27/06/2011

I Remember K-Tel at Their Peak, I Must be Old Now...

"The 90's? If you can remember that far back you music be old" a friend's daughter said to me yesterday, she's 10 and although I didn't want her to think I was really old, she reminded me that actually I can remember things back in the late 70's, Star Wars, The Jonestown Massacre (my friends 'The Quietly Spoken Gentlemen" and I will one day take our musical version out on tour), and the launch of the original Atari console!

I can also remember K-Tel compilation albums. Long before Now, that's what I call music K-Tel would churn out quality albums like 25 Great Country Artists Singing Their Original Hits and 20 Power Hits, they were on the TV and everybody wanted to own them and play them at late 70's fondue socials.

K-Tel sold many things. I remember wanting a LP Selector, I remember putting one on my Christmas list, I remember my parents not buying me one but my dad proudly offering me a small space on his LP storage shelves, my 12 albums beside the thousands that he had. But secretly this advert was still what I was looking for, a gem of a product and a gem of an advert. Sadly even this product was killed off as it couldn't cope with gatefold albums. Tragic indeed. Long live the LP Selector and long live the LP, still the most involving way to enjoy music....no matter what a 10 year old thinks! That said, I'm off to sync my iPod.