AirBorne

An American AOR outfit issued just one album during 1979 and then disbanded, although several of its musicians later achieved notable commercial accomplishments in other projects. The lineup consisted of Larry Stewart (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Mike Baird (drums), Beau Hill (vocals, guitar, keyboards), David Zychek (vocals, guitar) and John Pierce (vocals, bass), and the record stands among the stronger specimens of late-1970s U.S. AOR. Even with its emphasis on radio-friendly hooks across tracks such as “No Exception To The Rule” and “Wastin’ My Time,” the immaculate vocal harmonies characteristic of the style, and the sleek production overseen by DeVore and Olsen, the effort surprisingly underperformed commercially, resulting in no follow-up. Hill subsequently moved to Shanghai and later established himself as a producer, most prominently with Ratt, while Baird emerged as one of the genre’s premier session drummers, contributing to work with Van Stephenson, Giant and Journey.