STUCK IN THE VINYL AGAIN - KC103 HOME COOKIN' - VARIOUS ARTISTS

[maggot]

Good Thursday morning gang and welcome to the Thanksgiving 2022 edition of Stuck In The Vinyl Again . You got to admire America's penchant for building up holidays around food, and Thanksgiving may be the BIGGEST example of that. Now I know people celebrate differently, but I think most people's festivities revolve around home cooking and who are we to break tradition when it comes to breaking bread. That is why today we are serving up our own home cooking with this radio station compilation called KC103 Home Cookin' by various artists. KC103 was located in Henderson, Kentucky. The LP was released in 1981 by the Starstream Record Company and features local bands from the tri state area of  Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky who competed for the chance to become one of five finalists in a nationwide contest called the Big Music America Contest - The Search For The Superstars Of The 80's. From what I gather stations across the nation encouraged musicians to submit tapes of original material to compete ina regional battle of bands scenario. The best of those acts made it onto the albums and the listeners and purchasers of the albums voted on which groups should compete in the national contests with the hopes of receiving a $25,000 reward and a recording contract. A lot of time when listening to these homegrown radio albums, the material sounds dated, but this album is the exception. Even though this record is 41 years old the songs still sound a little ahead of their time. I wouldn't call any of these artists rip offs, but you can hear their influences like Thin Lizzy, Blondie, Little Feat, David Lee Roth, Robin Trower and Supertramp. It is a truly enjoyable album from start to finish, so much that we listened to it twice. My research did not reveal who ultimately won the BIG contest or if any of these acts made it into the top five. I have found a little info on three of the bands. The second song on the first side is by the Taylor Bay Band and they did go on to record an album, as did the third band on that side Amulet. Another performer, Steve Fritz, who passed away in 2016, became a General Contractor and a restaurateur. Three members of the band , Strugglin', signed the back of the album cover. The radio station, now known as WGBF-FM (103.1 FM) is still in operation and plays Mainstream Rock. 

A1 Destiny – One Night Stand 3:48

A2 Taylor Bay Band– Thinkin' 'Bout Me 3:20

A3 Amulet – Gemini 4:10

A4 Xyex– Energy 3:28

A5 Steve Fritz– We Can Make It 3:07

B1 Strugglin'– Nothin' You Can Do 4:14

B2 American Patrol – American Patrol 3:46

B3 Future – Get Loose 3:13

B4 Illuzion– Boy Scout 3:43

B5 Troubador– A Dream In The Making 4:05