(thing) by Stealth Munchkin Sun Mar 23 2003 at 15:44:58
Twelve And Twelve is an album from 2000 by Jeff Foskett in which Foskett performs twelve songs with guest artists (plus two bonus tracks), mostly powerpop luminaries, with almost every song featuring twelve-string guitar.

Foskett has performed with many people in his career, mostly through his association with The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, and so has managed to assemble a semi-stellar supporting cast. However in most cases these songs could just as easily be done by Foskett himself - they all sound like Foskett solo tracks, with one or two notable exceptions.

The reason for this is simple - Foskett, like most of his duet partners here, sticks always to very formulaic power pop music - most of the songs here are extremely derivative of the twin deities of powerpop, Big Star and Badfinger. Some might see this as a bad thing, but like all genre music it's the subtleties that matter - no-one criticised John Lee Hooker for only playing the blues, and no-one should criticise Foskett for doing what he does so well. It does mean though that it's very hard to find things to say about many of the individual songs on this album.

The tracklisting is as follows:

  1. Baby It's You - with Doug Fieger
  2. Everything I Need - with Brian Wilson (plus Darian Sahanaja of the Wondermints)
  3. Emma - with Gerry Beckley (of America)
  4. Bazooka Joe - with P. Hux and Elliot Easton (of The Cars)
  5. The Best Thing About Me Is You with Marshall Crenshaw and Bill Lloyd
  6. The Word Go with Jeff Larson
  7. I Will Follow - with Randelle Kirsch (of Jan And Dean's band)
  8. A Woman's Laugh - with Andy Kim
  9. No-One Knows (But You) - with Bill Lloyd
  10. Living Alone - with Robert Lamm (of Chicago)
  11. I Can't Let Go - with Larry Ramos (of The Association)
  12. I Don't Know - with Michael Campion
  13. Your Very Eyes
  14. Get Together

If you like your music jangly, Beatlesque and filled with harmonies, and don't mind meaningless bland lyrics, then this is well worth getting. Hardly life-changing, but a very pleasant, enjoyable album that manages within its own frame of reference to be a quiet pleasure that will grow on you.

This album, and Foskett's others, are available from http://new-surf.com

I like it!