Nether Lands

I am sad to hear that Dan Folgelberg has passed away, but so very happy to have his music forever. I love this album, I was turned on to Dan back in the 70's and have enjoyed his music ever since. I highly recommend this album. Beautiful music.

If I had to pick just one all-time favorite album, I would have to choose Nether Lands by Dan Fogelberg. It's so difficult to put into words all the feelings that this wonderful album / cd evokes in me, but there's just something very special about it. The intricate, lush music (acoustic / electric guitars, the arrangements) and the poignant lyrics - which contain images of mountains, woods, lakes - well, it's all just very beautiful and moving. Anyone claiming that Dan Fogelberg was only able to write so-called "fluff" (read: Longer) should be very surprised by this ambitious somewhat melancholic album. One of my favorite songs here is the heart-breaking Sketches and is proof that Dan Fogelberg is a vastly underrated singer / songwriter. Other favorites include Dancing Shoes, Scarecrow's Dream, Lessons Learned and Loose Ends. I've loved this album, since I discovered it in 1987 (it was released in 1977), and I'll love it for the rest of my life.

Also highly recommended: The Innocent Age, Souvenirs, Phoenix, Home Free, Captured Angel, and (if you like bluegrass / country) High Country Snows.

In 1977, my girlfriend and I went to a Dan Fogelberg concert in Louisville, Ky. All I had heard of Dan was from his two previous albums and I really really liked "Souveniers". Well, time came for Dan to begin his show and he walked out and sat at the biggest, longest piano I had ever seen. He then proceeded to play the introduction to "Netherlands". You could have heard a pin drop in the whole auditorium. When he finished that song, I'm talking THUNDEROUS applause!! I know that Dan was not all about the applause, it was his art, but that had to feel GREAT!

On to the album, like many who have previously posted here, I have owned several vinyl copies, a couple of cassette copies, a CD, and now I probably will purchase this Japanese import. To say that I love this album is an understatement. Like so many artists who have passed away too soon, it can be sad and depressing to listen to Dan's sweet voice, but I can't help it.

Now, we here in Louisville are days away from the running of the Kentucky Derby, and this will be the first year we've heard "Run For The Roses" and are aware that Dan is not with us, but in a much better place. I remember him coming to Louisville to premier "Run For The Roses" just before it was released. He played a small, intimate set at a place in Louisville called the "Red Barn", which is just off of the University of Louisville campus. He played this song, and guess what? Once again, you could have heard a pin drop!! And afterwards? THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE!!!

Rest in peace, dear Dan. We miss your sweet voice. We miss your talent, your art. But as long as CD's like "Netherlands" are available to each generation that comes along, your music, your art, will never perish. God bless you, and thanks for sharing your music with the world.

I have been mesmerized by this album since 1978. It is an 'album' album - even though the individual songs are wonderful, you must listen to the whole album to truly appreciate this hauntingly beautiful masterpiece. I fell in love with my husband and Dan while listening to this work of art. I can't recommend it enough.

With Nether Lands, Dan Fogelberg reached an artistic peak, untempered by any obvious commercial pressure. The irony was with such a deeply soul searching album, he managed to reach his biggest audience ever. Hardly had success been more deserved.

Without an obvious hit, the whole "Nether Lands" album moved like an avalanch of passion and emotions. The inner warmth of the songs is underscored by a rather wintry landscape Fogelberg was depicting in the physical sense: "Dancing Shoes" was heated passion unleashed on a winter's night, similar to the later "Beggar's Game", and likewise, all the other songs shared a seasonal feel.

His musical ambition was always present, apparent in the eclectic approach of the album which ranged from bossa nova beat ("Give Me Some Time") to classically inclined art songs (title cut; "Scenes"). Yet every song provided a thread that was to make up the much bigger sum: Fogelberg was truly an album artist. And with the ending notes of the collosal orchestral rock of "False Faces", one is left with a breathless exhaustion from listening to 45 minutes of intricately woven songs, much varied in style, but all full of soul and beauty.

More than any other album, possibly even the magnum opus "Innocent Age", "Nether Lands" reminds us what a great loss of talent Dan Fogelberg's passing has been.