The Bob Seger System

Even if you've only been reading my posts with a wide toothed comb you'll know that 1) at some point i'll listen to a couple Motown artists, B) i'm still miles away from repeating a band, and Last) this coming Sunday will feature some sort of paul. But i bet you weren't expecting me to continue the baseball metaphor from yesterday and throw you a curve ball: a band who turned down Motown to sign with Capitol FOR LESS MONEY. I can't really decide if that was the right or wrong choice because there are persuasive arguments either way, but they definitely would have been a strange addition to the standard Motown roster...

... You know Bob Seger, but if you only know his radio hits from the 70s and 80s you're in for a real treat/horrible time depending on your tolerance for anti-commercial, underground Detroit rock-n-roll.

I imagine that when the execs at Capitol heard the initial offering from The Bob Seger System they said "whaaaaa?" The gist of the story is that the first couple one-off singles were doing pretty well, but they just couldn't let the debut album not include them. So, it's an album with a title track that doesn't match the cover (not the originally intended cover either), isn't listed on the back of the jacket, and clearly should have been left as the non-album single it was meant to be. Berry Gordy might have made the boys go through Maxine Powell's finishing school (a humorous picture in my mind), but there's no doubt he would have put every ounce of his energy into nurturing the newest members of his beloved Detroit's musically talented population. Berry Gordy was all about success for his artists being success for himself (not the other way around), and he wanted everybody on board.

Not about Motown, not about Motown...

... where was i? Bob Seger. Ok. Focus.

Like i said, if you only know his later hits then this might be weird. This album is underground, drunk guys in a bar at 2AM type stuff. It's good, but more importantly it has some of that amateurish forcefullness that made all the great Detroit garage rock you might know. But, and it's a big but, it's Bob Seger. If you don't like Bob Seger, you won't like this at all. If however, like me, you're kind of "meh" on him, then there's some real joy to be found in hearing him a little bit unpolished. So, maybe Berry Gordy would have made it worse.   ðŸ¤·‍♀️ I don't know.

Next

Give it a try and let me know what YOU think.

I suppose i should clarify, the album is Ramblin' Gamblin' Man. I'm getting forgetful in my middle age...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 4 Seasons - The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette

Image
This might be my longest  album review ever. But i swear a couple times, so it's worth the read ;) How could i possibly mention Jefferson Airplane, The 4 Seasons, and Frank Zappa in the same context? Zappa said "this is rediculous" and a few years later The 4 Seasons said "you know what, Frank is right. This IS ridiculous." To which Jefferson Airplane said, "Oh. Ok. Got it." The real question is: which one is the most transgressive? Zappa said stop fighting, you look like idiots. Jefferson Airplane said i guess if love and community is a bad thing, then sure we're criminals and we'd be happy to move out into the fields and live peaceful lives without your garbage, let us go already. The 4 Seasons said hold my champagne for a moment. In 1969, The 4 Seasons released the single most ironic, acidic, extravagant, and downright befuddling album ever created, The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette. Zappa was accused of writing "shitty doo-w...
Read more

Welcome to my blog, and my record collection.

This is a blog about my love of listening to albums. It started off as a nightly perusal of my dad's record collection (which sadly became mine) on my personal facebook page. Over the last two months it has become quite an enjoyable process of simply ranting about what i think is a real art form, the album. It needs a more permanent home. Some of my reviews are positive, some negative. They might not be what you expect from album reviews, but i hope you at least find them entertaining. For the most part i do very little research, and they tend to be train of thought reactions rather than calculated essays. If nothing else, know that i'm really listening to them and whether they are amazing or abysmal i want you to go listen to them too.  I'll start migrating the 60+ i've written so far over here in the next few days, and hopefully get to the point where i just start writing them here. I'd probably even take suggestions if you're just dying to know my tho...
Read more

J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame

Image
Speaking of New Wave, I just listened to the penultimate J. Geils Band album, Feeze Frame, and it is awesome. You know the title track and Centerfold, but i highly doubt you know the album closer, Piss On The Wall.  It's not even really reviewable, to be honest, it's Freeze Frame, couple songs, Centerfold, couple more songs, and Piss On The Wall. I guess i could rehash what Post-Punk/New Wave New Wave was all about (actual dance club Rock & Roll with quirkily expensive synth leads), but you know The Cars and The Motels and Talking Heads. Believe it or not, the Ramones were considered New Wave rather than Punk in the beginning. Now we'd call them Pop Punk, but the point is that Rock in the late 70s existed on a spectrum from Corporate Cock to Nerdly Neurotic Pocket Protector, and in 1980/81 J. Geils Band said hold my beer, I gotta take a leak, how's this for "radio-friendly, twitchy nerd Rock with huge sing-along choruses?" Freakin' awesome, dude, freak...
Read more