Commodores Live

Commodores Live came out in 1977 as a 2 record set hot off the heels of their outstanding self titled album. One of the truly outstanding live R and B albums of all time. The guys recorded this at the height of their beginning as a supergroup. All of the early classics are here. You will feel as if you are right there back in Atlanta in 1977. The guys are having a lot of fun and it is evident in their live show which has always been a staple of the Commodores. The six-man original Commodores were a powerful and self-contained unit that could effortlessly alternate between turning over mean and serious funk jams or a slow, sexy power ballad. By the time the band plays the 10 minute plus Brick House it is quite obvious the band has reached funkified critical mass. In my opinion the Commodores were at the top of their game with this recording. Soon after this album the group caught the dreaded balladitis disease and there was less and less funk. Transferred from original vinyl.

Slippery When Wet
Brick House
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Funny Toon

Songs From the Wood

Songs from the Wood came out in 1977 and is the tenth studio album by Jethro Tull and is considered to be the first of a trio of folk rock albums (Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch) despite the fact that folk music elements are present in the work of Jethro Tull both before and after this trilogy. These particular Tull albums all fit nicely together and should be listened to as such. The unofficial full title of the album is Jethro Tull with kitchen, prose and gutter rhymes and divers songs from the wood.  Filled with folk and fantasy imagery, and ornamental folk arrangement, the album is a departure from the hard rock of earlier Tull material, though it still retained some of the band's older sound.  I'm a Tull fan and hands down this is my favorite album.  I love to listen to the three albums back to back as it provides a great listening experience.  Ian Anderson delivers some great flute action on most of these songs and overall they're catchy as hell.

Hunting Girl
The Whistler
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Funny Toon

This is Music

My last couple of K-Tel posts haven't been the best quality so I'm putting up a Quality record today. No really this is a 1987 compilation called This is Music which was released by Quality records and it contains 18 tracks. No idea if they're affiliated with K-Tel in any way. I think most of the visitors here prefer the 70's K-Tel records so this may be too recent for some. It's a good rip though with nary a pop or click. I own several 80's compilations and this one has a selection of songs that aren't found on a lot of comps from the 80's. Not strictly K-Tel but I'm tagging it as such.

320 kbps


Artist- Title
Timex Social Club- Rumors
Jermaine Stewart- We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off
Nu Shooz- I Can't Wait
Sly Fox- Let's Go All the Way
Doctor & the Medics- Spirit in the Sky
One To One- Angel in My Pocket
Timbuk 3- The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades
Howard Jones- No One is to Blame
Simply Red- Holding Back the Years
Pet Shop Boys- West End Girls
Chris De Burgh- The Lady in Red
Belinda Carlisle- Mad About You
Force M.D.'s- Tender Love
Freddie Jackson- You are My Lady
Glass Tiger- Thin Red Line
Kenny Loggins- Danger Zone
Heart- Never
Stacey Q- Two of Hearts

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Funny Toon

The Compleat Angler

Hailing from Manchester, England, Jon Astley began his career as an assistant to Glyn Johns in 1973. In the late seventies he became a freelance engineer and produced the Who's Who Are You and Eric Clapton's Just One Night. It was Astley who took a 25 minute demo of the classic Who are You track and edited it down to a (still) epic 6 minute track.

He turned his attention to North America in the 80's and produced Corey Hart's first two albums, and then signing to Atlantic records as a recording artist himself. Astley released 2 albums and had two #1 alternative chart hits. If you were around in the eighties then you heard the song Jane's Gettin Serious kicking around somewhere. This song was later used in a Heinz ketchup commercial that featured the debut of actor Matt LeBlanc of "Friends". In the 90's Astley focused his career back to engineering and has become somewhat of a whiz kid at remastering older titles. He is also the brother of singer Virginia Astley and ex brother-in-law of Pete Townshend of The Who. His association with Pete has made him an in-demand producer having already revamped and remastered the entire Who catalog. Based on his excellent working relationship with the sometimes cantankerous Pete Townshend, when it came time to remaster The Who's entire back catalog, Astley got the nod as producer. He has also remastered Led Zeppelin for which he has won an award, George Harrison’s solo records, all 8 Abba CDs, the 3 Tears for Fears records, the 10 Level 42 CDs and also 13 Judas Priest records as well as working with contemporary acts Republica, and Tori Amos.

The Compleat Angler was his second and final album coming out in 1988. Astley was a truly underrated artist; and this album deserves much more than the indifference which greeted it in 1988. On "Put This Love to the Test," Astley adopts David Bowie's midnight-caller croon and the arty new wave rhythms of David Byrne's Talking Heads and is as catchy as Bowie's version of Iggy Pop's "China Girl". The lyrics on this album are pointed and witty. On "I'll Show You Bastards," Astley raises a defiant fist against his critics. "I'll show you bastards with reason and rhyme/I'll make my mark now that you've drawn the line," Astley sings with contempt. He attacks the fickle music industry on "But Is It Commercial?," complaining that "If the man in the chair doesn't care/You are a thing of the past." Both of his albums are very difficult to find and out of print for a long time and any collection of obscure and overlooked 80's albums is not complete without this gem.

Put This Love to the Test
I Dream About You (But I Cannot Sleep)
Funny Toon