Airplay (1980)

Japanese Import

What do the following artists have in common: Chicago, George Benson, Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Manhattan Transfer, The Tubes, and Al Jarreau? Yes, all appear here on the blog, but the answer I was looking for is that those groups' radio hits at that time were produced by two men: guitarist Jay Graydon and keyboardist David Foster. Together, Graydon and Foster, along with other hot session players in Los Angeles, created a sound we called 'Westcoast AOR' before the term 'yacht rock' came about in 2005. Graydon and Foster decided to make an album of their own, created Airplay, and released this album.

Graydon calls the album "way over-produced," which it may be for the time, but it set the pop music production standard for the next 2 decades. Most of the session playing on this album was done by ace vocalist Tommy Funderburk, trumpets by Jerry Hey, and contributions from Toto, including Jeff Pocaro, Steve Pocaro, David Hungate, and Steve Lukather. The result is one of the best pop albums that not many have heard of. Why did the album tank? From Graydon:

Airplay received little record company promotion in the states and David and I did nothing to promote. Simply bad business and the album totally stiffed!!! This was not the record company's fault in full. We could have worked the record doing a tour, etc. but David and I were too busy writing and producing acts that sold big numbers. We blew it!!! Ironically, the album became an underground pop success in Japan and many other countries. It still sells well in some territories.

The album is available on iTunes, but CD copies can currently be found for $30 or more. I was fortunate and found a much better deal on eBay.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "mainstream pop-rock"
• CashBox: "an album that is close to commercial pop perfection"
• Record World: "tunes are decidedly popish and they get thundering background support by some of L.A.'s busiest studio musicians."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:  To a middle aged man constantly trying to recapture his youth (I'm talking about myself, of course), this is great stuff. It's all good - I don't skip anything. My favorites include Cryin' All Night, She Waits For Me, and Nothin' You Can Do About It (which also appeared on the 1979 album Extensions by The Manhattan Transfer with Graydon producing. The version here is better). Also included is a version of Graydon and Foster's hit song, After The Love Is Gone, which was made famous by Earth, Wind, & Fire. I prefer the EWF take, probably because I heard it first.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  As I remember it, my first exposure to Graydon was his iconic guitar solo in Steely Dan's Peg. Then I noticed his name popping up as producer in some of the records I was digging as a teen, Manhattan Transfer and Al Jarreau in particular. Fast forward 25-30 years and I'm bored at work so I begin to search for other albums that Graydon produced in the '80s. I never could locate a definitive discography, but the wonderful Danish website Blue Desert directed me to some possibilities and prompted me to seek out not only this Airplay album, but also Steve Kipner, Pages, and Marc Jordan.