Customer Reviews

Love in Time

5 star:		(73)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
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Love In Time is Dan Fogelberg's final studio album and it is truly among his finest. I can't seem to stop playing the album. Every song sounds like classic Fogelberg.

The first song on the album, "Love In Time", is a song I first heard on a very fine studio album Dan produced back in 1983 called Beauty Lies. This album was a solo project for Michael Brewer, who was one half of the acclaimed duo, Brewer and Shipley. Beauty Lies is a must have for any Fogelberg fan, since it features Dan's trademark vocals and musicianship throughout the album and it's also a real enjoyable listen; unfortunately, it's been out of print for some time. I'm not even sure if it was ever released on cd.

"Nature of the Game" is a song that I vividly remember seeing Dan perform at a live show years ago. This is one great song. I think it was a good decision on Fogelberg's part to keep the song simple, using only one acoustic guitar, as he had done when I had seen him perform the song in concert.

As other reviewers noted, Fogelberg's rendition of "Birds" is beautiful, but haunting and very sad. It was wise for Dan to put this song at the very end. As one listens to the album, one is captivated by the songs and one is driven to hear more; however, after Fogelberg finishes singing his very emotional version of "Birds" and one hears the very first sound that begins "To The Morning" from Fogelberg's first album, the album really feels like it's over and needs to end.

Musically, the album covers a lot of territory and brings to mind the best of Fogelberg's earlier works. There's rock, blues, country rock, ballads and a great deal of harmony on this album. And his playing, as usual, is stellar.

Jean you did good by releasing this very fine album. Your husband will be missed by his friends, family and fans, but his music will live on.

I bet there's a lot of unreleased music by Dan Fogelberg in the vaults, including unreleased songs and recorded live shows. My hope is that at some point in the near future the powers-that-be decide to release some of these songs and performances to the public.

Dan Fogelberg's final album is classic Fogelberg. To many, Fogelberg was a more popular version of Dan Hill and other mid seventies "soft" rockers. To most, Fogelberg IS the song "Longer". My guess is he regretted on more than one occassion having ever written that song. The reality is Fogelberg's music dipped into many styles: country, folk, world, blues, jazz and, probably more than all the others, rock and roll. "Love In Time" touches all the bases.

The opening tune, the title song "Love In Time", brings to mind the 1984 hit "The Language of Love" and strikes an incredibly optimistic note considering the battle with cancer Fogelberg was waging while working on this record. "So Many Changes" is pure upbeat pop (in the best sense of that word) and allows Fogelberg to show off his incredible falsetto. "Come To The Harbor" would have been right at home on Fogelberg's mid seventies country/rock albums, i.e. "Souvenirs". "Diamonds To Dust" is Country Dan right down to the ground and brings to mind Fogelberg's venture into bluegrass on the awesome 1985 album "High Country Snows". Fogelberg's real country puts the current group of country pretenders to shame.

Probably the highlight of the album is "Nature of the Game", with it's scorching one minute thirty five seconds blues guitar lead-in. It's Dan on the dark side and, despite stereotypes, a place his music went to often.

Fools run where an angel fears to follow
We've come to a place no fool would go
Sparks fly when the truth rings harsh and hollow
It's the same old song we've sung so long
It's the only dance we know.

"Days To Come" is right in Fogelberg's wheelhouse! It's 1975 in southern California! It's the Eagles before they became bloated money grubbers. It's upbeat, guitar based country/rock with Fogelberg singing his own harmonies - it could just as easily be Jackson Browne, Don Henley and Glenn Frey. It is classic Dan Fogelberg.

The song that will probably get the most notice is "Birds", a Neil Young penned tune that is literally Dan Fogelberg's swan song. It is slow, plaintive and everything you would expect from a dying man leaving behind the woman he loves. The last words Dan Fogelberg sang on record were "it's over". The song fades, then there is a brief swell of music that sounds eerily similar to the lead-in to "To The Morning", the first song on Fogelberg's first album "Home Free". It's Dan telling us, with a tear, a wink and a nod, it's not really over.

"Love In Time" is classic Fogelberg; his strongest effort since "The Wild Places". Incredibly, it does not sound like a dying man's record. Fogelberg chimes in on the theme he has visited and revisited for over thirty years, the passage of time, without sounding maudlin or as if awash in self pity (places he had every right to go). It's a brave record, but more important, it's a great listen and a fitting tribute to an artist I feel will only grow in stature as the years pass. Fogelberg was about talent and heart. Both are out of fashion these days, but always come back around.

Dan still is, and always will be, the man...

(Note: Initially I was not too crazy about the cover, but it grew on me. Nice job to Jean Fogelberg.)

What a final masterpiece... thank you Jean Fogelberg for sharing the songs with us. I still can hardly listen to "Birds", the swan song that ends "Love in Time", without getting all choked up, and I don't dare to imagine how hard it must have been for Jean.

From "Home Free" to "Love in Time", Dan's music has accompanied me for all of my adult life, and his passing on Dec. 16, 2007 hit me really hard. I was fortunate enough to experience the musical magic on stage six times, even if it meant flying half around the world every time. "Love in Time" is nothing but amazing, every song a classic to treasure for years to come. The instrumental, vocal and lyrical mastery of Dan Fogelberg is incredible.

By the way: Amazon will not allow international downloads of this album, so all of you non-US Dan Fans will have to wait for the physical album release (or know someone overseas). I'll buy the album as soon as it will be officially available for everyone, especially since the Prostrate Cancer Foundation will also benefit from all sales.

Jackson Browne on Dan Fogelberg:

"He was beautiful, an angel. My favorite song of his, Same Old Lang Syne, was about running into an old lover in a supermarket on New Year's. I shouldn't admit it, but it made me cry. It encapsulated the passing of time and the revisiting of former hopes and dreams. He was a really emotional songwriter and a beautiful singer..."! Dan Fogelberg was/is an underrated singer/songwriter, so it's nice that someone of Jackson Browne's stature has acknowledged Dan's talent. It's about time Dan Fogelberg gets the respect his legacy deserves...

Love In Time

The last song on Dan Fogelberg's last official album release is a cover of Neil Young's Birds. It ends with the lyric "It's over", and then the song fades out with the string intro to the first song on Dan's first album, Homefree. A beautiful and poignant little detail - especially so to those of us, who have been listening to Dan's music for years and mourned the loss of our musical hero in December, 2007. But before you reach that heart-wrenching moment, you will be listening to 10 other songs, all of them ranging from very good to excellent (except Sometimes A Song, which is just alright), and all of them possessing that unmistakable Dan Fogelberg sound. Love In Time is definitely Dan's strongest album release since Windows And Walls (1983) or High Country Snows (1985), both musically and production-wise.

At present time my favorites are the upbeat Love In Time (the guitar sound is reminiscent of Wishing On The Moon), the wistful Soft Voice, Come To The Harbor (love the zitar on this one), A Growing Time (I could picture Crosby, Stills & Nash covering this track; probably one of Dan's most evocative songs since the early 80's), the catchy, Country-flavored Diamonds To Dust, and the charming, hopelessly optimistic Days To Come ("Oh, raise your head and run, run, run / Through the Days To Come"...A real gem. Lovely bass! The most organic-sounding Dan Fogelberg song since his heyday: 1972-1982).

Love In Time is highly recommended!

(I wish Dan had included the unreleased A Love Beyond Time and Fire And Ice in this set, and, as lovely as the booklet itself looks, I was also dissapointed with the packaging, which is a standard, cheap-looking jewel-case. Love In Time deserves deluxe packaging - a sturdy, cardboard sleeve.)

I hope that Jean Fogelberg will do everything in her powers to get Dan's old record company, Sony Records, to release some of all those wonderful, vintage live recordings from the 70's, including What In The World (a song originally written for Nether Lands), and the early 80's (especially one particular concert from Houston in 1982, which was apparently aired on TV - see YouTube).

Thanks for recording one last album, Dan!

RIP!

Once again, Dan has reached out and touched us all!Great Music, incredible vocals and soul searching lyrics. If the words to Love in time don't mean anything to you then you truly have no heart at all...Thanks Jean for this very,very special birthday present from you and Dan.....Stephen 8/14/51

I certainly wasn't expecting to hear those haunting chords at the end of this CD. Anyone who's a long-time fan will immediately recognize them as the first few seconds of To The Morning from his first album. Those notes alone make this CD not only a collection of tunes but something powerfully dynamic: It'll make you ponder your own mortality, your life between the albums, so to speak. It's a wonder to me how he made it through Neil Young's Birds. What a gift he's left for all of us whose lives have been colored and blessed by his music. Each one of his albums has special significance to eras in my own life. I'm sure this is true for most of you. His songs are woven into my own canvas. And as corny as that sounds, not many of you can deny it's true for you too.

I've been a Fogelberg fan(atic) since the '70s; and his best stuff was, in my opinion, during the "Souvenirs" "Netherlands" "Captured Angel" "High Mountain Snows" "Innocent Age" era. This final album sounds like it would have fit well into that time. Yet, it is at once both familiar and fresh; and it carries the potential to be a classic. Great songs, all of them; and each one highlighting both his instrumental and vocal chops. And, hey, if the last song, Neil Young's "Birds" doesn't move you, well . . . What a fitting, excellent way to conclude a body of work from one class act songwriter/singer/storyteller. And speaking of the last song, the next paragraph comes directly [...].

"The first song on his first album began with strings, sustaining a hauntingly beautiful chord which faded into the song 'To The Morning'; a song of hope invoking the day with the lyric, 'There is really nothing left to say but come on, morning.' 'Birds,' the last song on this, his last studio album, ends with the lyric, 'It's over,' and a similar sustained chord, fading to end the album. Long time fans, upon hearing the final chord of 'Birds,' have said they expected to hear 'To The Morning' begin to play. And so the ending meets the beginning, 'In a spiral never-ending'."

Even though it's over, Morning is breaking somewhere. A note of hope to end his final studio masterpiece. Wow . . . I recommend this without the slightest hesitation. By all means, buy this gift from Dan, download it, get a copy of the physical CD, enjoy the heck out of it, and savor it for a long, long time.

There is little more that can be said other than this is truly a masterpiece. I am quite surprised that
a number of these superb songs (those that were written and vaulted years ago - i.e. Nature of The Game and a few others) never found their way onto a previous album of Dan's. But then again, when you look at such masterful productions like Netherlands and The Innocent Age...well, perhaps there was just never enough room for every gem. This is a great CD throughout.

Before his untimely death at the age 57 to Prostate Cancer, Dan managed to finish the album "Love In Time," asking his wife, Jean, to release it after he passed on. The result is a befitting gift to all his fans: a final album full of tenderness, reflection, and acceptance of his fate. It starts with the bold, upbeat title track. In "So Many Changes," he tells us "Don't come to me with your cries/When the sun's shining in your eyes," reminding us to put things in perspective.

"A Growing Time" is the one of the album's highlights, a beautiful homage to a blossoming love. "The Nature of the Game" has long been a favorite from live shows which he finally lays down here, and it admirably shows off his skills at playing Blues. "Sometimes A Song" is the Valentine's gift to Jean which was released as a single last year to help raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. "Birds" is a heartbreaking final track. Written by Neil Young, Dan performs it as a goodbye song as he leaves this life. It leaves us with an idelible image of birds flying away into the sky, ending with the line "It's over...it's over."

While some tracks, such as "The Colors of Eve," are less successful than the ones named above, a fan really couldn't ask for anything more. Dan performs all the instruments on each cut, and the fact that he was able to complete the album in between treatments for his disease prove he was wholly dedicated to his music and to his fans. And the jacket is full of pictures of Dan from various points in his career, and scenes of nature. "Love In Time" is truly a gift to behold.

I have been a Dan Fogelberg fan for over 30 years. This is truly a great collection of songs that reflect his early years as a song writer as well as his style as a writer in his later years. As with every other Dan release the level of musicianship is incredible and the vocals are spot on. What amazes me the most is how Dan would engineer, perform, and produce his music in his own studio often all by himself. It takes incredible talent to do that with the level of sophistication in his recordings.

There isn't much to say about these songs except they're great. Typical Dan, great lyrics and interesting melodies. "Birds" is haunting. I have admit I got choked up hearing it the first time and the intro to "To The Morning" from Home free wrapping up the CD. Wow...sad but also uplifting. As a musician myself I have always considered Dan as my all time favorite. I'll always be of the opinion that he was at his best sitting alone on stage with just his acoustic guitar or behind the piano.

For those of you who are fans of this gifted artist. This collections of songs is a must have.