Band:
Jim Foster (Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keys)
Doug Edwards, Vern Wills (Bass)
Dave Pickell, Scott Goodfellow (Keyboards)
Daryl Burgess (Drums)
Tim McGillveroy (Prcussion)
Discography:
Power Libes (1986)
Lone Bird (2010)
info:
Bill Henderson, Walter Stewart, Jim Foster - production
Engineered by: Keith Stein
Mixed by : Rob Rock
Mastered by: George Marino
guests
Paul Hyde, Marc LaFrance, Nancy Nash, Lori Paul (Backing Vocals)
Jean Piche - programming
Matt Frenette - percussion, timbales
Released 27/5-2011
Reviewed 8/7-2011
Links:
jimfoster.ca
myspace
yesterrock
In case you are wondering about the shoe, it is one shoe specialised for the purpose of power line dancing which is quite the common hobby in Quillacollo and what could be a better album cover than that? The album in itself was a fairly successful album reaching the top ten of the UK charts and the single X-ray Eyes reaching top 30 of the american Billboard lists. Even though the success of the album it was only released on vinyl and never CD, until now. German Yesterrock found this long forgotten gem in an old chest in the attic of a beaver and when they heard it they figured it was so good that they just had to reissue it in form of a CD. For you who need to know, Jim was before going solo for this part of a the fairly successful band Fosterchild that released three albums in the late 70s before disbanding leaving all to fend for themselves and Jim went for his own work. This is his debut and for it he had some help from rather known artists from the Vancouver rock scene. Jim has released two albums during his solo career, at least as far as I know.
The music on the CD is melodic rock or as some would call it, AOR. As already suggested by the first sentence, it is a very melodic album with crystal clear production and polished clean sound. One thing that will be apparent for the listener is the use of keys for broadening the musical pallet and add some atmosphere and melodicness to the album. Jim’s voice is not the screaming high pitched one, he has more of a rock voice, much like the band is more of a rock band.
Impressed I am, both with the very good and timeless sound on the album but also with the really great songs that I can find there. Sure, not all songs are brilliant but about half of the 36 minutes this album goes on for are. The album really invites you in with some amazing hooks and melodic adventures in the almost title track Dancin’ on the Power Lines which is great and it invites you into the album in the best possible way. Worth mentioning is also the fourth track called Maggie, not for the title or the lyrics but for it being a really good track with some excellent melodies and musical quality. Then while I am at it why should I not mention a great track like Quicker than the Eye? There is no reason not to. Then I also must mention the single track called X-Ray Eyes which is another great piece of music. So, now I have said some track names and called them great.
Even though this album was released in the same time as Attila and his Huns were running around invading stuff it has a really modern sound, I would say that it is a timeless piece of music with the clean sound and also very melodic sound that bridges the gaps of time that exist between my days and the days when electricity was not yet invented. Sure maybe I am exaggerating the timescape ever so slightly but the album was released originally in 1986 which actually making it celebrate its 25th birthday this year, coincidence? No idea.
A great album, a hidden gem as some would call it but it is a testament to the fact that some great music just vanishes for no reason at all. This is actually an album that should have been released on CD a long time ago since it was really good enough and has always been good enough to merit a remaster. Thankfully now Yesterrock found this album and decided it was finally time to release it on CD. Thanks Yesterrock for digging up this great album and allowing us all to discover or rediscover it.
HHHHHHH
