David Foster doesn’t consider himself a singer, but on occasion he can deliver good vocal performances like his hit duet with Olivia Newton-John on “The Best Of Me” and more recently with Swedish singer/actress Lisa Lovbrand for an elegant rendition of the classic “When I Fall In Love.”  Another nice duet was the one Foster did with Japanese superstar, Seiko Matsuda on “Every Little Hurt.” It is an up-tempo ballad originally recorded for Matsuda’s 1988 album “Citron,” which was produced by Foster. “Every Little Hurt,” co-written by the Canadian music maker with hit songwriter Randy Goodrum, is a keyboard driven pop ditty with a delicious melody and a radio friendly arrangement well-suited for the two singer’s voices. “Every Little Hurt” was also part of Foster’s 1989 compilation album entitled “Time Passing.” That record, eleased on the Asian market, presented half a dozen previously released Foster classics like “Winter Games,” “Love Theme from St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Tap Dance” and the title track, a haunting instrumental from “The Symphony Sessions.” “Every Little Hurt” was one of the two vocal tracks included together with “And When She Danced,” another pretty duet ballad by Foster together with Marilyn Martin from the “Stealing Home” movie soundtrack.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/every_little_hurt.mp3|titles=Every little hurt|artists=David Foster & Seiko Matsuda]

Lead Vocals: David Foster & Seiko Matsuda
Keyboards: David Foster
Guitars: Michael Landau
Background Vocals: Jason Scheff
Produced & Arranged by David Foster

Lyrics

We both know
Time can heal a broken heart

And tears soon dry
And never leave a single scar

(You’re) gone without trace
Time I should face it alone
I’ll try to say goodbye to a love that just won’t die
But night after night

Every little hurt just brings me down
Every little tear turns me around
Every little hurt just brings me down
Guess I’m better off with you than without

You and I
Are not the same in any way

Guess we…must have had enough
Of compromise and give and take

White satin and lace
Promises we both made
Doesn’t matter now, somehow these feelings soon must fade
But how can they fade

Every little hurt just brings me down
Every little tear turns me around
Every little hurt just brings me down
Guess I’m better off with you than without
Maybe love can turn around

I wish I had one more chance
Just another shot at paradise

And if we could just go back through time
We could work this whole thing out
Instead of breaking up….we’d be making love tonight

Every little hurt just brings me down
Every little tear turns me around
Every little hurt just brings me down
Guess I’m better off with you than without
Maybe love can turn around

In 1988, Seiko Matsuda, a true superstar in Japan, released her new record, entitled “Citron”. She recorded it in L.A. with David Foster producing the project and they came out with a nice work with some very enjoyable moments. The sounds are typical of those times with lots of drum programming and keyboards, great soloing by Michael Landau on guitar, Dave Boruff on sax and Foster on piano. Foster called in for help some of his old friends like Jay Graydon, Steve Kipner, Tom Keane and Randy Goodrum who did some co-writing with him and helped co-produce a couple of tracks too.

The material on the c.d. is divided between power ballads, pop ballads, pop/rock songs and danceable tunes. The best things on the album are “Every Little Hurt”, co-written by Goodrum, a cute ballad that Foster sings with Matsuda, “Blue”, a good pop/rock tune, co-written with Keane and Landau and “We Never Get To It” that we have chosen as our song of the week. Foster wrote it with Linda Thompson and songwriter/producer Rhett Lawrence, a very good pop-dance tune with an infective chorus; it really sounds like a song that could have been a hit at that time if recorded by Madonna. It marks also one of the first times that Seiko tried singing in English. In later years she did record a few more English albums trying to break into the U.S. market but they almost went unnoticed.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/we_never_get_to_it.mp3|titles=WE NEVER GET TO IT|artists=Seiko Matsuda]

Lead Vocals: Seiko Matsuda
Keyboards: David Foster
Additional Keyboards: Rhett Lawrence
Guitars: Michael Landau
Synthesizer Programming: Rhett Lawrence
Background Vocals: Jason Scheff, Tom Keane, Steve Kipner & Bill LaBounty
Arranged by David Foster & Rhett Lawrence
Produced by David Foster

Lyrics

NO LYRICS