CoronaVinyl Day 242 (F): Souvenirs by Dan Fogelberg

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is "F," and I apparently own two Dan Fogelberg albums, so fuck it, let's listen to some Dan Fogelberg.

Peoria, Illinois's Dan Fogelberg was a pretty successful singer-songwriter from the mid '70s to the mid '80s.  1974's Souvenirs was his second studio album, and the album that helped him breakout.  It's mellow combination of folk rock and country rock.  The album was produced by Joe Walsh, about a year before he joined The Eagles, and he plays on ten of the eleven tracks.  Also joining as backing musicians and/or vocalists on several songs are Graham Nash and Eagles Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, among others.

The album went to #17 on the Billboard album chart and would be the first of seven studio albums in a row that reached the Top 30 for Fogelberg.  It also went double platinum in the U.S., one of his six studio albums to go platinum in the U.S.  The album also produced his first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Part of the Plan" (#31).

All told, Fogelberg had 11 Top 40 songs, including four Top 10 hits (three of which came from his 1981 album The Innocent Age).  Sadly, he died of prostate cancer in 2007 at the age of 56.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Illinois"
I've lived most of my life in Illinois, so this song made sense on various levels.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "There's a Place in the World for a Gambler"
It's March Madness, so what better time of the year to highlight a song about gambling.  And when you combine it with my favorite song from Side 1, hopefully you gambled not on the state's flagship university, but on the school that is still the only college in Illinois that has won a men's NCAA basketball championship.