Shortly before his death from prostate cancer in 2007, Dan Fogelberg completed his final studio album, locked it in a safe deposit box, and directed his wife to release it after his passing. Long considered one of the landmark artists of the `70s smooth singer-songwriter genre, the Illinois native released very little new material in his last decade, making the classic sound contained on LOVE IN TIME all the more welcome. Full of songs that could easily sit alongside his biggest hits such as "Longer Than," "Old Lang Syne," and "Leader of the Band," the album pairs Fogelberg's soothing voice and expert songcraft with just the right amount of subtle instrumental backing. "Come to the Harbor," with its jaunty strumming and electric sitar motif, sounds like Cat Stevens's "Peace Train" meets the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood," while "Sometimes a Song" is a quintessential Fogelberg love ballad, with a stick-in-the-head melody and spare, acoustic guitar-based accompaniment.

A cover of Neil Young's "Birds" is dressed with gorgeous Eagles-esque vocal harmonies and serves as a poignant and chill-inducing closer, its final, and in this case literal, lyric, "it's over" seeming to echo long after the song ends. A gentle, finely crafted, and passionately performed album, LOVE IN TIME IS a career coda both satisfying and bittersweet.

  Deja Vu CD
  by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Our Price: $14.95 CD / $9.99 MP3
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Crosby, Still, and Nash topped their enormously popular self-titled 1969 debut by adding Neil Young to their ranks and expanding their stylistic and sonic range. The result, released in 1970, was an artistic and commercial success, representing the talents of the four primary players to excellent effect. More ambitious and incisive than its CSN predecessor, DEJA VU brings together folk, psychedelia, jazz, African, and Middle Eastern flavors, Tin Pan Alley, and hard rock in a manner that captures the tenor of the era's counterculture without sounding dated.

The group's distinctively lush harmonies are spread across the album, notably on the record's two centerpieces--"Carry On," which segues into a chugging, percussion-fueled groove halfway through, and "Woodstock," the band's hard rock re-working of the Joni Mitchell tune. Elsewhere, the songs are stamped by individual personalities, as on David Crosby's driving "Almost Cut My Hair," Graham Nash's quaint "Our House," and Stephen Stills dark, folky "4+20." Young's aching, plaintive "Helpless" is one of the highlights here, as is Crosby's complex title cut (with its intricate rhythms and vocal arrangements). Though their time together was tumultuous and short-lived, CSNY were one of the most successful acts of the era, and DEJA VU finds them at their peak.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.131) - Ranked #148 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "Young's vision and guitar transformed the earlier folk-rock CSN into a rock & roll powerhouse."


  Tea For The Tillerman CD
  by Cat Stevens
Our Price: $10.45 CD / $9.99 MP3
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Digitally remastered by Bill Levenson (December 1999, Sterling Sound, New York, New York). TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN is one of Cat Stevens's finest albums, and a gem in the crown of early 1970s singer/songwriterdom. Stevens manages to have his cake and eat it too, simultaneously achieving pop accessibility and artistic relevance. While inviting rhythms (buoyed by Stevens's dynamic acoustic strumming) and pop hooks abound, the feel is decidedly gentle and spare. Apart from the occasional string section, Stevens is accompanied only by a three-piece band as he sings his introspective lyrics with appreciable fervor.

While there are some relatively conventional love songs here ("Hard Headed Woman," "Wild World"), the most memorable moments come when Stevens's lyrics venture further afield. "Father and Son" is a poignant but realistic and unsentimental portrait of the generation gap, capable of reducing any given dad or junior to tears. "On the Road to Find Out" and "But I Might Die Tonight" reflect Stevens's existential dilemmas, and the resulting spiritual quest that would later lead him to embrace the Islamic faith. The graceful beauty of arrangements, performances, and songs makes TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN a folk-rock classic.

Q (Magazine) (p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN was his second album of 1970 and it turned him into an international star..."


  4 Way Street CD
  by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Our Price: $23.29 CD
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4 WAY STREET caught Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their 1970 concert tour at the height of their success. Even with its included bits of audience patter and a few overlong tracks ("Southern Man" and "Carry On"), the album is varied and exciting, and perfectly captures the quartet's remarkable singer/songwriter chemistry and sparkling harmonies. Stephen Still's classics like "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Love the One You're With" abut David Crosby tunes like the beautiful "Laughing" and Graham Nash's positive, instructional "Teach Your Children."

But the real treat of 4 WAY STREET is the inclusion of Neil Young's solo material, including "Cowgirl In the Sand" from Young's first solo album, and the riveting "Ohio," about the Kent State student massacre. (The CD reissue also includes the Young medley "The Loner/Cinnamon Girl/Down By The River.") By the time the album came out, however, Young had already left the group, and Crosby, Stills & Nash began to work on solo and duo projects. 4 WAY STREET captures the end of an era, then, and remains an essential part of any folk and singer/songwriter collection.

Rolling Stone (5/27/71, p.47) - "...a surprisingly good album...Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are all performers of unquestionable talent, and--mostly because they stay out of each other's way--4 WAY STREET must surely be their best album to date..."



  Best Of Simon & Garfunkel CD
  by Simon & Garfunkel
Our Price: $9.59 CD
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Following the critically and commercially successful 1997 OLD FRIENDS box set, Legacy released a single-disc Simon & Garfunkel best-of collection. Simon & Garfunkel's are arguably the most successful duo in pop history, and this set features all of their charting songs. The disc is also an improvement on their 1972 GREATEST HITS release, with nearly twice the number of tracks, remastered sound, and wonderful liner notes by David Halberstram.

"The Sound of Silence," an anthem for a bygone era, leads into the reflective "Homeward Bound." Though it may not have climbed as high on the charts, the haunting and string-laden "The Dangling Conversation" is another standout track. "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" and "At the Zoo" are the two greatest metropolitan Sunday songs in history. Also included are "The Boxer" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" two bona fide classics, as well as the non-hit single "Song for the Asking." The album concludes with "My Little Town," from the duo's 1975 reunion. Simon & Garfunkel's influence is immeasurable, and each generation that follows gets turned on to the artists formerly known as Tom and Jerry. Whether you are a first-time listener, or rediscovering these amazing songs, this disc is a worthy purchase.

Mojo (Publisher) (4/04, p.143) - "[A] sublime proto-chill out record on which the vaunted interplay between Martyn and double bassist Danny Thompson reached its folk-jazz zenith."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.88) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he artist's command of his craft and spirit of experimentation resulted in a jaw-dropping collection..."


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