On the Turntable: Air Supply “Air Supply” 1976. On the Turntable: “Air Supply” by Air Supply, Columbia Records (Canadian import), 1976. Rating: 6/10
For a few years in the early 80s, the Australian duo of singer-songwriter Graham Russell and singer Russell Hitchcock was carpet-bombing American airwaves with one great big easy listening ballad after another, from “Lost in Love” to “Every Woman in the World” to “Making Love Out of Nothing at All”, each one featuring boatloads of strings, ethereal choral harmonies, and Hitchcock’s signature stratosphere-scraping vocal climaxes. If you loved this sort of thing (and I did! and I do!) there was no one doing it better than Air Supply at the time.
But their story started several years before they scored their big hit. In 1976, the band - then a six piece featuring a third lead singer Jeremy Paul along with future Divinyl Mark McEntee on guitars - debuted with this self titled record that went unreleased in the U.S. The Air Supply of “Air Supply” was primarily a vehicle for Graham Russell’s songwriting, and while they knew their way around some grand ballads - “Love and Other Bruises” was a Top 10 hit in Australia and would get recycled as the title track of their U.S. debut two years later - the sound is a bit more rock oriented throughout. Songs like “The Weight Is My Soul” (one of my faves) and “Ain’t It a Shame” could easily be mistaken for the Little River Band. “Feel the Breeze” rides along an easy disco lite groove and the artsy “Secret Agent” tries a little too hard for Steely Dan. You’ll hear some spacy synth solos scattered about and why not a few pub rock guitar licks. “We Are All Alone” goes off on an ill-advised Caribbean detour.
Other highlights include singles “Empty Pages” and “What a Life”, the latter sung by Jeremy Paul - both would get re-recorded for the American “Love and Other Bruises” album but Graham Russell replaced Paul as lead on “What a Life”. Not a bad choice honestly, but it basically ended Air Supply as a vocal trio. Considering how popular they’d become as a duo, it was good for their career. But I miss what might have been, especially when I hear the haunting and proggy three part harmonies on “It’s Not Easy”: gorgeous and sad.