The Nature Of The Game
If the song, “Longer,” is your favorite Dan Fogelberg song, as well as your introduction to his music, then you undoubtably have at least one or two Air Supply records sitting next to a Barry Manilow Box Set (he does have a Box Set, right?). Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but. . .
On the other hand, if you happened to be attending college in the Midwest in the mid-70s, chances are pretty good that he played your campus at some point in time. And if you were lucky to catch him back in those days, you would’ve been a fan for life. Say what you will about his Top 40 hits, and the accompanying lps, that came in the late 70s and had a pretty good run on the charts into the early 80s, because I’ll put his first three records (Homefree, Souvenirs, and Captured Angel) up against anybody’s first three records. Every now and then he would show flashes of that earlier brilliance, as he does with “Nature Of The Game,” a song I first saw him perform when he toured with his bluegrass combo (Chris Hillman, Herb Peterson, et al) in the mid 80s, and was very grateful that he included it on his final album. And even more grateful that he recorded it solo acoustic, just how he had performed this previously unreleased gem in concert for all those years.