Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 13. 12th June 1975
Souvenirs: Dan Fogelberg Epic Records
Souvenirs: Dan Fogelberg Epic Records
'Here is a poem that my lady sent down,
Some morning while I was away.
Wrote on the back of a leaf that she found,
Somewhere around Monterey ...
And down in the canyon the smoke starts to rise,
It rides on the wind till it reaches your eyes.
When faced with the past, the strongest man cries ...'
And Dan Fogelberg sings like an angel. This is as warm as an album by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young — sparkling acoustic rock with perfect harmonics from three eagles — Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Glenn Frey — and the Ladies of the Canyon Willie. The music is in fact very similar to the Eagles, the softer tracks from 'On The Border' especially.
Dan Fogelberg is a 23-year-old from Illinois who writes songs about the land: wistful and celebratory in the face of a culture disappearing under a flood of effluent — taking in Bogdanovich's one-picture show scenario bathrooms with concrete floors and a sheriff who hates long hair and patched jeans. Now what was that Curtis Mayfield line about the meanest deputy you ever saw? In as much, 'Souvenirs' is triumphantly romantic.
It's very much a young album from a singer-songwriter who obviously needs to grow. Joe Walsh produced it and a whole bunch of Los Angeles musicians perform, including Walsh himself on guitar, and Russ Kunkel on drums. Since most of the songs were written in 1972 'Souvenirs' does not represent exactly where Fogelberg's head is now. But it's a better than average introduction.