People often mock John Denver for his supermellow, sticky-sweet wholesomeness, yet hardly anyone ever picks on Dan Fogelberg, who traffics in the same trite, treacly sentiments that made Denver a pet peeve (and, of course, several million dollars).

Fogelberg's work not only utilizes numberless storybook-romantic platitudes but also every laid-back, folk-rock cliché that's flitted down the...