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.

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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...

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