Monday, December 17, 2007

Dan Fogelberg, 1951-2007


Dan Fogelberg, soft-folkie troubadour who somehow managed to avoid the taint of '70s "wimp rock" that destroyed such performers as Lobo, dead at the age of 56. Fogelberg first gained fame as half the progenitors, along with flautist Tim Weisberg, of the classic '70s jazz-rock album Twin Sons of Different Mothers, which always seemed to be in the possession of someone's cooler older brother - along with Kansas' Point of Know Return - although no one was ever actually observed listening to it. From that point, Fogelberg sacrificed whatever cachet he had for a series of thoughtful, quasi-easy listening hits that showed little in the way of originality, like "Longer," a reworking of Bread's "If," and "Same Old Lang Syne," a mash-up of Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years" and Harry Chapin's "Taxi."

OPC must admit it still tears up a bit at "Leader of the Band," though.

Fogelberg's dying words were: "Stephen Bishop lives on."

No comments: