RECOLLECTIONS
OF A
FOGELBERG FAN

Home Free (1972)

The album that introduced me to the music of Dan Fogelberg is his debut and arguably his best ever. While still in my early teens, I won a copy of the Lp from a small Long Island radio station (along with a bunch of albums by the likes of Elf, Black Oak Arkansas, and Gentle Giant), and I have to admit that I put it in a closet and let it collect dust for quite a while before I ever listened to it. I didn't even alphabetize it into my rather limited collection. My cousin Susan was over the house one day - it may have been during 1974 - with a Loggins & Messina album she was trying to get me into. She spotted Home Free with the albums in the closet and pulled it out and we listened to it together. She was already familiar with it because her sister Peggy had a copy. From the opening notes of "To The Morning," I knew it was an album I'd be going back to listen to over and over. As a junior in high school, I began passing around the album to friends for them to check out, and so began a practice of spreading the "Fogelberg gospel" that continues to this day here on this web page. Click on cover art for additional information, song samples and on-line shopping!

Souvenirs (1974)

I'd only been acquainted with Home Free for a matter of months when the Souvenirs album was released in the latter part of 1974. Although I have a vague remembrance that I'd had my first listen to the album at my friend Jeff's, he having been one of the "converts" I'd made while passing around Home Free earlier in the year, I had to wait until Christmas to come along to get a copy of my own, through the generosity of my older brother Marty. Or so it says on the inner sleeve of my original vinyl copy. In the summer of 1975, I became aware of Dan getting some airplay from two WNEW-FM (NYC) air personalities, Dave Herman and Pete Fornatale, and I became a dedicated listener of that station and Fornatale in particular for primarily that reason. That fall, this became the album I'd play for anyone who would listen during my first year away at college. "Part of the Plan" took over as my favorite song that year -still is - and I learned the guitar chords so I could play it in the campus coffee house on open mike night, yet another way of spreading the Fogelberg message. To this day, if I pick up a guitar I immediately start strumming the intro. Click on cover art for additional information, song samples and on-line shopping!

Captured Angel (1975)

Captured Angel was the first Fogelberg album released while I was living on campus at St. John Fisher College. I'm not sure how I could afford to purchase a copy, but somehow I managed, even though I had to ride my bike a long way from the campus to find a decent record store that would have it. Two things stand out for me about this album - the exquisite guitar work on songs like "These Days," "Man in the Mirror," and "The Last Nail," and the song "Old Tennessee," which I still like to hear every year as October draws to a close. My first experience of seeing Fogelberg in concert came in March of 1976 at a venue I believe was known as the Rochester Auditorium Theatre during the Captured Angel tour. Dan was joined by Fool's Gold performing songs from their self-titled debut release to open the show, and also providing accompaniment for much of Dan's set. I've seen Fogelberg more times than I can count since then, but there's really nothing like the first time. I was lucky enough to tape a broadcast of the King Biscuit Flower Hour recorded during this tour, so I have a nice souvenir of my first time seeing Dan Fogelberg perform live. Click on cover art for additional information, song samples and on-line shopping!

Nether Lands (1977)

I won't go into a lot of detail about where I was when I first heard Pete Fornatale (now with WFUV.org) play a track from Nether Lands on WNEW-FM in May, 1977, but suffice to say I stopped paying attention to the young lady I was with at the time to listen attentively. (Some might say that's become a pattern with me over the years.) I'm not sure whether Pete was playing the uptempo "Love Gone By" or the lushly orchestrated title track that day, but both would become favorites of mine by the end of that summer. I thought one of those, or possibly "Once Upon A Time," would become a hit single, but it was the beginning of the disco era and it wasn't meant to be. Nevertheless, the album rock stations were very receptive to the record, and the Fogelberg audience continued to build. I had the pleasure of seeing Dan, again with Fool's Gold, on a very rainy Saturday evening in July 1977 in New York's Central Park with my friends Meg and Jeff as part of the tour that supported this outstanding release. Click on cover art for additional information, song samples and on-line shopping!

Twin Sons of Different Mothers (1978)

The last Fogelberg release during my college years, this one found Dan collaborating with jazz fusion flutist Tim Weisberg, who had made a nice contribution on the Nether Lands LP. Again, it was Pete Fornatale who informed me of the album's imminent release, and I have a vivid recollection of Pete reading from the liner notes the day in August, 1978 that he first played "Twins Theme" and "Intimidation" on the air. You might say this was a "New Age" album before the term was coined, combining elements of rock, jazz, folk and classical. Having spawned a surprise hit single in "The Power of Gold," this album achieved a level of commercial success that had eluded the prior four. What a thrill during my senior year to walk the Fisher campus and hear a cut from Twin Sons emanating from the dorm rooms. (I think Randy Rogan played it more than I did!!!) I regret not being able to attend a show that Dan played in the NYC area (Carnegie Hall???) during the Twin Sons tour because I couldn't get home from school at that time, and this time there was no show in the Rochester area. Click on cover art for additional information, song samples and on-line shopping!

Phoenix (1979)

The sixth album from Dan Fogelberg came out during the first summer after my graduation from college. I believe it was one of my first purchases with my newly acquired American Express card. What a thrill - and what a scary concept - to buy music on credit!!! My best recollection is I picked it up at the Record Theatre store in midtown Rochester along with a copy of the Eagles' The Long Run album. This record yielded Fogelberg's biggest hit single ever in "Longer," which climbed all the way to Number 2 on the Billboard charts. I was working for a child care agency at that time and I used to make the kids pipe down whenever "Longer" came on the pop radio stations we'd listen to in the agency station wagon. Child abuse? Click on cover art for additional information, song samples and on-line shopping!

Three fine websites featuring Dan Fogelberg are danfogelberg.com, The Living Legacy, and The Fogelberg Page. Dan Fogelberg song lyrics may be viewed at Dan Fogelberg Lyrics.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Homepage