Over the next year Terje Fjelde has agreed to listen to nothing but David Foster on his iPod. He’s loaded the thing with over 1,200 songs produced, arranged, composed, and/or played by David Foster. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.

Are you ready for some Barbra Streisand and Gary Wright? Of course you are.

I think Jeff is waiting for me to crack any moment now. You know, that’s why he wanted me to do this series in the first place. A year with nothing but David Foster? You won’t last three weeks!

Guess what? I’m enjoying myself. I’m digging up information on all these old 1970s acts I never knew the first thing about, and at the same time I’m revisiting my youth listening to his mid-1980s stuff. Good or bad, those songs from the 1980s were such an important part of my life when I was about 15 — and I remember exactly why I thought they were great.

That’s not to say I still think it’s all great music — it isn’t. On the other hand, I don’t think it sucks, either, even though I kinda oughta. But hey, I’m not a professional music critic — I don’t have to conclude either way. As long as the music still matters to me one way or another, it’s good in my book. (more…)

Over the next year Terje Fjelde has agreed to listen to nothing but David Foster on his iPod. He’s loaded the thing with over 1,200 songs produced, arranged, composed, and/or played by David Foster. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.

Thanks for all the encouraging words in the comments section last week. You almost convinced me that me pulling this series off is about as likely as someone making a soft landing on Celine Dion’s ass (thanks, hagen.) But I’m hanging in there.

I’ve been listening a lot to David Foster’s early work in the past week and I’m actually excited about a lot of it. His session work at the time was diverse, and it’s pretty much like a snapshot of the music scene in L.A. in the mid-1970s, with a bit of country, a bit of folk, a bit of funk and two bits of AM pop/rock.

You know, at an early point in his career Foster was a relatively rocking, funky session pianist — always a very polished one for sure, but he had rocking, funky moments. In the early 1980s he abandoned the funk, and by 1990 the rock was gone as well — so what we’re left with throughout the past 20 years is basically… well, polish. And without any surface to apply it to that’s really just a lot of goo, isn’t it?

But I’m getting ahead of myself. (more…)

“Into the Ear of Madness (The Intro)”

Yup, that’s me. And my iPod. And David Foster. Everyone knows David Foster, right? The penultimate overproducer. The musician. The songwriter. The record executive. The TV reality star? Yes, indeed. The Canadian who alienated millions of rock fans with his supercommercial reinvention of bands like Chicago and the Tubes in the 1980s and the man who brought us Celine Dion, Josh Groban, and John Parr — or, as one blogger eloquently put it, “the least likely person on earth to undergo an ironic hipster resurgence.” Well, let’s give it a shot then, shan’t we?

David Foster was my hero throughout adolescence. I had an unabashed love for romantic ballads, dramatic key changes, and all kinds of e-piano-flavoured 1980s goodness. I’ve never been afraid to admit it, even though my tastes have expanded over the years.

I recently discussed my faded affection for the king of soft pop with Jeff, our Popdose editor, and here’s the deal we made: over the next year I will listen to nothing but David Foster on my iPod. I’ve loaded the thing with over 1,200 songs produced, arranged, composed, and/or played by David Foster. I cannot remove any of the tracks, and I can only add new tracks if they’re somehow related to David Foster. A deal with the devil? I keep wondering.

I’ve agreed to share my experience with all of you right here on Popdose. Will it really turn out to be a journey “into the ear of madness”? Will I grow to hate the sight of my iPod? Will the series be axed after a week due to serious displays of aggravation from Popdose readers? Time will tell.

Just for the record: No, I have not lost a bet. I’m not being punished by anyone. And as far as I know my faculties are intact — so far. (more…)