Ultimate [Import]

Of all of the Greatest Hits' collections that Air Supply has released, this is by far the best and most complete one out. This contains 18 of Air Supply's best songs. The period covered starts in the early 80s with "Lost in Love" and goes to 1995 with "News From Nowhere".

Air Supply really went through three phases. Phase 1 was from 1976 through 1980 -this was before they had commerical success and most of these songs are hard to find and only available on imports. Phase 2 was the most successful commercial period for Air Supply going from 1980 with the "Lost in Love" album, through the "Greatest Hits" album. Phase 3 was less commercially successful, yet the creativity didn't disappear during this phase. On the "Ultimate Air Supply" collection, Phases 2 and 3 are what is included. It would have been nice to see some Phase 1 songs, but it doesn't take away from the quality of the album. One thing to note, if you are looking at other Air Supply collections of hits, this is the most complete. In fact every song from "Greatest Hits" (which really focuses on Phase 2) is on this collection.

The nice thing about this CD is it chronicles all of the songs in the album order. The liner notes are excellent and feature short commentary by Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell. Although the commentary is short, it gives you a lot of insight into the songs as well as some of the producers Air Supply worked with (Clive Davis, Jim Steinman). The liner notes do open with a chronicle of the band's history written by Michael Hill. This chronicle does talk about some of the Phase 1 work that was done by Air Supply. The only shortcoming of the liner notes is that the studio musicians are not credited very well (they actually do a better job on 'Greatest Hits' with this) and the photos included aren't really that great.

The songs from Phase 2 really speak for themselves. Songs such as "I Want to Give It All", "Two Less Lonely People in the World", "Don't Be Afraid", and "Young Love" which were omitted on the "Greatest Hits" album are a part of this album. In Michael Hill's chronicle and the commentary, they discuss how they had to convince Jim Steinman to cut "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" from 20 to 5 minutes - personally I would have loved to have heard what the 20 minute version would have sounded like.

For Air Supply, "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" marked the peak of their popularity and the end of Phase 2. Phase 3 saw Air Supply's record sales dwindle - especially in the U.S. The first album "Air Supply" was actually a very solid album and featured two songs "Just As I Am" and "The Power of Love". "Just As I Am" surprisingly didn't chart well and its a shame because it was probably one of the best songs they produced. "The Power of Love" is a song that was later made famous by Laura Branigan and "Celine Dion", but Russell Hitchcock's voice blows any other version away of that song. Those two songs are two of five songs included from Phase 3. Another Phase 3 song is a remake of Harry Nilsson's "Without You" which I also think is the best version you will hear. I was surprised that the song "Lonely is the Night" from the "Hearts in Motion".

This is a solid collection and well worth the price. It chronciles the band very well and delivers some great insight. It would be my first choice if I was looking to build an Air Supply collection.

I first heard of Air Supply via their contribution on the Ghostbusters soundtrack, "I Can Wait Forever." That was a nice piano ballad with a sizzling rock guitar and strings during the chorus, with highlighted by Russell Hitchcock's Dennis DeYoung or Mickey Thomas-like vocals, depending how high he decided to sing. That song isn't on The Ultimate Air Supply, which contains all their Top 40 hits.

After that, it was "Just As I Am" from their self-titled 1985 album, which reached #19. This was the time they were on the decline, although they still fared well on the Adult Contemporary charts. A similar style, but not as good as "I Can Wait Forever." I also learned they did Jennifer Rush's "The Power of Love" before her own version charted the following year. Not a bad version, even though it bombed at #68, but it hit #13 on the AC charts.

What I'd missed before was a string of Top Five singles starting with "Lost In Love." This #3 hit demonstrated the veritable team of singing duo Graham Russell, with the lower-ranged voice, which were heard on the verses, and Russell Hitchcock's higher ranged vocals, which sang the choruses, gentle guitars and strings, harmonies, and in this song, a few spacey synths. In other words, this was radio-friendly easy love songs or lost love pop a la latter day Chicago or Melissa Manchester for the Adult Contemporary charts, where it spent 6 weeks at #1.

"All Out of Love," their next venture, was better, spending 4 weeks at #2, kept away from the top by Diana Ross's "Upside Down" and Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust." The emotional strings may be overblown in the final sections, but it helps the song, and my enjoyment. Chartwise, this was the 18th biggest hit of 1980, while "Lost In Love" was the 25th the same year.

Though not a single, "Chances" could easily have been a single, especially with the sad and soaring strings, and an electric guitar in the instrumental bridge. Vulnerable is how Graham Russell describes it, and that's how I feel.

The romantic #5 "Every Woman In The World" has a sweetness that may be described as sentimental mush, but at least there is a balance in the lines "you're my fantasy/you're my reality." And its #2 peak on the AC charts attest to that mush. However, it was their next single, "The One That You Love," the title track from their second album, that reached #1 in 1981 (and #2 AC) being the 16th biggest hit that year. The give me another chance motif of the song is highlighted in the chorus's "Here I am the one that you love/asking for another day/understand the one that you love/Loves you in so many ways." From the same album was the #5 (#1 for 3 weeks on AC) "Here I Am (Just When I Thought I Was Over You)", which is the closest to "I Can Wait Forever," except with more soaring strings.

Their next two singles also hit #5, "Sweet Dreams" and one of my faves, "Even The Nights Are Better," which was 4 weeks atop the AC charts. The string orchestration on the chorus provides a catchy swaying hook I enjoy.

Then their Top 5 streak was shattered with two consecutive #38s, "Young Love" and the romantically optimistic "Two Less Lonely People In The World," which accordingly to Graham Russell became a wedding anthem of the 80s, not bad when the cynicism of the 70s, of marriage as a no-longer solid institutional was still lingering.

But Air Supply managed to pull off a final big hit, my favourite AS song, the Jim Steinman-composed "Makin' Love Out of Nothin' At All," whose overblown operatic backing vocals and instrumentation made stars out of Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler (who ironically did this on her Free Spirit album, and whose version I first heard before AS's). It's the E Street Band's Professor Roy Bittan on piano and Max Weinberg doing the thundering drums that herald the second verse on this 3 weeks at #2 hit, the 22nd biggest hit of 1983.

Though eclipsed by the momentous year of 1984 by big hit albums, Air Supply provided a last gasp of breathable romantic easy pop radio ballads with their consecutive seven Top 5 hits from 1980 to 1982.

Like all successful, countless Air Supply hits collections have beeen floating around on the market for years, most of them not good with missing tracks and bad sound. It wasn't until Arista Records released "Ultimate Air Supply" that fans stopped complaining and got a hits set that would please both casual and hardcore fans.

The team of Russel Hitchcock and Graham Russell were the Carpenters of the 1980s', with a string of "easy listening" ballads that crossed over into pop radio and became huge hits. Their first 7 singles alone made Billboard's top five on the pop charts. All those hits are here, from the upbeat, celebratory numbers ("Every Woman In The World", "Even The Nights Are Better" (which, like Russell said, really does sound like Chris Cross's theme from "Arthur") to the heartbreaking breakup songs ("All Out Of Love"). As expected, their two most popular hits are included, "All Out.." and my all - time favorite, the Jim Steiman masterpiece "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All". The latter song I think is truly one of the greatest power ballads of all time. This song did indeed mark a comeback for the group. They had been out of the top 30 for about a year when this song took them to number 2 all over the place. It was also a great time for Steinman. The week the song peaked on the pop charts, the number one song was Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart", marking one of the few times that a writer wrote the top 2 singles on the charts. And lurking in the lower half of the top 40 was Barry Manilow's Steiman collaboration "Read 'Em And Weep", which made the top 20 in January of 1984, becoming the ballad crooner's last top 60 hit.

But enough history. Also included is a fare amount of album tracks and rarities. Included in the former category is "Chances", "I Want To Give It All" and the haunting "Don't Be Afraid", later named as a tribute to the late string arranger Frank Elser - Smith. In the latter category is their version of "The Power Of Love". Forgive me for the history lessons, but this song has an interesting story behind it. The song was first recorded by Jennifer Rush, who took the song to number one in England. Air Supply's version was the first to chart in America. It became their first single to miss the top 40 and their second - to - last chart single on the pop chart ("Tender Is The Night", their last song to make the pop chart, is not included here). Air Supply's version couldn't even crack the top 60, to be exact. Rush's version came next but did little better. In 1987, Laura Branigan took the song into the top 30, the most successful version yet. But it wasn't until 1994 that the song became the big hit in America that it was meant to be. That year, Celine Dion recorded it and it topped the pop charts for 4 straight weeks. Hers is the definitve version but Air Supply's version is also good. The cover of "Without You" is good but no matter how hard you try you can't top the smash hit versions by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey. Those are the best versions of the songs. Two later tracks, the lovely "Goodbye" and the hypnotic "Someone" close out the album on a high note.

This is the best collection of Air Supply's hits ever. Unlike other bands, Air Supply is still touring and occasionally recording today, proving that great music lasts forever. Enjoy the cd.