Dan Fogelberg
Captured Angel
| |
Captured Angel is a transitional album for Dan Fogelberg, originally an acoustic singer/songwriter, who is developing into an accomplished exponent of Eagles-styled rock. Few talents surpass Fogelberg in musical versatility. Captured Angel, his self-produced third album, has him playing guitars, keyboards, bass, percussion, banjo and Arp, in addition to overdubbing perfect falsetto harmonies on top of an evocative, somewhat breathy tenor. The result is a richly textured album that crosses the sounds of CSN&Y and the Eagles without seeming blatantly imitative of either. While no one song on Captured Angel matches the beauty of "To the Morning," "Be on Your Way" and
Read More "Wysteria" from Home Free, or "The Long Way," "Illinois," "Changing Horses" and the title song from Souvenirs, two streamlined ballads with strings, "Next Time" and "The Last Nail," come close. These songs, as well as two extended rockers, "These Days" and "Man in the Mirror"/"Below the Surface" (each over seven minutes long), show an impressive vigor and density in their instrumentation, the arrangements highlighted by Fogelberg's masterful electric guitar fills. The major weakness of Fogelberg's writing is his lyrics. At his best ("Old Tennessee"), Fogelberg evokes nostalgia for time and place. More often, however, he compounds sentimental clichés and diffuse images with syntactical errors. And since Captured Angel is a thematic album about an unresolved past relationship from a personal viewpoint, Fogelberg's verbal awkwardness seems all the more glaring. While Fogelberg's singing, playing and producing convey real emotional fervor, his writing doesn't. (RS 199) STEPHEN HOLDEN |
