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.

I received the new David Foster CD/DVD in the mail yesterday along with his autobiography, Hitman! Forty Years of Making Music, Topping Charts & Winning Grammys.

I wasn’t ecstatic in any way - I jumped up and down a couple of times and did a pirouette in front of my bewildered wife - nothing major. The CD concept was a bit of a disappointment — no studio recordings, merely a selection of audio files from the PBS Special Tribute Concert featured on the DVD. I didn’t expect this Vegas extravaganza to affect me in any way, and a small part of me didn’t even want to see it. After all, what could Eric Benet, Michael Johns, or Katharine McPhee bring to the table? Sure, I used to adore David Foster, but I’m not that guy anymore - I haven’t been for the past 15 years. David Foster’s syrupy ballads doesn’t move my heart these days; John Coltrane and Bill Evans do.

And even though I always tell people I’m so uncool, it’s really just a way to downplay people’s expectations. I’m secretly convinced that I’m about the coolest person on this side of the North Pole. I have a giant ego and no doubt a seriously disturbed positive self-image. And most importantly, David Foster, Peter Cetera or “I Swear” have no place whatsoever in this delusion. So, when I sat down to watch the DVD, I was prepared to laugh at Peter Cetera’s spasmodic performance jerks. I was prepared to tsk and groan in despair as this poperatic catastrophe evolved before my eyes and ears.

Then something funny happened. I was about to turn away as Kenny G entered the picture two minutes into the concert, but once again the seductive tones of “Love Theme from St. Elmo’s Fire” had me transfixed. I suddenly took in the beautiful autumn leaves flowing over the background screen, I found myself smiling at Foster’s playful glances at his audience. And good, old Kenny G — he looked pretty great for a 52-year-old, didn’t he? NO! I did not think that thought! But I did. (more…)

Today marks the final post of 2008 for Bottom Feeders. So instead of starting the letter G and then going on break, let’s take a look back at the first 33 weeks of the series, with what I believe are the ten best, the ten worst, and the ten rarest songs in the series up to this point.

The Best
10. Jimmy Buffett, “It’s My Job” (download)
9. Bee Gees, “You Win Again” (download)
8. Crosby, Stills & Nash, “War Games” (download)
7. The Time, “The Oak Tree” (download)
6. The Cult, “Fire Woman” (download)
5. Dragon, “Rain” (download)
4. Devo, “Theme From Doctor Detroit” (download)
3. Jon Astley, “Jane’s Getting Serious” (download)
2. Joan Armatrading, “Drop the Pilot” (download)
1. The Cure, “Lullaby” (download)

I’ve listened to every song I own in my collection — every track to hit the Hot 100, thousands of tracks on the R&B and dance charts, and album after album, but listening to all of these songs pretty thoroughly while writing them up for Bottom Feeders has opened my ears to some tunes I didn’t realize were so good. Two of those are “You Win Again” by the Bee Gees, which I couldn’t stop listening to weeks after I posted it, and “War Games” by Crosby, Stills & Nash, which I listened to repeatedly only after reading your comments on it.

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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.

Book a seat. David Foster is set to score a new musical about Betty Boop, and the show aims to debut on Broadway in the 2010-2011 season. David Foster has worked on Broadway musicals before - he won a Grammy for his production work on Dreamgirls starring Jennifer Holliday in 1982 - but this will be his debut as a composer. And I may be some sort of Foster expert, but never in a million years would I have predicted that his next career move included Betty Boop. David Foster continues to surprise and amaze us.

This is an appropriate time to bring out some of the weirdest and most unlikely collaborations throughout the recorded history of David Foster, wouldn’t you agree? I’ve been waiting for the right moment and this seems to be it.

Foster has been so eclectic and productive in his career that it’s tempting to assume that nothing he has ever done can come as a surprise at this point. Yet he has specialized in music so firmly planted in the “middle-of-the-road” that it’s hard to convince people he’s actually done anything in his career besides overproducing piano-driven ballads with high-pitched male vocalists and divas.

Of course, faithful readers of this series know better. The Rocky Horror Show and Jaye P. Morgan hardly fit the bill of your average Foster gig. He played on the Wheel of Fortune theme and he co-wrote a song called “Thicke of the Night” with Alan Thicke. Here are a couple of sessions which may make your jaw drop even further. Then again, maybe not — Betty Boop probably did the trick. (more…)

This week you get another extended post so we can finish up the letter F nice and clean. Without further ado, I give you the final batch of artists whose names begin with the sixth letter of the alphabet and who reached the ass end of the Billboard Hot 100 in the ’80s.

Fortune
“Stacy” — 1985, #80 (download)

Fortune is an AOR band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. They released their debut self-titled record in ‘78, had a track called “Airwaves” on the Last American Virgin soundtrack in ‘82, then finally got around to their second album (also self-titled) in ‘85. “Stacy” comes from the second album, which includes a whole mess of generic light-rock tunes.

David Foster
“The Best of Me” — 1986, #80 (download)
“Winter Games” — 1988, #85 (download)

There’s just no way I have it in me to discuss the shittiness of Foster’s duet with Olivia Newton-John, “The Best of Me,” or Foster in general, when Terje Fjelde lives and breathes the guy — read Into the Ear of Madness while listening to these tracks.

4 by Four
“Want You for My Girlfriend” — 1987, #79 (download)

My first thought was 4 by Four simply wanted to be the next New Edition: good-looking kids with slick pop-filled R&B hooks. But I listen to this song and hear a lot of Prince in it as well. Zero in on the 2:20 mark and I swear you’ll hear the first bar of Prince’s “Controversy.”

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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 the man. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.

Jeff, Popdose’s editor-in-chief, has a crush on Jack Wagner. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that (actually, there is, but it’s generally not a good idea to throw rocks from a glass house). But I do fear that my future here at Popdose would be in danger if I failed to mention David Foster’s collaborations with Wagner, so here we go. For those of you who don’t know the man, Jack Wagner is an American singer and television actor who’s graced such classic soap operas as General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful as well as the prime-time soap Melrose Place. On occasion he’s even managed to combine his two careers, sculpting magical moments like this, and if that doesn’t bring tears to your eyes I honestly don’t know what will. Wagner is also respected amongst his Hollywood peers for his golfing ability.

“All I Need,” released in 1984, is his only Top 40 hit. It was written and produced by Clif Magness and Glen Ballard, a prolific songwriting team in the ’80s. This post, however, isn’t dedicated to “All I Need” at all, but rather to the follow-up single, “Lady of My Heart,” a blank ballad written by Foster, Ballard, and Jay Graydon that, to my surprise, actually managed to climb all the way up to #76 on the Billboard chart in the spring of ‘85.

“Lady of My Heart,” by Jack Wagner, from All I Need (1984)

It’s incredibly bland — I can’t listen to it without conjuring an image of a snotty high school senior with a Clark Kent hairdo singing his heartfelt rendition in front of his teachers and fellow students toward the end of an episode of Fame after learning a lesson or two about the hard realities of showbiz. Cut to Bruno and Coco smiling knowingly at each other as the end credits appear over the lame freeze-frame.

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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.

When I heard “Love Theme from St. Elmo’s Fire” for the first time in 1985 or 1986, it was the also the first time that I became aware of David Foster. I had a friend at the time, a spoiled little brat who used to sport a white skipper hat and a ponytail, kept about 25 pastel-colored linen suits in the style of Don Johnson in his walk-in closet along with matching espadrillos, and drove a banana-colored Citroen Visa — and of course he and his family were always the innovators: they were the first ones on our street to own a Betamax, the first ones with a modem and he was the first kid to get an Amiga (an ancient personal computer). We always used to laugh at his poor gaming skills, though, especially on this insanely addictive timewaster called Marble Madness, and when we did, he turned all red in the face, promptly turned off his computer and threw us out of the house. Every time. Then we laughed even harder — he was such a poor loser.

Ah, good times.

Anyway, he was also the first kid to buy a CD player, and I will never forget the day that he and I and some other guys went to the library and picked up a couple of CDs to put his new brand new player to the test. I hadn’t seen the movie yet, but I had heard “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” on the radio, and it was about the coolest thing I had ever heard, so I pleaded him to bring along the St. Elmo’s Fire soundtrack. He was more of a Mantronix (!) man, but he reluctantly agreed. (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 the man. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.

I’m on vacation, spending the rest of the week by the Mediterranean, but hagen wouldn’t let me off the hook, so here’s a little something for you to enjoy while I’m away. Due to the circumstances, I’m afraid this week’s entry will be painfully short. I left my Fosterclopedia tools at home, so there’ll be no amusing anecdotes or pointless trivia to accompany the music. You may claim that I could have foreseen these events and written this week’s post ahead of schedule, and of course you’re absolutely right. But that’s just not how I work. To paraphrase David Foster, I’m “living for the moment” (from his 1990 solo album River of Love).

“Hold Me Til the Morning Comes,” by Paul Anka

We’re starting this week with a duet. You may remember my duet ramblings from last time, when I mentioned the Paul Anka-Peter Cetera collaboration. I’m sure you were excited by the idea, and who am I to let you down? Here’s the track in all its splendor. Someone — I think some guy at a fan site — noted that it sounds like a lost track from Chicago 17, and I agree. Replace Mr. Anka with Bill Champlin and you’ve got a perfect Chicago ballad (”perfect” being a relative term, of course) in the style of “Hard Habit to Break.”

“I Can Wait Forever,” by Air Supply (from the Ghostbusters soundtrack)

And then we have this memorable ballad from Australia’s most popular soft rockers. It’s my favorite Air Supply ballad, if indeed there is such a thing. “I Can Wait Forever” is a tight, solid David Foster production in the style that made him so famous (or infamous, depending on your tastes) in the early 1980s. In fact, both of the featured songs’ melodies are really strong and infectious. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself humming these tunes as you’re walking home from work this afternoon; I know I do it on a pretty regular basis (note the deliberate ambiguity here).

That’s all for this week. We’ll soon be done with all these power ballads, and then we’ll enter the realm of David Foster: The Solo Artist. Well, gotta go — I have an appointment with Michael Caine and Steve Martin in about half an hour.

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 the man. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.

“I have a style, but it’s very subtle.”
David Foster, March 1985

“What About Me,” by Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes & James Ingram, from Kenny Rogers’s “What About Me,” 1984

It may be a little-known fact that David Foster is one of the dominant forces in the history of the modern duet pop ballad, but throughout the last 25 years he has peppered the charts with duets in all flavors, in addition to trios, quadruples, quintripets and whatnots. Oh, yes. It started in the early ’80s, when he played a couple of duet sessions, like, “Baby, Come to Me” and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” with Patti Austin and James Ingram and “Love All the Hurt Away” with Aretha Franklin and George Benson.

In 1983, after he produced the Bob Seger tune “We’ve Got Tonight” for Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton, all hell broke loose in terms of power duets. “We’ve Got Tonight” was a monster hit and ever since that, Foster has written and produced up to several duets every single year: John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John, David Foster/Newton-John, Paul Anka/Peter Cetera, Julio Iglesias/Stevie Wonder, Lou Rawls/Tata Vega… and let’s not forget Chicago’s Grammy-winning “Hard Habit to Break,” which is a duet between Peter Cetera and Bill Champlin.

There’s no point carrying on, really — I could continue for days.

Then there’s “What About Me,” Foster and Rogers’ follow-up single to the insanely successful “We’ve Got Tonight.” They topped it in all possible ways. Written by Foster, Rogers and Richard Marx, there’s pretty much a modulation for every verse, chorus and bridge. There are strings, horns, splashing cymbals and toms and a plethora of keyboards. There are not two, but three lead vocalists, all of them had enjoyed substantial chart success in the preceding years and all of them, amusingly, are wondering “what about me?”

So what about “What About Me?” (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.

In 1982, hot on the heels of his success as a producer and songwriter for Chicago 16, David Foster started recording his first solo album for a Japanese label. Following in the footsteps of his easy listening forefather Burt Bacharach, he recorded instrumental versions of hit songs he had written for other artists. That is, some of them were already hits — and others had lyrics added to them and became hits later on.

“I just rolled a twenty-four track machine and a board into my music room and a bunch of synthesizers. l got up every morning and went into the music room and started recording. It was great and really therapeutic. The guys from the Tubes heard l was doing an album that was one step up from elevator music and they said ‘you’re not producing us again.” David Foster, March 1985

Foster himself has stated that the record is “nothing major,” and most people will indeed identify the self-titled 1986 album on Atlantic as his solo debut. The Best of Me is almost exclusively the sound of Foster’s keyboards, so in a sense the title is appropriate. In addition to an acoustic piano and the Fender Rhodes, there are a lot of antiquated synth sounds which I, for one, find rather charming, but will probably make most of you think of groceries and frozen food. (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.

Today’s entry is dedicated in its entirety to a genuine soft rock classic, a formidable milestone which embodies just about everything I love about this kind of music. It’s more or less a re-post of an entry I did for my own blog a couple of year ago, but no one read it then and I can’t think of a better way to describe it, so here we go:

Kenny Loggins - “Heart to Heart,” from High Adventure (1982)

Kenny Loggins was never the one who kicked you in the ass with his no-nonsense musical attitude. He’s more like the musical equivalent of a friendly pat on the shoulder - and yes, he’s frequently nonsensical. But that doesn’t really bother me. He’s had a couple of magical moments in his career, and this is one of them. As far as I’m concerned, “Heart to Heart” is the definition of smooth music - and I mean that in a good way. It was co-written by Loggins with Michael McDonald and David Foster.

The song is firmly rooted in 1982. There’s a synth ambiance, but it’s tasteful and discrete. It has a warm and analogue feel. Had he recorded this a year later, the acoustic piano riffs would’ve been “Jump”-style synth riffs fronting a static synth bass and drum machines. A couple of years earlier, and he’d surely have vocoded the background vocals to a disco beat or something like that. Thank God for 1982.

From the three opening chords you can tell this is going to be done just right. On the one hand you’ve got Michael McDonald starting up his groove on the Fender Rhodes, on the other you’ve got David Foster syncopating away on his acoustic piano. Enter two percussionists (Lenny Castro and Paulinho Da Costa), a drummer (Tris Imboden - the guy who replaced Danny Seraphine in Chicago) and some excellent thumb bass fills (courtesy of Derek Jackson), and we’re off.

This is it. (more…)