Walk a Fine Line

An AOR album from a grand old master on pop's central highway. Many veteran singers made records of this kind in the late 1970s and early 1980s: Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Engelbert Humperdinck, Dionne Warwick and Johnny Mathis among them. But Anka's brilliance stands out, and represents the intentions of this book. Denny Diante is credited as producer; David Foster, Jay Graydon and Michael McDonald shaped the music itself. Foster's contribution was particularly large: he was deeply involved in seven of the nine songs.

The single ‘Hold Me 'Til the Mornin' Comes’ is thoroughly a Chicago-style ballad, with the unusual luxury of Peter Cetera on chorus. AOR fans will happily accept it, although a question remains: whose album is this? Anka's association with Foster was far from new, with co-written songs already on Listen to Your Heart (1978) and Headline (1979). Fellow Canadians, they apparently shared a private as well as a professional connection from Foster's younger years.