CHART ACTION '83 [1983]

If you've been reading along since before the very first post here at the K-Tel Kollection, when I was digitally recreating and writing up classic K-Tel albums over on The Hideaway prior to setting up this site, you may not have known there was a master plan but there was; when I mapped it out and drew it up originally, Chart Action '83 was going to be the last post.

Why? Because it was the last K-Tel album I ever bought at the time of its release and it felt like a good place to end things. But I've purchased maybe thirty older K-Tel comps since then and have been fortunate enough to receive close to a dozen more as donations. Which is all a long way of saying I still have more K-Tel records to write about and rate but today we're gathered here in wide-eared wonder for Chart Action '83, one of My Most Favorite K-Tel Albums Ever!

It's not a perfect package, though, don't get me wrong. I like almost all of the songs though the Bryan Adams track has some sad baggage attached, the Thompson Twins track feels out of place among the others and the Pat Benatar track is probably my least favorite of her songs. If you ever want to stump me in a game of Name That Tune, go with "Little Too Late" and I'll lose every damn time - I just don't associate the opening drums with the rest of the song. I was thinking that maybe they were cut from the radio single version and I had ignored the album version but they were not cut and I hadn't ignored the album cut. I merely skipped it and the rest of the songs after the first three cuts on the Get Nervous album but I did not ignore it. As for the rest of Chart Action '83, it's a solid listen. I've spent much of the day listening to it in a playlist with its Canadian cousin and have enjoyed it quite a bit. Didn't make me nostalgic or anything, the compilation just a great collection of some of my favorite songs especially coupled with the dozen different tracks from Canada's Chart Action but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's see how Chart Action '83 fares on ye olde K-Tel Scale. I know there's a few Number One hits to be had so I'm gonna peg this one at least a 30 on the Scale.

CHART ACTION '83 [1983]					30.54
		Billboard Top 40s
		Pop	R&B	DISCO	Rock	AC	CB
Every Breath You Take	The Police	1		26	1	5	1
Come On Eileen	Dexy's Midnight Runners	1			6	31	1
Straight From The Heart	Bryan Adams	10			32	29	18
Sexual Healing	Marvin Gaye	3	1	12		34	5
Twilight Zone	Golden Earring	10			1		16
Lies	Thompson Twins	30		1			31
Don't Fight It	Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry	17			4		15
Affair Of The Heart	Rick Springfield	9			23		10
Jeopardy	Greg Kihn Band	2		1	5		5
Der Kommissar	After The Fire	5		17	4		5
I Know There's Something Going On	Frida	13			17		14
Little Too Late	Pat Benatar	20			38		(41)
Shock The Monkey	Peter Gabriel	29		26	1		33
Goody Two Shoes	Adam Ant	12			7		12

Only two Number Ones on the Pop chart but also a pair of 'em each on Disco/Dance and Cashbox charts. Add in three Number Ones on the Rock chart and a lone chart-topper on the R&B chart, as well as all the crossover action on the Rock and Dance charts and you get a better than average score of 30.54 for Chart Action '83.

Chart Action '83 is also available on cassette with the slight difference of having "Don't Fight It" and "Goody Two Shoes" swap places in the running order. Neither the cassette nor the vinyl should be considered rare or in high demand unless they are in pristine condition. There appears to be no 8-track format released.

In Canada, the album was released simply as Chart Action and has sixteen tracks including four in common with its American relative. It's actually an uncharacteristically strong tracklist for a Canadian K-Tel album and may possibly contain even more Number Ones than Chart Action '83. Let's see how it does on the K-Tel Scale.

CHART ACTION [1983]					34.84
		Billboard Top 40s
		Pop	R&B	DISCO	Rock	AC	CB
Gloria	Laura Branigan	2		4		28	1
You Can't Hurry Love	Phil Collins	10			24	9	10
Down Under	Men At Work	1			1	13	1
Africa	Toto	1				5	3
Goody Two Shoes	Adam Ant	12			7		12
Don't You Want Me	Human League	1		3	4		1
Mickey	Toni Basil	1		3			2
Come On Eileen	Dexy's Midnight Runners	1			6	31	1
Allentown	Billy Joel	17			28	19	14
Sexual Healing	Marvin Gaye	3	1	12		34	5
Missing You	Dan Fogelberg	23			30	6	23
Heart To Heart	Kenny Loggins	15				3	15
Truly	Lionel Richie	1	2			1	1
Breaking Us In Two	Joe Jackson	18				8	17
Twilight Zone	Golden Earring	10			1		16
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me	Culture Club	2	39	34	21	8	1

Are you kidding me with SIX Pop Number Ones? Only five tracks outside the Top 10? See what I mean when I said I was really enjoying listening to this album in conjunction with Chart Action '83 all day? Hopefully, you have Gabriel's "Shock The Monkey" in your Local Files because he does not let Spotify stream his albums. Here's the combined CAN-AM playlist for both albums so you listen for nearly two hours:

Or if you'd rather hear a pure needle-drop recording of the album, check out my friend Brandon's YouTube video below:

Thanks to all the viewers who stuck with us through 2016 even though we only featured nine albums from The Kollection. We shall return sometime in 2017.