1983. I would wager you a few of them (besides "Come On Eileen") went to Number One on one or both the Hot 100 and AC charts as well. The old K-Tel Scale machine is a little rusty but I should have it up and running in no time. 

Pure Magic can also be found on cassette with a slightly altered track listing to balance out the playing times of each side of the tape. I found no evidence of a Canadian issue of Pure Magic. Here's the K-Tel Scale report on the vinyl version of the album:

PURE MAGIC [1983]						29.27
		Billboard Top 40s
		Pop	R&B	COU	DISCO	Rock	AC	CB
Don't Let It End	Styx	6					13	14
Rosanna	Toto	2				8	17	2
Try Again	Champaign	23	2				6	18
Some Kind Of Friend	Barry Manilow	26					4	31
Come On Eileen	Dexy's Midnight Runners	1				6	31	1
Every Breath You Take	The Police	1				1	5	1
Solitaire	Laura Branigan	7					16	8
All This Love	DeBarge	17	5				1	9
The Other Guy	Little River Band	11					6	8
Heart To Heart	Kenny Loggins	15	(71)				3	15
Heartbreaker	Dionne Warwick	10	14				1	15
All Time High	Rita Coolidge	36					1	33
All Right	Christopher Cross	12					3	9

Not too bad; actually slightly above the average Scale score of 28.30. Could have benefitted from higher charting hits (three missed the Top 20) and more crossover chart action besides the few that made the Rock or R&B charts. Does anyone else feel like I do about the Dexy's track being out of place on this album? Let me know in the comments. Here's another Pure Magic recreation:

Next time out, we'll be listening to Starlite featuring songs from THE LIGHTER SIDE OF TODAY'S MUSIC: