Air Supply Now and Forever

Anyone remember The Alarm? They're a rock band that had some major success in the early 80s, around the same period that AS was huge, thought their musical style is very different. Anyway, they've had a similiar situation as AS and other 80s badns in that they've kept making quality records and touring but nothingnew gets touched by radio. Frustrated, and out to prove a point, they released their latest (at the time, I think it was 2004) song under a fictional band name and even shot the video using a young, hip-looking band as stad ins. No one was aware that it was The Alarm performing the song. The single received tons of critical praise (several critics saying they sounded like the Alarm back when the Alarm was good, lol) and the song was a big hit on British radio where it was released.

Says a lot about image and radio and success.

Never heard of The Alarm. Clever idea. Sir Cliff Richard, also frustrated, did a similar thing with his 1998 album Real As I Wanna Be - he released the single Can't Keep This Feeling In, under the name BlacKnight, and it received plenty of publicity and radio airplay and charted well in Britain, until the true singer was revealed.


Alistair

LIL KING WROTE: "New Air Supply won't get radio play, no matter how good the song is"


well.. "this time" I wouldn't be so sure of it.. anyway.. that's a work for odds on records

Very interesting commentary about concealing the real identity of the artist and garnering more attention and praise because of it. I wasn't aware of The Alarm or Cliff Richard using this tactic.

The best example of this in my opinion was with Donny Osmond's "Soldier Of Love" in 1989. No one would touch him with a 10 foot pole, but it was a radio station in New York (WPLJ 95.5) that changed everything. Someone at the station was a really big fan and they started playing the song under the "mystery artist" title. They did this for weeks and it was a huge hit on that station. The plan was to reveal his identity after a few weeks. Osmond came on the air and revealed that it was him and all of a sudden he was cool again. Every station started playing it as a result of this tactic and the song hit #2 on the charts. If not for this scheme, I'm convinced the song would never have been a hit and I think Donny was convinced of this as well. Also, it opened the door enough for him that the follow up "Sacred Emotion" was a big hit too.

Dalver, I don't think it really matters how hard Odds On pushes this album and the single because they can't force the radio stations to add it to the playlist. I thought the new press release was very well done and I have no doubt they'll do the best they can to promote the record, but in the end it's up to the programming directors and DJs to take it to the masses.

- Ryan

Look out for a slightly different version of Dance with Me on the album... this week the band went into the studio to do the final master of the album!

Yikes, I hope this does not mean another delay. They are really tinkering with this record. That is good as they want the record to be close to perfection as possible.

Nope, no delay, everything's recorded and ready to rock. They're just making sure the album sounds as good as possible.

I wonder if they will have a studio mix with an ending that is similar to the way they perform it live.

I don't think this particular song will see any changes just due to the fact that it's being promoted on the Luck Media site.

Then again, I've been known to be wrong...from time to time.

I don't think the song structure will change, it will just undergo mastering (think of the Beatles catalogue remaster, producing a clearer, better sound).