Hit Man: David Foster & Friends

Performer: Various Artists/David Foster
Artist: Kenny G
Engineer: Antonio Resendiz; David Reitzas; Jochem Van Der Saag; Ryan Kennedy; Jorge Vivo
Producer: David Foster
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Tributee: David Foster. Personnel: Jochem van der Saag (programming). Audio Mixers: Dave Reitzas; Mick Guzauski. Canadian David Foster has created one of the odder niches in the pop music world; as a producer, he's worked with an almost impossible array of artists; as a writer, he's penned some of the more haunting Top 10 love songs; as a performing artist, he was a two-time one-hit wonder, scaling the charts in 1973 with the breezy "Wildfire," and again (solo) in 1985, with the easy-listening instrumental "Love Theme From `St. Elmo's Fire'." In 2008, an astonishing lineup of million-selling musicians gathered to show their love on the PBS special HIT MAN. The gala features Foster holding court on piano and as emcee, opening with his mellow `80s hit, introducing friends like Kenny G and Celine Dion. Rising Filipina singer-star Charice hits a high note on her stirring rendition of songs Foster produced for Whitney Houston. Foster's 1980s association with Chicago is represented in medley form, with Peter Cetera dropping by to perform a trifecta of `80s hits. Overall, it's a fitting feting for an essential pop figure. The stage is not David Foster's domain -- he is a creature of the studio, writing, producing, and arranging hits for countless artists. Many of those artists return their gratitude on Hit Man: David Foster & Friends, a CD/DVD set -- as all live albums are in the late 2000s -- that captures a rare concert by Foster at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay in May 2008. It's a stroll through Foster's back catalog that is considerably more impressive on DVD than it is on CD: the DVD contains a whopping 30 songs and the CD a measly nine highlights, cutting out such singers as Michael Johns, Eric Benet, Andrea Bocelli, Babyface, the mighty Boz Scaggs, and the even mightier Barbra Streisand entirely. In other words, it's a live album designed for home theaters -- something that the crisp, clean, roomy production on the CD makes clear, too -- where it can be treated as the spectacle it was intended to be. Whether or not you consider this to be a spectacle is of course a matter of taste: if you would scream loudly for the opening strains of "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" and scream even louder for Kenny G's cameo on the tune, then this is an album for you. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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