AIRPLAY – Airplay +3 [Japan Ltd. SACD Remastered by Jay Graydon] (2018)

Top LA Session musician Jay Graydon has been remastering himself all his back catalog and this version of the classic AIRPLAY album “Airplay” is the definitive, must have release. Pressed on high quality SACD / Super Audio / Hybrid CD miniLP replica, the sound quality is outstanding.
And there’s 3 previously unreleased demo versions, which as you might suspect, doesn’t sound as ‘rough demos’ at all…

Jay Graydon did some magic here. On an album that already was fabulously produced back in the early ’80s, Jay did this remastering of the Airplay involving several new techniques to enhance and perfect the sonics of the record.
For this fresh remastering Graydon spent 12 weeks as he wanted to reshape the whole sonic concept.
In the late 70’s and first half of the 80’s, recordings had more upper midrange than they do now. One reason Airplay had a lot of upper mids (around 2k to 3k) was David Foster and Jay thought they had over-produced the album as there was so many guitar and synth parts.

According to Jay, the way to get a crowded album to have all parts heard is to add the mentioned frequency on many instruments and vocals.
And that’s what Jay Graydon has done here, awesome balanced sound with all the layers of sounds, instruments and vocals in perfect harmony.

Regarding the album, if you are reading this blog you know “Airplay” is an AOR classic: no collection is complete without this record. A gem concocted by the genius of Jay Graydon, David Foster and the incredible ‘angelic vocalist’ Tommy Funderburk.
As session musicians you find here almost the entire Toto; Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, David Hungate, Steve Porcaro among other beasts like Mike Baird on drums or Bill Champlin doing backing vocals.

As bonus, this release offer previously unreleased versions of ‘Should We Carry On’ and ‘She Waits For Me’, plus the non-album track ‘You Can Count On Me’. These are listed as ‘demo versions’… many would have killed to have a song produced with this quality.
A MUST HAVE CLASSIC

Sony Music Japan International ～ 【SICP-10122】
【ＳＡＣＤ】 Ｈ Ｙ Ｂ Ｒ Ｉ Ｄ

01 – Stranded [2018 Remaster]
02 – Cryin’ All Night [2018 Remaster]
03 – It Will Be Alright [2018 Remaster]
04 – Nothin’ You Can Do About It [2018 Remaster]
05 – Should We Carry On [2018 Remaster]
06 – Leave Me Alone [2018 Remaster]
07 – Sweet Body [2018 Remaster]
08 – Bix [2018 Remaster]
09 – She Waits For Me [2018 Remaster]
10 – After The Love Is Gone [2018 Remaster]
BONUS TRACKS / PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED:
11 – Should We Carry On (Demo Version)
12 – She Waits For Me (Demo Version)
13 – You Can Count On Me (Demo Version)

Tommy Funderburk: vocals
Jay Graydon: guitar, vocals
David Foster: keyboards

Jeff Porcaro, Mike Baird: drums
David Hungate: bass
Steve Lukather: add. rhythm guitars
Steve Porcaro, Pete Robinson: synthesizer
Ray Parker, Jr.: additional rhythm guitars
Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, Steve Madaio & more: horns
Bill Champlin, Tom Kelly, Max Gronenthal: backing vocals

BUY IT
www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SICP-10122