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.

Let’s return to the 1970s today, shall we? Up for some pre-teen pop, maybe? Wait, don’t go! It’s better than you may think.

The Keane Brothers by The Keane Brothers (1977) is another early David Foster production. The record was released when John Keane was 11 and Tom Keane 12, and all songs (save one) were written by the brothers themselves. Both of them were multi-instrumentalists and they were coached by their dad, Bob Keane, musician, producer and owner of Del-Fi Records. These guys were pretty amazing — take a look at this clip from a TV show in early 1977. It’s John on drums and Tom on piano and vocals. “Amy (Show The World You’re There)” refers to Amy Carter, by the way:

The Keane Brothers consists of light pop with some unmistakable David Foster trademarks. He produced and arranged the album and, as usual, he’s in good company: The Tower of Power horn section, Bill Champlin on background vocals and arrangements, Larry Carlton and Jay Graydon on guitars, Jeff Porcaro, Ed Greene and Nigel Olsson on drums and Lee Sklar and Mike Porcaro on bass.

All these guys had settled as first-call studio players by this time, and you can find them on most of Foster’s productions (and just about everything else recorded between 1977 and 1990) along with the rest of the gang: Dean Parks, John Robinson, Dave Hungate, Abe Laboriel, Mike Landau, Ray Parker, Jr., and so on — you’re a Popdose reader, so you probably know the deal.

Now that you know who plays on all these records I’m writing about, I guess there’s no need for me to ever bring it up again. Too bad; I love listing session musicians. (more…)