Seger gets a lot of grief 'round these parts - much of it deserved - but I’m wondering how many are familiar with his early stuff (which I think both rocks and rolls).
Some examples:
Back in '72
Any fans?
mmm
Bob Seger fan here. I like nearly all Seger’s stuff. The songs the OP mentioned are good but were somewhat dated even when they were released. Get out of Denver has that Johnny B Goode sound. Great song but it had been released in 1958. Seger’s early albums didn’t sell well. I think because he was still trying to find his own signature style. He was still doing other people’s music in the early days. There is a lot of good music on those early albums.
Seger has fought hard to keep one of those early albums from being rereleased. I recall him saying he just didn’t like it. I read that quite a few years ago and get recall which one it is.
Seger at his career best was Live Bullet. imho Still edgy and rocking and he has his own style.
Good article on Seger. Muscle Shoals is an amazing recording studio that cranked out hits for a lot of artists. TheMuscle Shoals Rhythm Section are a group of American soul, R&B, and country studio musicians based in the city of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They have appeared on more than 75 gold and platinum hits.
That article brings up Seger’s refusal to rerelease his early stuff. Bootlegs are the only source for his early stuff. I think theres some recordings fans made at his very early 70’s concerts.
The Last Heard, his first band, had some good music.
East side Story and Persecution Smith come to mind.
Sorry, my linker ain’t working.
Bob Seger clean shaven. :eek: Unrecognizable until he starts singing.
Did the piano player not show up for the gig? I’ve never seen anybody hold a mic in one hand and play with the other. Why didn’t they use a mic stand? So he could use both hands?
cool artifact of Bob just getting started. But at this point they weren’t even a good bar band. Seger still needed to put together the Silver Bullet Band before he got a tight sound.
Though I’m not a huge fan and I don’t own any of it, I’ve always had a soft spot for the music. The SBB don’t strike me as the best virtuosos on the block but the arrangements are tight and straightforward and take equal place with Bob Seger’s vocals. I always think of Seger as the anti-Springsteen, while Springsteen himself has always come across as a little too “Broadway”–like a vocalist of the pre-R&R era, Springsteen’s songs are all about his singing and his lyrics, and the E Street Band is pretty much a non-entity–nobody remembers them except the guy that was in The Sopranos.
Really? No one remembers Clarence Clemons or Max Weinberg? Are you sure you’re familiar with the band?
FWIW, IMHO, YMMV and so on.
Maybe I just need more guitar in my rock and roll. But with regard to Clemons and Weinberg, obviously people remember them in the sense that they are or were in his band for decades. But where in Springsteen’s music does their talent really come to the fore? Clearly I’m not a fan, which is why I have passing familiarity only with his big hits like “Born In The USA” that pretty much everyone has heard of. However good his back-up musicians may be, I don’t hear it in the recordings. I don’t think that’s necessarily because they aren’t good musicians or didn’t play well that day, but more because the wall-of-sound arrangement style makes it pretty hard to discern what anyone is doing. With some exceptions, the Boss’s records have always sound like–just the Boss singing with a backup band.
With Seger there’s more “space” in the instrumentation.
I own nothing by Springstein and never have, but even I am familiar with multiple members of his band. Your arguments about his music are totally different than saying no one remembers who any of his bandmates were/are.
I had the 45 of Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man as a kid in our record collection. Must’ve been my older brothers. Of course I’m a Detroit girl.
I grew up within range of stronger Detroit based FM radio stations and lived in Michigan for a good chunk of my life… I wouldn’t call myself a fan. He’s part of the music of my youth though and I generally like his stuff - solid and familiar. Get out of Denver started running through my head as soon as I read that. The other’s I don’t recognize.
Do you know “Ballad of the Yellow Beret?” It was pre SBB. A “protest song about protestors” from the Vietnam war era might not have helped his career. Might be best that it got pulled due to copyright issues.
Bob Saget, aw crap.
It shows. 
That is a rather hilarious misspelling.
Awesome.
Not a huge fan, but I sorta did like his first album. I always liked his anti-Vietnam war song.
My drummer loves that song, and looks for anything he can find from that period. I think it’s pretty good in comparison to his other work.