Forever Air Supply

The Definitive Collection more than lives up to its title's promise, delivering 18 tracks, including all of Air Supply's Top 40 singles – "Lost in Love," "All Out of Love," "Every Woman in the World," "Here I Am (Just When I Thought I Was Over You)," "Sweet Dreams," "Even the Nights Are Better," "Young Love," "Two Less Lonely People in the World," "Just as I Am" – plus the original Australian version of "Lost in Love." A pair of latter-day singles that didn't make the Top 40 are missing, but they're not missed, since what is here is prime Air Supply – the best songs they ever recorded. Granted, it won't convince any doubters, but this is the ideal collection for both dedicated and casual fans, while being perhaps the most listenable item in their catalog.

Air Supply is known worldwide for swooning the ladies off their feet. This time, Hitchcock and Russell are taking the festive route, recording some of the most beloved holiday classics of all time. The production standards and performances are polished and no less than what you'd expect from the duo, but of course this will not appeal to some. It's an easily accessible and enjoyable album for both casual listeners and die-hard fans of the group's output.

Greatest hits albums are a big thing for Air Supply. Their first, 1983's Greatest Hits, is their biggest seller in the United States, earning five platinum certifications within its first decade of release, after which it was continually replaced by collections both considered and sloppy. All of which is to say, Real Gone Music's 2016 The Columbia & Arista Years: The Definitive Collection has some stiff competitors for the title of definitive Air Supply compilation, but this physical rendition of the 2014 digital release The Essential Air Supply does offer an overview of the soft rock duo's prime that's thorough in a way its predecessors aren't. Much of this is due to sheer length: at 30 tracks and two CDs, it's nearly a third longer than the previous standard bearer, 2003's Ultimate Air Supply (and it doesn't replicate all of that disc's songs, either, cutting away four tracks most fans won't miss).

Two-time Grammy winner/arranger/producer/songwriter/guitarist Jay Graydon's credits include hits by Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire ("After the Love Is Gone," co-written with David Foster and Bill Champlin), Steely Dan, Dionne Warwick, Air Supply, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau ("Mornin'"), Breakin' Away, Heart's Horizon, High Crime, Jarreau, This Time, the Manhattan Transfer ("Twilight Zone"), George Benson ("Turn Your Love Around"), Cher, Christopher Cross, DeBarge ("Who's Holding Donna Now"), Barry Manilow (Even Now), and El Debarge, among many others. He also was involved with the soundtracks to Ghostbusters, Miami Vice, and St. Elmo's Fire. Graydon co-wrote "She's in Love," a track on Brenda Russell's Hidden Beach/Epicdebut album Paris Rain issued on July 18, 2000.