In 1987 Dan Fogelberg released, Exiles, his tenth album.  He was in the process of going through a divorce (not one that he initiated) and coping with a seriously broken heart.  The album is all about grief with songs that touch on all of its stages: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.  Today we are focused on Anger.

Dan wrote all of the songs on Exiles with the exception of It Doesn’t Matter which was written by Stephen Stills and Chris HIllman and originally released by Manassas.  We featured the Manassas version our Southern California Sound #13 post but let’s listen again to refresh our memory of what the original sounded  like…..

I love this song and, while the lyrics are sad, I never considered it to be angry.  If I had to categorize the tone of the Manassas performance it was resigned…..definitely not angry.

Back to Dan and his cover version of the song.  Believe it or not, his version is not on YouTube so I put it on my private channel just for you guys.  Let’s listen and then we will talk.

Angry, Angry, Angry….the last 90 seconds of this song are amazing.  Although I have huge respect for Dan’s guitar skills,  I never imagined that he had that solo in him.  I don’t know if Dan had screaming matches as part of his divorce but if he didn’t that guitar solo definitely got it out of his system.  It was a musical, one sided, all out screaming match and I am willing to bet that he was emotionally spent after recording it.  I am seldom surprised by musical performances but this one was an exception.

All I can say is well done Dan……..we miss you very much!

If you haven’t done it already, go back to yesterday’s post and sign the petition to get Dan into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!