Here, O Ye DV Faithful, is a metaphysical question for your New
\nYear’s cogitating pleasure. Is it possible for an album to be more
\nthan the sum of its parts? Is musical synergy possible?<\/p>\n
Dan Fogleberg is another one of those artists that it’s
\nterminally unhip to like. However, we’ve already established I’m
\nterminally unhip, so I’m gonna go ahead and talk about him — and
\nfrankly, there’s a lot to talk about. Fogleberg is one of the
\ngreatest singer\/songwriters to arise in the 1970s, and arguably the
\nbest one still recording (given the untimely deaths of Harry
\nChapin, Jim Croce, and Warren Zevon). Yet — critics sneer at his
\nwork, for reasons I’m never quite sure of. Maybe it’s just that
\ndamning to be from Peoria, IL. (I used to date a girl who lived in
\nEast Peoria. Might be.)<\/p>\n
All that aside, Fogelberg at his best is simply brilliant — and
\nhis 1977 release,
\nNether Lands<\/i>, is when he hit his stride for the first
\ntime.<\/p>\n
For all that Fogelberg’s later recordings were hit single
\nfactories, you’ve probably never heard of any of the tracks on
\nNether Lands<\/i>. There’s a very, very good reason for that;
\nwhile it’s not a concept album, it is definitely a piece of work
\nthat should be listened to in one go. Thus, our metaphysical
\nquestion — musical synergy.<\/p>\n
In the case of
\nNether Lands<\/i>, the answer is definitely yes; by itself, each
\nsong is good, but taken in toto, they become more. The string
\nsweetening on “Nether Lands” sets off the jangly acoustic guitar on
\n“Once Upon A Time”, which contrasts in turn with the gentle and
\nbittersweet “Dancing Shoes” (which reminds me a bit of Styx’s
\n“Crystal Ball”) — in short,
\nNether Lands<\/i> is a work unto itself. And it is, plain and
\nsimple, a lovely one; a perfect suite of California-tinged folk
\nrock that’s a joy to listen to. From the opening to the powerful
\nclosing trio of “Scarecrow’s Dream”, “Sketches”, and “False Faces”,
\nyou can’t help but feel the emotion and the heart behind these
\nsongs.<\/p>\n
Get a little retro in the New Year and take a trip back to
\nNether Lands<\/i>. You may find that your musical enjoyment is
\nmore than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6036],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37804","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dan-fogelberg","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37804"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37804"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}