The second Air Supply album ‘Love And Other Bruises’ sounds so west coast America, fans of Orleans.and Bread would have found much to like in their music.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Air Supply
ALBUM: Love And Other Bruises
LABEL: CBS
SERIAL: PC 35047
YEAR: 1977
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Australia, USA
LINEUP: Russell Hitchcock – lead vocals * Graham Russell – lead vocals * Ross Salomone – drums, percussion * Geoff Eyrecht – bass * Rick Lotempio – guitars * Tony Berg – guitars * Joey Carbone – keyboards, backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Love And Other Bruises * 02 What A Life – Parts 1 And 2 * 03 Feel The Breeze * 04 Who Will Love Me Now * 05 Do It Again * 06 End Of The Line * 07 Ready For You * 08 Empty Pages * 09 Does It Matter * 10 That’s How The Whole Thing Started
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
The Air Supply story has been well documented over the years, the duo of Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock becoming one of the greatest exponents of soft rock sounds in the 1980’s, but the climb to the top on the MOR charts wasn’t as rocket fast it might have seemed.
‘Love And Other Bruises’, their second album scored with a hit single (the title track) in their native Australia which was followed by a tour down under with Rod Stewart. Pleased with his new found opening act, Rod ‘the bod’ requested the band open for him on his North American dates, but Air Supply failed to impress many in the lower 48 and the album essentially tanked.
The Songs
Funny thing about ‘Love And Other Bruises’ it sounds so west coast America. Fans of Orleans and Bread would have found much to like in the music of Air Supply, but the band rocked as well with ‘End Of The Line’ sounding very much like fellow countrymen Sherbet.
There are plenty of early signs of the soft rock genius to come with the title track and ‘Who Will Love Me Now’ standing out as some of their best work. There are brief flirtations with disco on a couple tracks, but they are really not that bad and won’t deter you from enjoying the record in the least. Just take it in the context of the era it was recorded.
In Summary
Air Supply’s follow-up ‘Life Support’ would feature an early version of the massive hit ‘Lost In Love’ and it was based on this song that the ever present Clive Davis would sign the band to a lucrative contract on Arista. Numerous hit singles would follow and Air Supply became a household name around the world, even venturing into some pretty good AOR on their later discs. ‘Love And Other Bruises’ isn’t their best album, but definitely deserves a listen.
Air Supply on Video
End Of The Line
Click to go to YTM album page.
