Bob Seger - The Albums and the career, song by song thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Mar 20, 2021.

  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    No, I have a terrible memory lol
    But that was some show. SRV just walked on and blew the room away. There was no other focus.
    We went totally straight and sober, and mum asked me what I had given everyone when we got home lol.
     
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  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The Mountain.

    The other side of The Mountain
    Is where I want to be
    It's a far piece over The Mountain
    But I hope you'll go with me

    I grew up as a dreamer
    I found that dreams aren't free
    Now I want you here with me

    I've lived so long near the mountain
    It's almost part of me
    I want to have it behind me
    It blocks out all I can see
    It looms up dark and ancient
    Its shadow over me
    I want it behind me

    All that time, all that precious time
    It's gone from you and me
    We're givin' up this scene
    We're givin' up this scene

    Now some will say that we're destined
    Some will call it fate
    Me I call it obsession
    It's just like love and hate
    We're prisoners of our passion
    We all seem to find too late
    I hope it's not too late
    We're givin' up this scene
    Ah babe we're givin' up this scene

    We're gettin' out
    We're givin' up this scene
    You and me baby
    Yeah we're givin' up this scene

    Songwriters: Bob Seger
    The Mountain lyrics © Duchamp, Inc, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

    I think this is a good song. Again though on one of Bob's tracks we get this production that seems to take the life out of the guitars. They are there, and they sound like they are trying to be big and ballsy, but they seem to have no presence.
    There's a good chance that is what hampers my enjoyment of this album. The drums often have too much presence and the guitars are there, but it is like they are sitting behind a thick felt curtain or something.
    When the song opens up we get a bit of the grind that Bob was obviously going for here, but as the song goes along, the guitars are just a sort of bland fuzz in the mist.... and it is a terrible shame, because it sounds like what Bob was going for here, was a grinding ripsnorter of a rock song, but a blanket is put over the sound and it gets neutered.
    It somewhat seems like Bob is going for a Led Zep kind of thing here. The grinding guitars, and solid drums, and even the staccato synth strings... it all seems to be looking to a crunchy, punchy heavy rock.

    The Mountain seems to be about a journey that involves getting passed a large obstacle. The mountain doesn't seem to be a literal mountain, he seems to be using figurative imagery.
    Something has been shading his life, and it has been since he was young. It shades his vision of the world, and it stops him from being who or where he wants to be, and he wants it behind him, because it has become part of his life, and it is stopping him from being who and where he wants to be. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is, but perhaps one of you guys can...... being unfamiliar with Michigan, I am unfamiliar with the landscape, but I guess it could be about wanting to get away from Michigan, if there was some mountain that was around the place there.... but it doesn't seem that way from how I read this.
    Whatever the mountain represents, it is a scene that Bob wants to escape.... destiny, obsession, passion... these seem to be important elements in the story, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is we're talking about in a literal sense.... It could just be a case of this mountain manifests in different ways in each persons life, and it is something we need to move away from to actually live, and the longer it takes, the more time that is wasted ("I hope it's not too late.

    Anyway, it's a really interesting lyric.

    We open with some sort of slow, and steady drums with a sort of distant rhythm guitar grinding along, and a lead guitar, with a bit more presence that is working from an effect perspective.
    If we had a less processed sound (that's all I can seem to put it down to) this would be an ominous and punchy track.
    We get some nice melodic change ups during the flow of the song.
    I also really like the harmony vocals and the way the melody changes direction during them is also really cool. We move into this descending figure, and we get those staccato synth strings and it almost has a cousin of Kashmir kind of feel about it.
    We get a pretty nice lead guitar, that sort of lacerates the background, and we move through another series of moving section.

    I like this, but I want to love it, but there is just something inherently wrong with the sound of the production on this album, and it hobbles some very good songs, from my perspective. We get a nice fade out lead guitar, and this should be a song that I love, because it has all the elements of a sound and feel that I love, but it fails to be what it seems to be trying to be, due to this weird empty production.





     
  3. The Mountain

    This is the song I alluded to earlier on which I used to absolutely love playing as loud as my speakers could handle it in the car... Back then I wanted drums. Lots of drums, loud drums, prevalent drums, as high in the mix as possible, so it makes sense I really enjoyed it. Listening to it again now, I can't disagree with Mark's comments above. There is definitely an attempt at a Kashmir type feel which isn't quite achieved. The description of a blanket being put over the sound is spot on.

    I also, now, hear a song that makes me think of the studio version of Get Over It from Hell Freezes Over in sound production, as well as some of the tracks from Long Road Out Of Eden, both albums by the Eagles.

    I still like it, but can definitely hear that the song could have been more than it is, it could potentially have been a real hard rocking classic...
     
  4. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Yea, sadly, it's like a haze over the album. I don't essentially dislike any of the songs here at all, they just seem to be muted, a little lifeless in their presentation.... or something.
    This song in particular is right up my alley, but it just doesn't quite reach its potential.
     
  5. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    The Mountain
    Kashmir - that’s an interesting comparison. They really go for it on the outro guitar solo work don’t they? I need to give this more listens to honest. I might decide I like it. The drums are a bit over the top though, so that may hold it back. Lyrically it isn’t hitting me yet though.
     
  6. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Which Way
    A pedestrian unremarkable blues tune to begin with, and the flown in from another song sound of that lead guitar lick and the in your face 80s drums do it no favors
    Rating 3/10
     
  7. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    The Mountain
    Overall feels like it tries too hard to milk one metaphor. Not that strong melodically. The guitar work is its strongest suit but anything it gains sonically from that it more than loses from that sledgehammer to the brain snare sound.
    Rating 3/10
     
  8. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    The Mountain: Mark is thinking "Kashmir" ... I'm more in the Def Leppard "Bringing on the Heartache" camp. I'll give Seger credit for changing it up with harder rock, but it's not something I'd return to. It also reminds me of the sort of stuff Alice Cooper was doing in the 80s after things cooled down for him. And it goes on forever! A song this long better blow your doors off, and this doesn't quite do that. A few years back, I stumbled onto a great track "Black As Night" by The Frost, which featured Dick Wagner before he went on to larger 70s fame with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper. This feels like what Seger was going for (and what Wagner would add to so many great Cooper tracks a few years later.)
     
  9. tenor1

    tenor1 Forum Resident

    Which Way and The Mountain back-to-back are one of my least favorite Seger album sequences. The Mountain sounds like a long sludge fest with pedestrian lyrics to my ears. Seger will come back to this type of song with greater success in later albums. Mark, the Detroit area is flat - there are no literal mountains nearby.
     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I thought so, but wasn't sure. Cheers
     
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  11. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Closest thing are the sand dunes on Lake Michigan.
     
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  12. Davido

    Davido ...assign someone to butter your muffin?

    Location:
    Austin
    Agree it could be much better but if you're going to have a grinding, menacing rock epic - which seems the intent - then the wall of blanket production isn't as detrimental on "The Mountain" as it is on previous songs. Guess I just like the song in spite of itself!
     
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  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The Long Way Home.

    Winners, losers and small time misusers
    do what they must on their own
    Lovers, dreamers and beautiful schemers
    all take the long way home
    some have their reasons
    some lose their way
    they all want so much to succeed
    how do you tell them apart
    the best of them leave with their hearts

    Now that it's summer
    I went to the river
    the water was never too cold
    always together through all kinds of weather
    we took the long way home
    she was the best
    I ever knew
    somehow she drifted away

    Now that I'm older
    the nights seems much colder
    I spend too much time alone
    sometimes in summer
    I kept thinking of her
    and I'll take the long way home
    I'll still take the long way home

    Songwriters: Bob Seger
    The Long Way Home lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC


    Of this Bob said "'Long Way Home' seems to be getting a lot of mail. People are really touched by it. And that's why I do this, that's why we all do this...to make that emotional connection, that's worth everything." Interview on Later with Bob Costas.

    This song fits in with the career long search to write poignant ballads. This is a gentle, and reflectively thoughtful track.
    We have a digital piano, or perhaps an electric piano, and it sounds pretty decent, even though I probably prefer an acoustic piano.
    We start off with just the piano and the vocal, and that space allows this track to breathe and so has it sounding pretty good in this context.

    Lyrically we are reflecting on the wanderers of the world, and also a lost love of Bob's, and finally on where we find ourselves now..... still with the memory of the lost love haunting us.
    The Long Way Home generally points to the fact that we didn't take the straight path, because generally we are all too flawed to even know what the straight path is, and we're easily distracted and stumble after our own vanities.
    The core idea here, even though we start off looking at the big picture and slowly focus in, is the relationship we had, that should have been the one, but we messed it up, and now we have a large chunk of regret, and the journey is so much more difficult with the burden of regret, like a bag for us to carry that is too heavy for us.

    This is a beautiful song, and Bob delivers it beautifully. It sounds like he is living in this mindset, not just regurgitating words about it.
    I think the melodic structure works extremely well.
    When we move into the second vocal section, we have a synth pad and some suitably gentle drums and the dynamic lift is ever so slight, but very effective.
    The change up in the vocal delivery at "she was the best...." is wonderful, and Bob shows quite clearly that he still has what it takes to really sell a vocal.

    After the second vocal section we move into an instrumental section that starts with a gentle drop to virtually nothing, and then Alto comes in with a really nice sax lead break. Although he has been on this album, it seems to some degree that he has been MIA on this album, so this is a welcome highlight section.
    We get a nice slide guitar break follow on from that, and then move into the final section that starts off just the keyboard and vocal again. It carries the emotional weight required to reflect the fact that Bob is reflecting on his regrets at losing the woman who was the one.
    About half way through we have the full arrangement kick back in and it leads to a nice alternate melody insert that takes us to the end of the song.

    This is a really nice track, that I can appreciate for its honesty and transparency.

     
  14. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    The Long Way Home
    Kind of sappy, even for my tastes, and I don't usually mind sappy songs. This could have been a lot nicer on acoustic piano with real strings. The soft artificial electric piano tone puts me off, the synth pad makes it worse and the sax and guitar breaks lack any real edge to them as well. Then the even softer ending adds to the effect. Reminiscent of some of the softest Eagles material.
    Rating 3/10
     
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  15. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    The Long Way Home: Ugh, reverb on the lead vocal, no clue what he was thinking to believe this sounded good on this album! So many of these types of ballads (essentially 80s) are interchangeable with the artists who did them: Don Henley, Joe Cocker, Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart. Seger. I try to hear the track without all the turn of the 90s studio enhancement, like it would have sounded on Night Moves or Stranger in Town, and it sounds better, but still not on the level of his better ballads. This sounds like he was going for an Eagles "Wasted Time" vibe and came out closer to "The Lady in Red."
     
  16. tenor1

    tenor1 Forum Resident

    The Long Way Home starts off promising with a nice melody and lyric line. But that's the best the melody gets, there's no further payoff later on. And the lyric writing stays too vague to really connect. Compare "Somehow she drifted away" to the specifics listed in the The Ring, or even the concise "She said she missed her home / I headed on alone" from Roll Me Away. The specific becomes universal, the vague just stays vague, unless you have great music to supply what the lyrics lack.
     
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  17. Davido

    Davido ...assign someone to butter your muffin?

    Location:
    Austin
    Seems it's been established "The Fire Inside" is the worst produced Seger album for all the reasons stated throughout this thread - but "The Long Way" is ruined LESS than much of the previous material on the album, so I like this song. Not a Seger classic though this song puts our man back in his comfortable wheelhouse and it does start out strong lyrically in classic Seger fashion even it "the story" is not fully developed.
     
  18. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    Well, I'd amend that to "worst produced Seger album given the unlimited amount of time, money and creativity he had to produce an album." When he was knocking out an album every year or two between serious road miles on tour, I understood if he cut a few corners production wise, or couldn't afford the level of production/musicianship he wanted. But when you have unlimited time and resources to do whatever you want ... The Clash took one year between London Calling and Sandinista, and that included touring!

    Maybe having unlimited time and resources is the problem!
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    To a degree I think it is.
    I get the feeling they may have finessed this album into submission.
    It is like they had too much time available, and they polished the rock until it was a cold steel ball bearing.

    I like most of these songs, but mainly I see potential, unreached.
    The guitars are there, but they have no bite when they need to.
    The drums, generally, but not completely, have a relentlessly high mix and seem to blow most everything else out of the aural spectrum.

    It kind if seems like, on the rock songs, they got a drum sound and mix they were happy with, but forgot to mix the other instruments back in or something.

    This is the first album in the thread to disappoint me, and it isn't the songs really, just the beige sound.
     
  20. Tom M

    Tom M Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    I've just read Deep Purples next album ( of covers) will include "Lucifer" by the Bob Seger System.
     
  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Blind Love.

    Now you're gone
    And it's hotels and whiskey and sad luck days
    And I don't care if they miss me
    I never remember their names

    They say if you get far enough away
    You'll be on your way back home
    Well I'm at the station
    And I can't get on the train

    Must be Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    Oh Blind Love
    Blind Love
    Stone Blind Love
    Stone Blind Love

    Well the street's turning blue
    The dogs are barking and the night has come
    And it's tears that are falling
    From these brown eyes now
    And I wonder where you are
    And I whisper your name
    (I whisper your name)
    And the only way to find you
    Is if I close my eyes

    And find you with my Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    Oh Blind Love
    Blind Love
    Stone Blind Love
    Stone Blind Love

    Oh it's Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    The only kind of love is stone Blind Love
    Oh Blind Love
    Blind Love
    Stone Blind Love

    Songwriters: Thomas Alan Waits
    Blind Love lyrics © Jalma Music

    From Seger File
    Seger described this track as "obviously somewhat tongue-in-cheek."
    Susan Whitall, August 24, 1991, The Detroit News. "Long Way Home"

    "I feel a kinship with Tom Waits; I love the way he writes, which makes it easy to do the songs." Gary Graff, August 4, 1991, Detroit Free Press. "The Creative Fire Returns"

    This track is originally from Tom Waits' acclaimed 1985 album Raindogs, and it has a very traditional Country sound and feel to it.

    Again the sound here seems to be more clear, and less cluttered, and it is odd to me that both Tom's songs on here come across as better recordings and production than Bob's originals from this album. It is likely the fact that the drums are just playing a kick and rimshot beat, and so somewhat pacifies the sound of them. Perhaps it's the more straight forward arrangements and the more acoustic instruments, I don't know, but if the rest of the album was this clear, I would enjoy it a lot more than I do.

    I'm a sucker for this kind of music. I'm not what you would call a country fan particularly but there are a lot of pre-eighties country artists that I enjoy a lot, and have in the collection.
    Tom, as I probably said before, is a favourite of mine and I have all of his albums up to and including Mule Variations. Rain Dogs is a solid album, but like most of his albums from Rain Dogs onward, it has some quirky and unusual style tracks, but he always seemed to counterpoint those with some more straight forward, traditional type tracks.

    Bob does a great job of this song here, and it is again, one of the highlights of the album for me. The clarity and the arrangement help a lot with my enjoyment of it, and Bob of course delivers a really good vocal.

     
  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    For the record here is Tom's original version of New Coat Of Paint

     
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    And here is Tom's original version of Blind Love

     
  24. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    Blind Love - I wouldn't have guessed this was a Tom Waits song, but it reminds me a bit of him now that I do know.
    Not really up to the standards of his best work OR Seger's, to be honest. I don't hate it, but I find it rather underwhelming. (That sums up this album in general for me, really.)
     
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

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