Hello and welcome to the second edition of UK-Tel here on the K-Tel Collection. Today we're featuring the immediate follow-up to Night Moves, an album titled Video Stars which debuted on the Albums chart the first week of 1980. At the time, Night Moves was in its eighth week on the chart and had just fallen from number 14 to number 23 while Video Stars debuted up at number 25. That week's chart, the first one after Christmas, features an unusual amount of greatest hits and compilation albums, all perfect gifts to give and get, gathered near the upper half. Also standing out are the three artists with a pair of albums in the Top 20:
The Police were at numbers 5 and 14 with both titles showing a post Holiday uptick in sales
Blondie occupied numbers 7 and 15 with two former Number One albums also enjoying upward momentum
And Electric Light Orchestra shared in the sales surge of the season at numbers 8 and 20 though the group stood out even further as the only act on the chart represented by three albums with 1977's Out Of The Blue re-entering the Album chart that week at number 72, notching its 108th and final week on the chart
For the week there were six K-Tel albums on the chart, including single artist compilations from both Elvis Presley (#12) and The Moody Blues (#66) - each bucked the prevailing sales trend by falling down the chart from the previous week.
Right off the bat, half the tracks are unfamiliar to my ears beginning with one of the three artists who also appeared on Night Moves. Last time out, he hit with "Bang Bang" on Top Pop - this time he "Knocked It Off" on Top Of The Pops:
The only act to have the privilege of recording a song originally written for Blondie ("Some Girls") and then having one of their own songs later covered by Toni Basil (who turned the band's "Kitty" into the Number One smash "Mickey"), Racey appears on Video Stars with their cover of a Johnny Ray song from the Fifties. Here they are performing "Such A Night", which failed to make the UK Singles chart, on the German show Disco:
The Tourists also appeared on Night Moves and you might recognize the lead singer though her future partner in Eurythmics is hidden largely in the shadows in this Top Of The Pops appearance:
Video Stars also features a good sampling of music including several US imports like Kool & the Gang, The Bellamy Brothers, The Charlie Daniels Band, The Sugarhill Gang and Village People as well as American ex-pats like Pretender Chrissie Hynde, the Mael Brothers of Sparks and Suzi Quatro. I'm very curious how these songs performed on the UK singles chart so let's fire up the UK-Tel Scale.
VIDEO STARS [UK 1979 NE 1066]
|
24.433
| ||||
| PK | LG | AC | |||
| 1980.12.01 | 5 | 10 | 3 | ||
| 1979.27.10 | Knocked It Off | B. A. Robertson | 8 | 12 | 5 |
| 1979.20.10 | She's In Love With You | Suzi Quatro | 11 | 9 | 4 |
| 1979.27.10 | Ladies Night | Kool & The Gang | 9 | 12 | 5 |
| 1979.17.11 | Brass In Pocket | Pretenders | 1 | 17 | 10 |
| 1979.24.11 | Mellow, Mellow, Right On | Lowrell | 37 | 9 | 3 |
| 1979.10.11 | If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body | Bellamy Brothers | 3 | 14 | 8 |
| 1979.06.10 | Gonna Get Along Without You Now | Viola Wills | 8 | 10 | 6 |
| 1979.22.09 | The Chosen Few | Dooleys | 7 | 11 | 6 |
| 1979.22.09 | The Devil Went Down To Georgia | Charlie Daniels Band | 14 | 10 | 7 |
| 1979.03.11 | Rockabilly Rebel | Matchbox | 18 | 12 | 5 |
| Such A Night | Racey | ||||
| 1979.01.12 | Reet Petite | Darts | (51) | 7 | 3 |
| 1979.10.11 | I Only Want To Be With You | The Tourists | 4 | 14 | 6 |
| 1979.22.09 | O.K. Fred | Errol Dunkley | 11 | 11 | 6 |
| 1979.22.09 | Making Plans For Nigel | XTC | 17 | 11 | 6 |
| 1979.24.11 | Working For The Yankee Dollar | The Skids | 20 | 11 | 9 |
| 1979.06.10 | Luton Airport | Cats U.K. | 22 | 8 | 6 |
| 1979.27.10 | Tryouts For The Human Race | Sparks | (45) | 5 | 2 |
| 1979.01.12 | Rappers Delight | Sugarhill Gang | 3 | 11 | 3 |
| 1979.20.10 | Ready For The 80's | Village People | |||
With four songs missing the Top 40, including two that failed to chart at all in the UK, Video Stars scores somewhat less than Night Moves did with a 24.433. Eight Top 10s yet only a single Number One also contributed to the lesser score. After just two albums in the UK-Tel Series, the average score is 26.074.
Next time in the UK-Tel series, we'll feature the charity album pictured above from 1980 featuring tracks from Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John and others. I have no idea what it will score on the UK-Tel Scale but I consider all but two of the tracks all-time personal favorites.
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