Sunday, October 9, 2011

VA - Star Power! K-Tel Hits Of The '70s - Pravda Records

An Uncle Roddus Album Review


1. Venus - Southern Culture On The Skids
2. Welcome Back - Rex Daisy
3. Spiders And Snakes - World Famous Blue Jays
4. Mama Told Me Not To Come - The Silos
5. Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, The - Vic Chesnutt
6. Kung Fu Fightin' - Fig Dish
7. I'm Not In Love - Red Red Meat
8. Popcorn - Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet
9. Don't Give Up On Us - Brown Betty
10. How Do You Do - Wanna-Bees
11. Ode To Billy Joe - Susan Voelz
12. One Tin Soldier - Dick Nixons
13. White Bird - Love Battery
14. Rock The Boat - A-Bones
15. Half Breed - New Clear Clouds
16. I Am Woman - Big Fish Ensemble
17. Give Me Just A Little More Time - Falstaff
18. Horse With No Name, A - Loud Family

This very obscure curiosity was something I obtained from Emusic quite sometime ago and had not actually listened to it as it was buried somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my hard drive. I found it again while loading all my music into Itunes on the new laptop.
This release was volume three in a set of compilations released by Pravda Records back in the early 90s and consists of a bunch of  alternative types, ranging from Grunge through Punk to Alt Country and a few unclassifiable versions as well, doing their own warped versions of  all these well known K-Tel chart hits from the 70s. Most of the songs were familiar to me and  several  are well liked in their original versions and others are quite impressive in their reinterpretations even though I'm not a fan of the originals. Overall I am enjoying almost all that is on this set, although I can't stomach "One Tin Soldier - Dick Nixon's", some of the highlights are Southern Culture On The Skids minimal rockabilly version of "Venus", Rex Davies version of the Theme to "Welcome back Kotter is a bit of a giggle and a trip down memory lane and an enjoyable version."Spiders And Snakes" by the World Famous Blue Jays is a cowpoke version of a song that I don't recognise and so they make it their own. "Popcorn is another giggle and very well done in a cooler version than the original and the highlight of this set is the brilliant Low inspired version of my old fave "Ode To Billy Joe". Also worth a mention is a grungy spacerock version of the fabulous "White Bird". A very interesting and surprisingly good  compilation and I am curious to hear the other two volumes, which are still available to buy.Rating 4/5

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