STARS - Various Artists

YEAR: 1977

LABEL: K-Tel

TRACK LISTING: The Things We Do For Love - 10cc, Rich Girl - Hall & Oates, Year of the Cat - Al Stewart, Torn Between Two Lovers - Mary MacGregor, A Little Bit More - Dr. Hook, Love Me - Yvonne Elliman, So Into You - Atlantic Rhythm Section, Devil Woman - Cliff Richard, Slow Dancin' Don't Turn Me On - Addrisi Brothers, I'm Your Boogie Man - K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (Pt. 1) - Tavares, Don't Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston, Cool Town - Stanky Brown Group, The World Is A Ghetto - War, Theme from "Roots" - Quincy Jones, Hard Luck Woman - Kiss, Tryin' To Love Two - William Bell, Couldn't Get It Right - Climax Blues Band

IMPRESSIONS: In our last episode, we discovered the magic that was K-Tel and were left with the burning question: What did I eat for lunch that's affecting me like this? Be that as it may, STARS was the next K-Tel record I bought after HIT MACHINE; this was after moving from Maple Surple to our new house in Clay Town. I was all of 11 years old. I remember spinning this record many times on my portable black record player that folded up like a suitcase; especially because my favourite song at the time was on it: Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way". Of course, these were the editted radio versions of the singles; however I still have a soft spot in my heart for some of these songs which aren't exactly too great but give me an incredible rush of nostalgia. It's also hysterical to me that K-Tel seems to have shoved some really OLD songs (at the time) onto their records both here and on HIT MACHINE. On STARS, War's "The World Is A Ghetto" is from the early 70s and Paul Anka's cheesefest "(You're) Having My Baby" was from 1974 and appears on the 1976 HIT MACHINE album. Ha!

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: The Things We Do For Love - 10cc, Rich Girl - Hall & Oates, Year of the Cat - Al Stewart, So In To You - Atlantic Rhythm Section, Devil Woman - Cliff Richard, I'm Your Boogie Man - K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (Pt. 1) - Tavares, Don't Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston, The World Is A Ghetto - War, Hard Luck Woman - Kiss, Couldn't Get It Right - Climax Blues Band

FACT SHEET: Once again, nothing really to say here. This is a K-Tel Records LP released in 1977.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE - Al Stewart

YEAR: 1973

LABEL: CBS/Janus

TRACK LISTING: Old Admirals, Warren Harding, Soho (Needless To Say), The Last Day of June 1934, Post World War Two Blues, Roads To Moscow, Terminal Eyes, Nostradamus

IMPRESSIONS: This is another of those albums I seem to have been listening to since I was knee high to a grasshopper. It is also another of those albums which I only listening to one side of because of my father's strange practice of listening to only one side of a new album. The album side, however, is a great one consisting of "Roads To Moscow", "Terminal Eyes" and the epic "Nostradamus"; all of which had that nicely mystical quality which went down very well with me as a kid growing up in the early 70s. PP&F is a concept album with each song representing a decade in the 20th century culminating in the song about the seer Nostradamus.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Old Admirals, Roads To Moscow, Terminal Eyes, Nostradamus

GUEST ARTISTS: Rick Wakeman (keyboards), Dave Swarbrick (mandolin), Roger Taylor (percussion)

FACT SHEET: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE is Al Stewart's fifth album. This is considered his first "major" or "mature" album work. In the concert programme for his U.K. tour at the time, Stewart states: "My first four albums have been, for me, an apprenticeship. The new album...is my thesis". Stewart moved from the prog-rock sound of his previous albums to a new more folk-based sound which indulged his interest in history. The album cover actually depicts Marvel Comics' character Doctor Strange using his cloak of levitation to travel through into another dimension.