Dan Fogelberg - Windows and Walls

Back in 1993 when Denis Leary was teaching kids how to spell asshole, he also had a bit where he was lamenting how screwed up and upside down the world had become on his track "More Drugs."

Judas Priest on trial "because my kid bought the record, and listened to the lyrics, and he got into Satan." Well, that's great! That sets a legal precedent. Does that mean I can sue Dan Fogelberg for making me into a pussy in the mid-70's? Is that possible, huh? 

I have to admit I did laugh at the time, because let's face it, songs like "Longer" and "Leader of the Band" were pretty syrupy. They made the most maudlin songs by Jim Croce and Harry Chapin (okay it was really only "Cats in the Cradle" but let me have it). Dan was a heck of a player make no mistake, and despite how sucky those songs were, they were also really good.

Did I have any of his records ... hell no. My girlfriend at the time did have The Innocent Age, and we'd sit on her parents couch and neck while it played. Look, I'd have listened to Lionel Richie if it meant I got kisses ... oh wait, I did.

Regardless a strange thing happened in the spring of 1984. Dan Fogelberg strapped on his electric guitar and released "The Language of Love" and it was a surprise. It wasn't a hard rock song, but it rocked and when I found out it was Mister Folgelberg I was more than a little surprised.

I went out and bought the album. The lead off track was the big song, and it is still a fantastic pop song, and I will give props to Dan for his tasty lead work. Who knew? Also a nice surprise was seeing names like Kenny Passarelli and Joe Vitale's names in the credits. As an added bonus Timothy B. Schmit was adding harmonies. 

Now before spinning this again, the only song I remembered was "The Language of Love" but I also knew the album was pretty good, I just couldn't name any of the songs.

As the album played through there was a delicate balance between the singer songwriter and the Danm who wanted to cut loose a little and show off his rock and roll chops. It worked. After all, '84 was only a few years removed from the late '70s heyday of the schlock that was in the DMZ (demusicalized zone) between disco and hard rock. Dan was able to play to his strengths there were a lot of guitar and string arrangements. Some of them really really good, and a few years earlier would have been huge. "Believe in Me" is a beautiful song.

Probably the crunchiest song on the album and the one that feels the most dated from the keyboard sounds, was the closing track "Gone Too Far" that while flirting with current sounds, was very much a '70s rock song. It's also pretty good, and features the Porcaro brothers on the drums and bass. Dan cuts loose on the guitar. While Dan's voice was better suited to his acoustic songs, he was no slouch on the mic.

For me, I'm still drawn to his harder side. He may have flirted here and there with some of the current technology, especially on the closing track, but for the most part he was still being himself, just with a little more distortion.

This would be the last time Dan would be on the radio, at least radio I listened to. Although he'd follow up with High Country Snows a year later I didn't pick it up. Like so many of his contemporaries Dan couldn't cross the bridge from the '70s to the '80s - which isn't a bad thing. Dan was very much of his time.

Windows and Walls is a really solid album. One I'm really glad to have found again. Of course after almost forty years it's all about the music, not when it was released. I never felt like 

Dan turned me into a pussy, and if Dan was a pussy he was a cat with claws.