#99: X-Ray Eyes by Jim Foster

City: Regina, SK
Radio Station: CJME
Peak Month: April 1986
Peak Position in Regina ~ #13
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #27
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “X-Ray Eyes”
Lyrics: “X-Ray Eyes”

James Edwin Foster was born in Victoria, Canada, in 1950. His family moved to Edmonton and then Calgary. There he met Vern Willis around 1970 and they played in a few bands and learned the ropes of performing in concert. Willis moved on to New York City while Jim Foster formed a quartet named Fosterchild where they were a regular band at Calgary’s the Scotch and Sirloin. The band went to Edmonton and recorded a demo of a song  Jim Foster wrote called “Let Me Down Easy.” On the strength of that demo the band got a record deal with CBS Records. However, CBS was unimpressed with the other three musicians in Fosterchild and got session musicians to work on the single release. Consequently, Jim Foster had a new record out to the general public but no intact Fosterchild band. It was 1976 and Vern Wills had come back to Calgary since his US visa had expired. Jim Foster recalls, “So I called Vern who was living in Edmonton. He said he’d just heard me on the radio. I said ” You wanna join forces?” and that was it. He’d always been one of my faves. Then we had to find more players and get an album together.”

They got a band together adding guitarist Gordon Marr, bass player Barry Boothman, keyboard player Peter Sweetzir and Gerry Wand on drums. Their debut album, Fosterchild, was released in 1977.

The first single was “Let Me Down Easy” which was a local Top 20 hit in Vancouver in October 1976, peaking at #18. A second single from the album, “Until We Meet Again”, made the bottom of the Canadian RPM singles chart in the fall of 1977.  A third single from the debut album “I Need Somebody Tonight”, was written by Jim Foster and climbed to #15 in Vancouver.

A followup album, Troubled Child, was full of laid back country-pop music. However, the singles from the album failed to build on the bands’ initial notice. Though the band added Doug Johnson on keyboards at this time, a Canadian tour was cut short and they lost their contract with CBS was not renewed. Johnson left the band and joined the newly forming Loverboy.

Fosterchild recorded another album in 1980, On The Prowl, which trended more toward pop than country. A tour to support the album followed. However, again there were screw-ups with a new record label and the tour ended prematurely. Fosterchild officially broke up in 1981.

In 1986, Jim Foster released his debut solo album Power Lines. The lead single from the album was titled “X-Ray Eyes”.

Jim Foster wrote “X-Ray Eyes”. It tells how a guy is “just like a rock” when they are with anyone else. However, when this one woman appears “You get me shakin’ like crazy, I don’t know what to do. I get so jumpy and nervous when I’m talking to you.” Like many people, we get physical cues when we are attracted to someone. Eventually, the nervousness may settle down. The initial stages of romantic attraction were well described in a number-one song by Elvis Presley in 1957 titled “All Shook Up”. He sang, “well bless my soul, what’s wrong with me. I’m itching like a man on a fuzzy tree. My friends say I’m acting wild as a bug. I’m in love. I’m all shook up…. When I’m near the girl that I love best, my heart beats so it scares me to death.”

“X-Ray Eyes” reached #12 in Saskatoon (SK), and #13 in Regina (SK), #14 in Lloydminster (AB), #18 in Saskatoon (SK), and #26 in Seattle. “X-Ray Eyes” won Best Song, Best Songwriter, and Best Video at the West Coast Music Awards.

On the strength of the single, Jim Foster opened in 1986 for Mr. Mister on a 14-date tour of Canada.

In 1993, Foster joined the country band One Horse Blue. That year the band released a self-titled album that featured a series of successful country music hit singles in Canada. These included the number-one hits “Hopeless Love” (1994) and “Bringing Back Your Love” (1995), as well as the Top Ten country hits “Starting All Over Again” (1993) and “Baby Don’t Cry” (1994).

Jim Foster continued to release more solo albums: Artist’s Print (1998), Lone Bird (2011), A Sailor’s Advice (2013), and 6 Foot Ladder (2015).

May 20, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Steve Newton, “Jim Foster gets his “Steely Dan opportunity” at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver,” Ear of Newt, April 4, 1986.
One Horse Blue, “Hopeless Love“, 1994.
“Jim Foster: Bio,” Citizen Freak, 2021.

CJME 1300-AM Regina (SK) | May 3, 1986