Reviewed by Paul J Zickler
Released: 1980 Fosterchild On The Prowl Genre: Canadian Rawk Rating: 2.75 out of 5 Highlights: Helpless Wake Up Soon Fosterchild started out as a Country Rock band, signed with A & M in Canada, made a couple albums, lost money, got dropped, signed with an indie label in Edmonton, and made a Hard Rock Album (or half of one), featuring a cool blank panther on the front and half shaded band photos on the back (kudos to Vera Cruz Records, nice design work). I’m going to argue that this would have been a terrific cover band to see on a Saturday night in a crowded Edmonton bar. They know how to play pretty well, generate some loud guitar sounds, mix it up with piano/synth/organ as well as the occasional sax solo, and seem to be working their asses off. Everybody takes a lead vocal at least once, and they sound all right when they harmonize. The pieces are there. The problem is they’re not very good at the 1980 FM radio friendly rock thing. They’re trying to find that commercial sound on the first six songs (one of them is actually titled Lover Boy — a little too on the nose), but none of it is memorable. It’s half-baked Thin Lizzy or half-assed Cars, and it goes nowhere. Suddenly in the middle of side two, they slide into a kind of mid grass prairie version of ZZ Top, and it works. Amelia has chunky Men at Work vibes, albeit with zero songwriting chops (chorus: “Havin’ a good time / Havin’ a good time / Havin’ a good good time”). The covers of Neil’s Helpless and Fats Domino’s I’m Ready both have their charms. And the closing number, Wake Up Soon, is dorky as hell, but at least it’s not trying to be Van Halen. The main riff sounds like it was lifted from EC’s Miracle Man, but of course that riff was probably stolen from some obscure 60’s nugget, so it’s all good. The album ends with a too long coda and a silly guitar figure echoing Brahms’ Lullaby. So dumb, but that’s Canadian rawk for ya! More of that, and I would've rated this higher.
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