If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember the wasteland of late-night cable TV infomercials. Ads designed to get you to buy something you probably didn’t need at an inflated price plus shipping. If you’re younger, let us introduce you to the era of the mail-order compilation set. It was like a Spotify playlist of genre-specific tracks packed together as a multi-CD or cassette collection. The record company itself typically didn’t sell it. Instead, it was usually a third-party direct-response marketing “club” that somehow got permission to license tracks across competing labels. Think NOW That’s What I Call Music! but sold on TV instead of in a store. 

For anyone who grew up during the golden age of phone-order compilation ads, some truly stand out. Who can forget Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute? Or the ultimate destination for new-age chanting: Pure Moods? And, of course, we can’t forget the three-cassette collection every bandana-clad hippie wants (“Turn it up, man!”): Freedom Rock.  

Perhaps the........

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