BlathrWayne Lorentz

I found the record The Sound of Houston at the record store today.

In the early 1980ʼs, KRBE Radio held a contest where its listeners were asked to compose a theme song for the city. The winning entries were then pressed into a record, and 40 years later here they are today — in the value bin, priced at 99¢.

The songs are very very 1980ʼs. Lots of power ballads with saxophones, clarinets, and chimes. Surprisingly few have much of a country twang, but many would fit in with the local TV news themes of the era.

It seems sad that the heartfelt work of a dozen recording hopefuls has been reduced to just 8¼¢ a piece.

Listening with 2022 ears, none of them are very good. But they are an audio time capsule of a certain era, and a certain place.

Things that sometimes donʼt work, or donʼt work as expected:

• Apple Music
• Spotify
• SiriusXM
• Amazon Music
• Pandora

Thing that always works exactly as expected: My wifeʼs vinyl record player.

They say you can find anything in a used record store. And I think I just did.