written by David Foster & Maurice White

In 1978, David Foster went to the Sunset Sound recording studios for a meeting with one of the most successful groups of those days, Earth, Wind & Fire. The young, talented musician submitted to EWF’s leader, Maurice White, a song that he had recently co-written with his pals Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin.

The tune was an amazing ballad entitled “After The Love Has Gone” and the rest is music history. White, being the incredible music-maker and visionary he is, immediately understood the superior skills of the young Foster and invited him to go to his place in Carmel to work together on new material. Eventually, in just a few days they would co-write the bulk of what would become the platinum-plus smash “I Am.” One of those gems, entitled “Diana,” didn’t make the original album. It was left in the vaults until 2004 when “I Am” was reissued in a remastered version with bonus tracks.

“Diana” is a soul/pop goodie that presents all the vintage elements of EWF’s classic sound like smooth vocals, percussions, tight horns and a rich, lush arrangement plus it gets really funky towards the end. It clearly belongs to the original album’s atmosphere and becomes a welcome addition to it. The reissue of “I Am” also includes another good unreleased, funky instrumental entitled “Dirty.”

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/diana.mp3|titles=Diana|artists=Earth, Wind & Fire]

Performed by Earth, Wind & Fire

Produced by Maurice White

Produced for reissue by Lee Sacks & Maurice White

Lyrics

no lyrics

If you make a poll among quality pop listeners or Foster’s fans and ask them what’s their favorite record ever, the answer you’ll get 95% of the times will be “Airplay”. This album is a true masterpiece and a pure delight to listen to. In 1980, David Foster and Jay Graydon got a contract from RCA and formed a band together with session singer Tommy Funderburk. As Airplay they recorded many great, original songs including a couple of tunes, “After The Love Is Gone” and “Nothing You Can Do About It” that have already been hits for EW&F and the Manhattan Transfer. This CD includes some of the best Foster tunes ever like the uptempo pop “Crying All Night”, the jazzy, swinging “Bix” orthe sweet ballads “It Will Be Alright” and “Should We Carry On”.

Considering we already mentioned “After The Love Is Gone” quite a few times in our past reviews, we thought it was right to pick that one for you to listen to. It is interesting to hear the original composers’ take on the tune, how they arranged it, and in this case we can call the result a true work of art. From Foster’s intro to Funderburk and Bill Champlin’s lead vocals, to Graydon’s guitar solo, to Jerry Hey’s horns on to the fantastic jazzy ending, all in these 4 minutes and 29 seconds is perfect.

David Foster & Jay Graydon were a match made in heaven, they both helped each other a lot in their production works for people like Al Jarreau, Peter Allen, Dionne Warwick, Hall & Oates which didn’t sell millions but in terms of quality were simply fantastic.

Lead Vocals: Tommy Funderburk & Bill Champlin
Drums: Mike Baird & Jeff Porcaro
Bass: David Hungate
Keyboards: David Foster
Guitars: Jay Graydon
Back Vocals: Tommy Funderburk & Bill Champlin
Trumpets: Jerry Hey, Gary Grant & Steve Madaio
Trombones: Bill Reichenbach, Charlie Loper & Lew McCreary
Track ARR. by David Foster & Jay Graydon
Horn ARR. by Jerry Hey & David Foster
Produced by David Foster & Jay Graydon

Lyrics

For awhile, to love was all we could do
we were young and new and your eyes were alive
deep inside we knew our love was true

For awhile, we paid no mind to the past
we knew love would last, every night – something right
would invite us to begin the dance

But something happened along the way
what used to be happy was sad
something happened along the way
and yesterday was all that we had

Oh, after the love is gone
how could you lead me on
and not let me stay around
Oh, after the love is gone
what used to be right is wrong
can love that was lost be found

For awhile, to love each other was all we would ever need
love was strong for so long
we never knew that was wrong was right
we tried to find what we’d had but sadness was all that we shared
we were scared our affair would tear our love in two

But something happened along the way
what used to be happy was sad
something happened along the way
and yesterday was all that we had