Air Supply Now and Forever

Another good reason to go to a show.

Just watched it. Graham and the others are onstage, too..just not lit well so thy're had to notice.

But, yeah, clearly the focus of the performance is Russell and those wonderful Countdown dancers. Countdown must have been your equivalent to Solid Gold. Shimmery dancers: check. Lip-synched top 40 hits: check. Was the host, by any chance, an Australian pop star?

Cool, it's been a while since I've seen it so glad he's there somewhere!

The version that I've seen certainly isn't lip-synched though, Russell performs it live. His vocals sound different from the studio recording. The dancers are just terrible.

The host, 'Molly' Meldrum, was a popular Australian music critic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Meldrum

Live vocals over studio backing track? I always notice on these types of shows from the 70s and 80s that the performances aren't live. Sometimes a live vocal but the music is always the studio version. For a long time, here in the States, the only show of this type that actually featured live performances, and banned lip-synching, was The Midnight Special.

Yeah the backing track sounds the same, but Russell's vocals are definitely "live". I've seen a version of Love and Other Bruises performed with live vocals on Countdown, too (as well as a pre-recorded version).

Our Solid Gold was hosted for a while by an Aussie pop star...good ol' Andy Gibb had the job for a while.

I love Andy's voice and his songs - sad he died so young.

Alistair

My favorite Andy Gibb song (did Ijust say that?) is the briliant Time Is Time, which he put out right before he passed. Upon news of his death, the lyrics of that song struckj me as ominously prescient.

Yeah - very ominous. I didn't know that was his last released hit. My favourite Andy Gibb song is 'Desire', with 'An Everlasting Love', 'Dreamin' On' and 'I Just Want To Be Your Everything' a centimetre behind.

Alistair

I digress. Time Is Tiime was out about 6 years before his death, not right before. He had a couple singles after that one, both duets, one with Olivia Newton John, the other with Victoria Principle, but Time Is Time was his last solo hit before he died.

We had that show 'Solid Gold' down here for a while, although I can't recall who hosted it. I remember videotaping a number of songs, specifically my favourite country singer Eddie Rabbitt doing the duet You And I with Crystal Gayle. You'd have a few Rabbitt records rollicking 'round, Rick, in your mammoth collection, wouldn't you? The U.S. must have loved him - 26 Country Number Ones - I can't imagine anyone having that many. But with a voice like that, it was easy to see why.


Alistair