A reunion of West Coast studio pros, 1993's Airplay for the Planet found guitarist Jay Graydon bringing together many longtime friends for a smooth, laid-back production that evoked the classic soft rock and adult-contemporary pop of the '70s and '80s. A virtuoso guitarist who famously played the solo on Steely Dan's 1977 classic "Peg," Graydon had built up a deep list of performance, songwriting, and production credits by the early '90s. Working with close collaborators keyboardist David Foster and Chicago singer Bill Champlin, he had picked up a Grammy for penning Earth, Wind & Fire's 1979 hit "After the Love Has Gone," which he and Foster also included on their superb 1980 album Airplay. In a sense, Airplay for the Planet works as a follow-up to that one-off project as Graydon and his cohorts bring all of their vast experience to bear on a set of original songs, some classic and some that sound classic. Foster returns for several cuts, including a reworked version of "After the Love Has Gone," this time featuring lyricist Champlin on lead vocals. Also coming on board for equally hooky and relaxed tracks are Toto singer Joseph Williams, vocalist Warren Wiebe, keyboardist/singer Bill Cantos, Kalapana bassist Kenji Sano, trumpeter Jerry Hey, and others.