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

I've lived in Seattle since 1985 and Cobo's equivalent was the original Seattle Center Coliseum built for the World's Fair in 1962. It's currently going through it's second major remodel since I moved here. It's now going to be called Climate Pledge Arena (what a terrible name) and will be the home of the new Seattle Kraken NHL team scheduled to start play this fall. It will also be the place for a lot of concerts that have been all going to the Tacoma Dome during this remodel. You either have to remodel or build new arenas to keep up these days. There's still an outside chance of another arena getting built near the other stadiums to host a return of the Sonics if that ever happens. Lots of typical bad Seattle politics behind these arena decisions.

 

I agree with you that Detroit was an awesome place to see a show, any show not only Seger.
I remember when they were deciding where the RnR HOF was going to be, I really thought Detroit had it sewn up. But, they ended up picking Cleveland. In hindsight, not that big of a deal as that place is a bit of a sham.

 

Another thing. Live Bullet was sold as a bargain. A 2 record set for the price of a single album. Alright it was a dollar higher but still...
So it wasn't real expensive. Looking at the numbers I expect that Detroit made it gold all on their own(like Loser) before the rest of ya'll started catching on.

 

According to this 300,000 of the first 500,000 were sold in Detroit:
Seger File: Live Bullet

 

Nutbush City Limits

We open with the atmosphere one would want at a concert like this ... There is that buzz of excitement that is captured by the swell of the crowd noise. We get the guy introducing the band, and then we get the even higher rev of excitement from the crowd.
Bob says "Hey Deeeee-troit .... yea ..... whoo" the stage is set, and all the players seem ready to go.
The guitar grinds into the track Bob and the drums come in together, and we break into the track.
The bass comes in on the first chorus section, and it's all systems go.

We get a break down into just the beat, and we get Bob's famous little intro chat.... "As I told everybody last night I was reading Rolling Stone where they said Detroit Audiences are the greatest rock and roll audiences in the world, ..... I thought to myself sh#t I've Known that for ten years" ..... This is always the kind of thing that will get the audience onside, and they were already there.

We move into the Keep an eye for the police, and it is accented with some nice band punches.

He doesn't blow this track out at all, he just keeps it focused and concise, he draws the crowd into his corner (as if they weren't already) and the thing is, whether this is a top class recording or not, I don't know, it sounds pretty good to me, but most importantly, it captures the right amount of the band, and the right amount of the audience, and we can feel the excitement of the crowd, and in this kind of rock concert, that is the magic, and very hard to get right ingredient that gives you a classic live album, or a collection of songs.

 

studio comparison

 

Nutbush City Limits - I prefer most of the live versions to the studio ones, but in this case I consider them equally fantastic. The bit about Detroit audiences maybe gives the live version that last tiny advantage - it really shows how they're on his side as he makes his last grasp at the brass ring, and the whole performance lets you know you're in for a five-star concert. If Seger considered this above-average but not the best they could do, I'd sure like to hear their best!

 

It seems like you rarely capture your best.... I don't know why. I have recorded in the studio and live, and it always seems or feels like when you do something really special, or beyond your known capabilities, that the tape isn't rolling...
I wonder if subliminally we tend to not reach as hard when the tape is rolling....
Or maybe it was just me.... idk, just pondering.

 

Nutbush City Limits is a great start to the album, and for a very long time I thought it was a cover that was exclusive to the live album. It was quite a while before I saw a copy of Beautiful Loser and realized it was on there. The live version has the energy- but so does the album version! I love ‘em both. Importantly, for a young guy discovering all this in 1985 or so, I saw the Tina Turner credit and it gave her some extra “street cred” in my eyes to know she’d written a song worthy of being covered by “the great Bob Seger”. It made me want to find out more about her catalog as well. Turner’s 80’s comeback was in full swing when I heard this. I’ll tell ya what - there’s a lot of trash in her 70’s solo catalog but there’s some real gems in there too. Her covers of some rock classics hold their own. Turner didn’t actually ever seem to write very many songs, but she sure knew how to sing anyone else’s song in a way that made it her own. Bob does that here: he makes Nutbush City Limits his own.

 

One thing I've never liked about Live Bullet is the amount of grandstanding Bob does. " I was reading in Rolling Stone ... etc." It's never worked for me.

 

"I guess you had to be there"

I have always wanted to say that in a correct context....

 

It really doesn't work when I've seen him live. He did a lot less in later years.

 

I knew what he was talking about. there had been an article in RS about where bands liked to play best. Detroit was at the top. Geils, Aerosmith and other bands ranked Detroit audiences and Cobo at the top. So it was kinda "showbizzy" but it was topical.
As Bob said he was playing to the audience not the tapes.

 

To me it's all about revving up the crowd.
It's well documented that concerts work on the principle of the band feeding the crowd music or a vibe, and when the audience is getting it, they in turn feed the band with their energy and enthusiasm.
As corny as they may seem, these kind of ego booster comments from artists to audiences are all about getting that energy flowing as hard as you can.... hey, and at least it's topical, and more sincere than say the old "yr a great audience " lol

 

TBH, on KISS Alive! Paul Stanley is much worse. That might be my favorite album of all time.

 

KISS was WAY over in Detroit.

 

Very few bands and artists are going to play live without these kind of exchanges - it's usually part of the deal. (Here's the king of grandstanding, Paul Stanley, doing what he does live in concert. If you can make it to the end of this video, I'll buy you a beer.) Then you'd have people like Springsteen in the 70s who would stop shows and tell stories for upwards of five minutes as song intro's. On the other hand, you'd have bands like The Cars who wouldn't engage the audience at all and just perform the songs.

I'm also not crazy about how live versions tend to be more padded out with extended and added solos (like the dreaded 5+ minute drum solos harder rock bands often took mid-concert). Makes perfect sense live - getting the crowd into it and wound up. But it usually doesn't bear repeated listens for me. Nothing wrong with this version of "Nutbush City Limits." Album version gets there slightly quicker and does the same thing.

 

Nutbush City Limits - Great opener. Have always loved Bob's banter

 

One quick question. Were the songs on the album performed in the same order as the actual shows? Sorry if somebody already mentioned this.

 

Stanley was always a little ott lol ... but it fits the band perfectly

 

I forgot to mention one thing. This album was one of those that had sides 1 and 4 on one record and 2 and 3 on the other so many times I listened to the album out of order. You digital only guys got to miss all that

 

From The Toronto Star, Toronto ON: Honouring Rosalie Trombley, the ‘girl with the golden ear’.


Rosalie Trombley and Bob Seger.

 

I had a job in high school at the Farmer Jacks in Southfield and would often get stuck with Bottle Return detail. OMG what gross job. This was before the machines were around. Yuk.

 

Our family left West Bloomfield and moved to the East Coast in Summer 1975. We bought Live Bullet out there and it was indeed a hit and we heard it at parties, etc.

But we moved back to Detroit area in Jan 78 and man, Bob was huuuuge on Detroit radio. And Live Bullet was still big!

 

big 8 radio is currently playing "Nutbush City Limits".