Lorne wrote:

Yes, that's the album. It actually belonged to my sister ... I had tried doing a quick search to see if I could find it online, but I couldn't recall what the front cover looked like and I didn't feel like going through all the images that came up to see if I could find the right one. Appreciate you posting that.

I always wondered how the royalties for the songs on K-Tel records worked.  Their albums would sell hundreds of thousands of copies each, and really gave the songs on the album another sales life after the initial release.
 
Eventually K-Tel albums were also successful in the US and often still with a few secondary or cancon hits included.  Sometimes the LP's were the same which had already been marketed in Canada.  Wondered what the original record company, writers and artists received in any royalties from these mostly very successful albums.  Or did K-Tel pay them a flat fee?  Anybody know?

Peter the K wrote:

I remember seeing a CBC documentary about K-TEL where they talked about a few of their compilations where they would get as many as possible into the studio to re-record their hits making licensing easier and probably cheaper.

I also remember a number of these compilations were done through Columbia Special Products.  Basically Columbia packages it all together and probably offers a nice deal per copy.  I remember the Johnny cash special was done this way.

They were probably some re-recordings but the K Tel albums I  have appear to be true to the claim on the cover of "Original Hits, Original Stars."  Have not listened to any recently to verify though ( except the Gentrys track). The tracks are in stereo and that was a nice bonus as the 45's of same may not have been. Quality may have suffered on some as they crammed up to 24 tracks on one LP.

Edit: I found this on Wiki:

The company built the business of releasing compilation albums that combined material from a number of popular artists onto a single theme album using the tag line "20 Original Hits! 20 Original Stars!".[4][/url] The company negotiated directly with artists and labels for the rights to reproduce their original recordings, in the process also securing a long-term asset through adding those recordings to their catalog.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-tel#cite_note-LLC1999-16][16]

Last edited by Fitz (October 20, 2020 10:54 am)

Peter the K wrote:

I remember seeing a CBC documentary about K-TEL where they talked about a few of their compilations where they would get as many as possible into the studio to re-record their hits making licensing easier and probably cheaper.

I also remember a number of these compilations were done through Columbia Special Products.  Basically Columbia packages it all together and probably offers a nice deal per copy.  I remember the Johnny cash special was done this way.

I guess there might have been some re-recording but most of the songs were the original versions.  I wonder if they actually meant that they re-recorded the original.  The quality on K-Tel products originally wasn't that great and they were not using the original masters of songs.  What we heard sounded like a copy or dub of the song.
 
I looked up in wiki and apparently K-Tel would negotiate directly with artists and record labels.  I would think that after some initial success of their albums, record labels and artists would be open to K-Tel using material since it did give songs a second life of popularity and more money for the artist and original label.
 
The fact that K-Tel did a lot of TV ads for these albums would be attractive too. Department stores like Eaton's, The Bay, Simpson-Sears, Canadian Tire, etc gave K-Tel product good visibility in their record departments as I recall. 

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters praised K-Tel records with introducing him to music early in his life.  He was speaker at a SXSW conference and told the crowd the first album he ever purchased was in 1975 with K-Tel's Blockbuster compilation.  The album included Edgar Winter's Frankenstein, and Grohl said this was the song that changed his life and got him into music. 

How many of you bought a K-Tel album as your first LP purchase as a kid?  I believe mine was around 1968/69 with I think something called K-Tel's Power Hits...

I had quite a few back in the day.  My impression was that the songs were originals,  but not the final versions that were released.  Sudden cut-offs,  shorter instrumental intros,  etc.

Last edited by Media Observer (October 20, 2020 12:20 pm)

The album cost was always good,  given the number of hits on each album.  I wasn't aware of the history you brought up that explains my recollections.  Appreciate the info.

the original hank wrote:

footnote: speaking of "the one hit wonders - the gentry's"... one of their members went on to make it big in the world of wrestling (as a manager).... the mouth of the south, jimmy hart.

I was waiting for Grilled Cheese to bring that one up.
 

K-Tel offered good value for their records. Always just enough 'good' songs to make the purchase worthwhile. I still have several in my collection.

In addition to shortening some of the songs by even removing verses (think Charlie Daniels Uneasy Rider for one) they also used really fine grooves on the record to squeeze extra time out of it. But, boy those records were easy to scratch. I have a couple of releases that are in excellent condition and listening to them on a good turntable and headphones you can hear significant surface noise. They were never meant to be audiophile quality for sure.

Great memories.

the original hank wrote:

  guess what gentrys' song will be featured on today's version of rusty's good time oldies 

I guessed it would be "Why Should I Cry" which charted on 1050 CHUM in 1970, rather than the one you played (not that there's anything wrong with that one) 

the original hank wrote:

i'm showing my u.s. roots. "keep on dancing" was top 10 on a number of u.s. (national)
based charts.
 

I belive Keep on Dancin was their biggest hit everywhere but I think the group should be considered  1.5 hit wonders b/c of their lesser hits. Like this one which I actually never heard at all until  the 80's. I bought the 45 after reading about it as a garage song which had charted on Billboard at # 50:






 

Last edited by Fitz (October 21, 2020 1:54 pm)

To me, the Gentrys' greatest song ever was a non-hit - the B-side of Keep on Dancin'. It's called "Make Up Your Mind" and it's quickly become one of my favourite tunes of the 60s. To me, this should have been a double sided hit. 

I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by the amazing response to this thread. I almost didn't put it up because I didn't think it was entirely relevant or that anybody would care. Boy, did you guys prove me wrong!   

I found the first K- Tel album that was in our house. I loved that album b/c it was the first place we had recordings by The American Breed, Lemon Pipers and Tommy James. Looks like this was only the third album K-Tel had released.

I have also included scans of copy cat  albums. One of the ones pictured below is on the budget label Pickwick and it is British but I also have an American comp on the same label. The last album is actually a label comp ( Atco) with various artists. These albums had less tracks and were better quality than the K Tel sets. 

Last edited by Fitz (October 21, 2020 5:51 pm)

It happened again. The very first song played on Ashby's Oldies Show this weekend was "The Look of Love" by Lesley Gore, a great tune. But once again, not the original. It was definitely Gore but not the one on the radio in the 60s. 

Here's another possible guess about this reoccurring phenomenon. The show is in stereo. Many of those early 45s weren't. So in order to have a two speaker version, they dig up an album that has the stereo cut - but it's not the one all of the listeners remember. I'd rather hear 2 and half minutes in glorious mono than some kind of remake that just sounds weird. 

paterson1 wrote:

I think there might be a mix up on the two songs.  Lesley Gore did definitely have a hit in 1964 with  Look of Love which was written by Jeff Berry and Ellie Greenwich. This was the original version of the song.   

You may be confusing it with The Look of Love (similar title) but totally different song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David which came out in 1967 from the James Bond movie Casino Royale.  This was a hit for Dusty Springfield, but is not the same song as Lesley Gore's Look of Love.

No I can assure you this was the Berry-Greenwich song and it was Lesley Gore. If you listen Sunday morning you'll hear it right off the top of the show - it's the first song he plays. I know the original instantly. This was definitely not it.

And by the way, there's yet another version of a song called The Look Of Love that was a huge hit. It was done by Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66. Another terrific tune.

I think Ashby should add a segment called "Same Title, Different Tune." There are a ton of oldies with the exact same name that are different songs. Might be an interesting listen.

The topic of mono/stereo mixes is an interesting one and I think it was the original recording that was played except in a stereo mix which is probably a lot more common now. Here is a sample I recorded from the show this morning. I was playing around with my Sony radio which I wrote about in another thread and that has a virtual surround feature which I engaged for a bit starting at 1:05. That translates better on the actual radio but does show up on this recording. I have also attached a YT link to the mono copy of the song:





Look of Love on RogerA


 

Last edited by Fitz (October 25, 2020 9:34 am)