Dan Fogelberg - Souv CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

own guitar (both acoustic and electric) and keyboard playing into crystalline textures.

Though occasionally the overdubbing sounds like a substitute for melody, more frequently Fogelberg shows above average ability as a tunesmith. The title cut, an elegiac waltz, is especially captivating. A similar plaintive-ness characterizes "Changing Horses," "The Long Way," "Song from Half Mountain" and "There's a Place in the World for a Gambler," reveries about the passage of time, while the gorgeous production complements their imagery.

The near preciousness of these ballads is offset by several tougher CSN&Y type songs (the best, "As the Raven Flies," is reminiscent of Young's "Ohio") and by one country rocker, "Morning Sky." While Fogelberg foregoes pathos in these songs for more down-to-earth matters, their sound is less distinctive than the ballads. Ultimately Souvenirs concerns itself more with aural perfection than with exposition of ideas. Fogelberg has succeeded in constructing a dream world of sound, polished beyond anything CSN&Y or Ian Matthews have attempted, and in the process transforms himself from one human voice into a studio choir. (RS 176)

STEPHEN HOLDEN