There are two things working against it: 1) Seger himself seems ambivalent to embarassed by some of his older stuff 2) A bunch of the early singles are tied up in the whole ABKCO/Cameo-Parkway kerfuffle. Regards,
Keep an eye out for the Capitol reissue vinyl...it can be had cheaply and the sound isn't horrid. I've gotten a (sealed!) Ramblin' Gamblin' Man and a (VG++) Smokin' OPS this way...also seen a bunch of copies of Seven, though I haven't bitten yet. Still looking for Back in 72, though. That one's tough to find!
Seger let some--but not all--of his early albums out on CD a long time ago, and hasn't repeated the experiment....but I wouldn't even dream as to speculate why, as RAMBLIN' GAMBLIN' MAN, to name one, is a fairly solid album, even if the title track is fake stereo(the rest of it is true stereo). What I'd like to know is simply this: what's so wrong about Bob's material before BEAUTIFUL LOSER? True, one could argue that was the first Seger album that one could describe as 'mature,' as a guy coming into his own(if only in his own mind), but still....can't think of any logical reason to keep this stuff in the vaults, sooner or later he'll likely break down and let EMI put 'em out anyway. He obviously has considerable clout, since it's probably his call as to what we get, and when. ED
Here in Detroit, the local paper has had huge coverage of Bob's induction into the Hall of Fame, and I there was some mention of reissues and some other projects (e.g. DVD). I will have to re-read the article - I was skimming.
Essentially, Seger feels that his pre 75 catalogue is lacking in production and performance. I disagree on both counts. The songs that I have heard are great. The production may not be as slick as Against the Wind but I actually view that as a benefit. So far I've managed to acquire Seven and Smolin' Op's on cassette tape. A friend who has since moved away burned Back In '72 for me. '72 is definately my favorite of these three.
The Free Press says the all-time missing 3 will come out over the next 5 years; I would guess the other missing 4 would be planned for a similar time frame. While this would be great, breath-holding is not advised! This is part of a wonderful Seger series that's available at their web site - click on the other articles in the side part to see the whole thing: http://www.freep.com/entertainment/music/qna14_20040314.htm Personally, I think all these albums save Noah are at least good. Back in '72 is my all-time favorite for the studio albums, and Seven and Brand New Morning are not far behind. The half of Noah that Seger sings is pretty decent too. - Joe
