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K-tel Dynamite - 22 Original Hits 22 Original Stars

K-tel

When I was a kid for a long time (kid time) my record collection was one album - Dynamite. Then it doubled when I bought Canadian Mint. Of course my memory is a tad flawed, but it wasn't until '75 I bought Four Wheel Drive as my first real album and I had those K-tel records for what seemed like forever. Dynamite and Canadian Mint were indelible records. For a generation who grew up on these weirdly edited hits and oddly sequenced collections we owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Philip Kives who managed to make Winnipeg Manitoba the centre of the musical universe ... for a little while.

I was feeling a tad nostalgic the other day and decided to see if I could find my musical Rosetta Stone records. Apparently there are others like me, and when I asked about them Krazy Bob pointed me to a section that was set aside for K-tel compilations.

Oooh.

While it wasn't a huge section it did yield not one, but two very nice copies of Dynamite at two very different price points ... so I went big just to be on the safe side. Alas Canadian Mint wasn't to be found, but I was half way there.

I'd not heard this album in decades, and over the years the songs and bands I liked had found their way into my collection and I still remember how jarring it was to discover many of the songs I loved had guitar solos, bridges and sometimes choruses I'd never heard. To fit upwards of a dozen songs a side K-tel had to work a little editing magic and cut a few corners.

It didn't matter, 22 Original Hits 22 Original Stars - that's what mattered.

One of the things I can thank K-tel for is giving me a varied musical education, and just like going to school for real, sometimes school sucked. I mean, really sucked. I may not have liked them but I did get a healthy dose of Gladys Knight and The Pips, The Stylistics and The Impressions and William De Vaughn. I didn't like their songs, but I listened regardless.

Dynamite opened with "Takin' Care of Business" and then launched into "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo" and if those were the only good songs, it would have been enough. But no, the hits kept coming. "Rock Me Gently" by Andy Kim was awesome, and even Terry Jacks' "If You Go Away" his modest follow up to "Seasons in the Sun" that shared the same chord structure and feel was really good. I remember being ambivalent to "Rock On" by David Essex, but I love it now (and have the record). "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone closes out the first side, and it was like I was ten years old sitting on the floor in my room listening to this on my old Electrohome sound in the round stereo.

Side two was a bit spotty, but that's only because it started with a one-two punch to the groin. "Honky Cat" by Elton John remains one of those songs I don't care for, and it was followed by "Rock Your Baby" an R&B special by George McCrae. Oddly I kind of like this one now, so it's like only getting hit in the ball, not balls.

It takes a while but the album goes on a tear starting with "The Lord's Prayer" by none other than Sister Janet Mead. I always thought it was funny that it said it was written by A. Straits and not attributed to God. Ah, the mind of a ten year old (okay I was eleven). Susan Jacks followed with "I Want You To Love Me" and I'll be honest it wasn't until years later I put two and two together and connected the dots that she and Terry Jacks were once a thing. "I'm a Train" by Albert Hammond shouldn't have worked, but my goodness hearing it again I just sat with a goofy grin on my face.

Then it was the brilliant pairing that rocked my world. "Stuck in the Middle With You" and "This Flight Tonight" by Nazareth. Sure the songs were brutally truncated but it didn't matter. The album closes with Jim Stafford's "My Girl Bill" that was supposed to be funny, "Ha ha ha are those two dudes going to make out?" To me it was the song that came after Nazareth and I'd have to flip the album over soon.

Dynamite

Listening to this now, it was a pretty cool balancing act trying to be all things to all people within the context of one album. There was enough variety to just about please any listener. Even the songs I didn't really like were part of the experience. This was my mixtape, and a big part of my musical education.

K-tel was my musical gateway drug. I only had two albums (I have more now) but they were enough and I never looked back.


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