Dan Fogelberg - Souvenirs (1974)

Classic Album Review (14)

It's been a while since I did a classic album review, so I thought I'd pick another great one. If you've been a subscriber to my newsletter for a while, you are probably more than well aware that I am a huge Dan Fogelberg fan. His music has been such a major influence in just about every facet of my learning how to play acoustic guitar. 

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This album "Souvenirs" was Fogelberg's first real break-through album. As fantastic of a singer/songwriter/musician as he was, even at the tender age of 23 years, he had some significant help in recording this album, from some exceptionally notable names. Ever heard of the Eagles? I have been telling people for decades that Dan Fogelberg shoulda, woulda, coulda been an Eagle. Jackson Browne too. These guys all shared apartment flats and slept in vans together on the road. It should only stand to reason that Fogelberg should call on Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner to sing some backup harmonies on a few of the songs. Henley also played drums on one of the songs. Before Joe Walsh became an Eagle, he had his own band called "The James Gang". Walsh also sang vocals and played guitars, and he was also the producer for the album. Graham Nash also added his vocals on two of the songs. Pretty good company to have on your album, don't you think?

Listen to entire album here on YouTube.

1) "Part of the plan" - This song made it to the radio. This was Fogelberg's first big hit. This was also one of the first songs I ever learned on the guitar that was tuned to "double-drop D" tuning. If you listen closely, you can hear congas, timbales and even a banjo in this song.

2) "Illinois'' - This song will always remind me of an early morning road trip in 1986, I took from Racine, Wisconsin to Bloomington, Illinois to pick up a friend and bring her back up to Wisconsin. It was the first time I'd ever driven through the state of Illinois anywhere south of Chicago. There's flatland and then there's Illinois.

3) "Changing horses" - Such a great acoustic guitar song.

4) "Better change" - This song could have easily been an Eagles song. Don Henley plays drums on this track and adds his signature backing vocals to give that unique blend of amazing harmonies to the song.

5) "Souvenirs" - The title track for the album. Can you hear the accordion? This is a poem put to music.

6) "The long way" - Graham Nash sings backing harmonies on this one. So many cinematic songs on this album.

7) "As the raven flies" - One of many, many songs written with the "Am, G, F, E" chord progression. You can hear Fogelberg's amazing blues guitar capacity on this rock song.

8) "Song from Half Mountain" - Lot's of flowing colors in the guitar chord progression. I've always liked playing this song on the guitar because of the chords.

9) "Morning sky" - So much of this album reminds me of traveling across the country, seeing the dawn break as the sun comes up over the highway.

10) "Someone's been telling you stories" - This song most certainly could have been an Eagles song. It features Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh singing backing vocals throughout the song. Just a fantastic reflection of those early days. Just a great, great song.

11) "There's a place in the world for a gambler" - Randy Meisner joins Don Henley to sing backing vocals on this legendary ballad.

This album is one of Fogelberg's finest from his early years. Featuring so many famous musicians, it was almost guaranteed to be a success. I'd like to dedicate this album review to the memories of Dan Fogelberg, Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner. Wherever they are, I imagine they are maybe playing music together again.