.
I find the opening track particularly silly. The lavish orchestration and harp arpeggios sit at odds with Dan's strained vocals (what made him think he could sing so high?) and overblown lyrics. Take out the vocal track and you'd swear it was a Julie Andrews number from some children's musical film. A track to skip if ever there was one.
The track finishes eventually, and Dan moves into the frantic intrumentation of "Once Upon a Time" which is spoiled by a messy, confused production. Too many instruments I think.
Then we get the prententious "Dancing Shoes" with its oh-so-seventies French phrases (a mistake) and pseudo Baroque arrangement. Nice melody, but hard to take seriously.
The fourth track, "Lessons Learned" is a decent Fogelberg number though, and brings the album back down to earth a bit. This, along with "Promises Made" and "Scarecrow's Dream" are really the only worthy tracks on this rather unattractive, poorly produced album.
The rest ranges from the pompous over-dramatised "loose Ends" to the painful vocals of "Sketches" and the tatty "Love Gone By".
Of all Dan's early albums, this is certainly the worst and doesn't stand comparison with the excellent "Souvenirs" or the album that followed "Nether Lands", "Phoenix", which is much, much better.
Get it if you're a completist, but don't get it first!
. I find the opening track particularly silly. The lavish orchestration and harp arpeggios sit at odds with Dan's strained vocals (what made him think he could sing so high? ) and overblown lyrics. Take out the vocal track and you'd swear it was a Julie Andrews number from some children's musical film. A track to skip if ever there was one. The track finishes eventually, and Dan moves into the frantic intrumentation of "Once Upon a Time" which is spoiled by a messy, confused production. Too many instruments I think. Then we get the prententious "Dancing Shoes" with its oh-so-seventies French phrases (a mistake) and pseudo Baroque arrangement. Nice melody, but hard to take seriously. The fourth track, "Lessons Learned" is a decent Fogelberg number though, and brings the album back down to earth a bit. This, along with "Promises Made" and "Scarecrow's Dream" are really the only worthy tracks on this rather unattractive, poorly produced album. The rest ranges from the pompous over-dramatised "loose Ends" to the painful vocals of "Sketches" and the tatty "Love Gone By". Of all Dan's early albums, this is certainly the worst and doesn't stand comparison with the excellent "Souvenirs" or the album that followed "Nether Lands", "Phoenix", which is much, much better. Get it if you're a completist, but don't get it first!