“This Is The Moment” is the opening track on Art Garfunkel’s “Lefty.” This album was a comeback for the legendary singer, seven years after the release of “Scissors Cut.” Garfunkel co-produced the majority of it with Geoff Emerick (the Beatles’ engineer) except two tracks that were produced by Jay Graydon. “The Rake” (Graydon) brought in “So Much In Love,” a nice pop song with a lovely “fifties” feel to it and “This Is The Moment,” a ballad co-written by David Foster with Ray Parker Jr. plus beautiful lyrics by Linda Thompson and Cynthia Weil. The song is really pretty, dominated by the keyboard playing of Foster and Robbie Buchanan. There’s also an effective guitar solo by Graydon while Steve Lukather takes care of the rhythm guitars. Garfunkel performs his trademark evocative vocals, helped here by Clif Magness’s tenor voice, that gives the song a little “Chicago” touch.
This song is the most appealing one for radio on the album and it could have been a good A.C. hit, but it wasn’t released as a single and, like its parent album, it went unnoticed. There are other nice moments on “Lefty,” especially a couple of numbers by Stephen Bishop who always knows how to write a good song. We especially like the acoustic beauty of “I Wonder Why” that places Garfunkel’s dreamy voice on a carpet of sweet strings.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/this_is_the_moment.mp3|titles=This is the moment|artists=Art Garfunkel]

Lead Vocal: Art Garfunkel
Synthesizers: David Foster, Robbie Buchanan & Jay Graydon
Guitar: Jay Graydon (solo) & Steve Lukather
Synclavier Programming: Gary Chang
Background Vocals: Clif Magness, Jon Joyce & Jim Haas
Arranged by David Foster & Jay Graydon
Produced by Jay Graydon

Lyrics

She said, “What went wrong?”
I said, “I loved you all along.”
She said, “How could you love me and hurt me like you do?”
Oh, no. I said, “Don’t say good-bye. Don’t go. Please don’t let us die.”
This Is The Moment we could close the door,
Or hold on and fight for the chance at something more.
This Is The Moment, and if we hang in,
It’s when we’ll really begin.
She said, “I’m so scared.”
I said, “Just think of what we’ve had.”
She said, “That was then, how can I feel that again?”
Oh, no. I said, “Don’t walk away. Don’t go, it’s hard as hell to stay,
But I know, you’ll understand someday, in times like this
We find out what we’re about.”
This Is The Moment we could close the door
Or hold on and fight for a chance at something more.
This Is The Moment we’ve got to hang in,
That’s when love really begins.
Oh, help me, please help me, hold us together.
I promise that we can still have forever.
Oh, no. I said, “Don’t say good-bye. Don’t go. Please don’t let us die.”
This Is The Moment we could close the door,
Or hold on and fight for the chance at something more.
This Is The Moment we’ve got to hang in,
It’s when we really begin.
This Is The Moment we could close the door,
Or hold on and fight for the chance at something more.
This Is The Moment we’ve got to hang in,
It’s when we really begin.
This Is The Moment we could close the door,
Or hold on and fight for the chance at something more.
This Is The Moment we’ve got to hang in,
It’s when we really begin.
(Repeat and Fade)

This song started out as an instrumental entitled “Chaka” on David Foster’s first solo record, “The Best Of Me.” This album included many of his earlier hits like “Mornin” and “Love, Look What You’ve Done To Me.” Given the title of the song, it was evident that Foster wanted Chaka Khan to record his composition. The producer’s wish came true just a few years later, in 1984, when the Illinois-born singer released her album, “I Feel For You.” It included songs like “Eye To Eye” by Michael Sembello, the title track (and giant hit) written by Prince, and “Through The Fire,” a Foster instrumental with new lyrics. “Through The Fire” is a timeless ballad, one of Chaka Khan’s trademark songs, and, without doubt, one of Foster’s best productions ever. The song is the meeting of the singer’s power and unique style with the pop sensibility and amazing talent of the Canadian-born songwriter/producer.

This tune was a big hit on R&B radio but it also crossed over to pop and adult contemporary charts where it reached the Top 20, giving Khan her first and only hit on that chart.
“Through The Fire” has been covered over the years by talented singers like Peabo Bryson, ‘Nita Whitaker and also as an instrumental by jazz players like Eliane Elias and Kirk Whalum. Recently, one worldwide hit entitled “Through The Wire” by hip hop artist Kanye West was built around Foster and Khan’s song. Another lesser-known but interesting cover was made a few years ago by one of its co-writers, Tom Keane, on his cd “Smoove and Juicy Covers.” Chaka Khan has recently released her biography. The title? “Through The Fire.” There’s also some talk of a Rufus & Chaka reunion. We really hope it happens because they really made some great music together in the past.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/through_the_fire_c.mp3|titles=Through the fire|artists=Chaka Khan]

All Vocals: Chaka Khan
All Keyboards & Synths: David Foster
Programming: Marcus Ryle
Bass: Nathan East
Drums: John Robinson
Guitar: Mike Landau
Arranged by David Foster
Vocals Produced by Arif Mardin
Produced by David Foster & Humberto Gatica

Lyrics

I look in your eyes and I can see, we’ve loved so dangerously
You’re not trusting your heart to anyone…
You tell me you’re gonna play it smart
We’re through before we start
But I believe that we’ve only just begun
When it’s this good there’s no saying no
I want you so I’m ready to go

Through the fire, to the limit, to the wall
For just to be with you I’d gladly risk it all
Through the fire, through whatever come what may
For a chance at loving you, I’d take it all the way…
Right down to the wire, even through the fire

I know you’re afraid of what you feel
Your still need time to heal
And I could help if you’ll only let me try
You touched me and something in me knew
What I could have with you,
Now I’m not ready to say goodbye
When it’s this good there’s no saying no
I want you so I’m ready to go

Through the fire, to the limit, to the wall
For just to be with you I’d gladly risk it all
Through the fire, through whatever come what may
For a chance at loving you, I’d take it all the way…
Right down to the wire, even through the fire
Through the fire, to the limit
(Repeat)

This is the platinum selling record that definitely established David Foster as a big name also in movie soundtracks. He already was writing and producing songs that were used in big movies like “Urban Cowboy” and “Ghostbusters” but from this moment on, he started writing whole movie scores and with this huge success, he found himself busy for the next few years writing the soundtracks to other hit movies like “The Secret Of My Success”, “Stealing Home” and “One Good Coop”.

There are big hits here too. “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)” reached #1 and “Love Theme From St. Elmo’s Fire” gave Foster the first hit under his own name. After a lifetime spent working behind the glass, (e was finally in the spotlight, even appearing in a video for the song that reached Billboard’s top 20 and was nominated for several Grammys that year. We have picked the vocal version of this hit as our “song of the week”, cause it keeps the sweetness of the instrumental version and Foster’s great piano work but it also adds very good vocal performances by Amy Holland (Mike McDonald’s wife) and Donny Gerrard (Skylark’s original singer).

Other very good songs on the album are Vikki Moss’ “If I Turn You Away” and Jon Anderson’s (the lead singer of Yes) “This Time It Was Really Right” (very “Chicago” sounding) and there are a couple of “harder” moments sung by Billy Squier and Fee Waybill that show Foster’s rocking side too.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/foster.mp3|titles=LOVE THEME FROM ST.ELMO’S FIRE (For Just A Moment)|artists=Donny Gerrard – Amy Holland]

Lead Vocals: Donny Gerrard & Amy Holland
Keyboards and Synths: David Foster
Guitars: Michael Landau
Drums: Tris Imboden
Produced and Arranged by David Foster
Co-Produced by Humberto Gatica

Lyrics

We’ve laughed until we had to cry
And we loved right down to our last goodbye.

We were the best I think we’ll ever be
Just you and me for just a moment

We chase that dream we never found
And sometimes we let one another down

But the love we made made everything all right
We shone so bright for just a moment

Time goes on
People touch and they’re gone
And you and I will never love again
Like we did then

Someday when we both reminisce
We’ll both say there wasn’t too much we missed
And through the tears we’ll smile as we recall
We had it all for just a moment

Time goes on
People touch and then they’re gone
But you and I will never really end
We’ll never love again
Like we did then

We’ve laughed until we had to cry
And we loved right down to our last goodbye