Treasure found in Bob Seger's vault
November 12, 2009
Treasure found in Bob Seger's vault
Adam Graham / Detroit News Pop Music Writer
Bob Seger cracks open his vaults for "Early Seger Vol. 1," a collection of rare and unreleased works from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's early years.
The 10-song CD -- which hits Meijer stores Nov. 24 and goes on sale on Seger's Web site a week later -- pairs six Seger tracks from the early '70s, some never available before on CD, with four unreleased tunes. The CD was released to the media Wednesday.
For collectors, the draw will be the unreleased material, 75 percent of which -- "Star Tonight," "Wildfire" and "Days When the Rain Would Come" -- apparently comes from Seger's "Like a Rock" sessions in 1985. The other, "Gets Ya Pumpin'," is a pulsating, bluesy rocker unearthed from 1977.
The "Like a Rock"-era tunes find Seger honing his center in familiar mid-tempo range. You know you're in Seger territory when he opens "Wildfire" -- the best of the four "new" songs -- with the kind of wholly Midwestern scene-setting that comes to him so naturally: "With a full moon rising high on a windswept summer night," he opens, effortlessly dropping you into a story of a night out on the town. The song has a bit of a "Roll Me Away" feel to it, which may explain why it was discarded.
Meanwhile, "Star Tonight" -- a version of which was recorded by Don Johnson for his 1986 album "Heartbeat" (with Willie Nelson on backing vocals!) -- centers on a woman pretending to be happy in a relationship, and has enough Nashville underpinnings to be reborn as a country hit.
Several of the unreleased songs were tinkered with and polished in sessions at Kid Rock's recording studio in September and October, and Rock's keyboard player, Jimmie Bones, lends a piano solo to "Gets Ya Pumpin'."
The previously released material -- including Seger's cover of the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider" -- come from Seger's albums "Back in '72," "Smokin' O.P.'s" and "Seven."
"Early Seger" offers a glimpse at what could be a treasure trove of unreleased Seger recordings. The quality is definitely there, and hopefully this is the first step toward the box set his fans richly crave.
Adam Graham / Detroit News Pop Music Writer
Bob Seger cracks open his vaults for "Early Seger Vol. 1," a collection of rare and unreleased works from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's early years.
The 10-song CD -- which hits Meijer stores Nov. 24 and goes on sale on Seger's Web site a week later -- pairs six Seger tracks from the early '70s, some never available before on CD, with four unreleased tunes. The CD was released to the media Wednesday.
For collectors, the draw will be the unreleased material, 75 percent of which -- "Star Tonight," "Wildfire" and "Days When the Rain Would Come" -- apparently comes from Seger's "Like a Rock" sessions in 1985. The other, "Gets Ya Pumpin'," is a pulsating, bluesy rocker unearthed from 1977.
The "Like a Rock"-era tunes find Seger honing his center in familiar mid-tempo range. You know you're in Seger territory when he opens "Wildfire" -- the best of the four "new" songs -- with the kind of wholly Midwestern scene-setting that comes to him so naturally: "With a full moon rising high on a windswept summer night," he opens, effortlessly dropping you into a story of a night out on the town. The song has a bit of a "Roll Me Away" feel to it, which may explain why it was discarded.
Meanwhile, "Star Tonight" -- a version of which was recorded by Don Johnson for his 1986 album "Heartbeat" (with Willie Nelson on backing vocals!) -- centers on a woman pretending to be happy in a relationship, and has enough Nashville underpinnings to be reborn as a country hit.
Several of the unreleased songs were tinkered with and polished in sessions at Kid Rock's recording studio in September and October, and Rock's keyboard player, Jimmie Bones, lends a piano solo to "Gets Ya Pumpin'."
The previously released material -- including Seger's cover of the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider" -- come from Seger's albums "Back in '72," "Smokin' O.P.'s" and "Seven."
"Early Seger" offers a glimpse at what could be a treasure trove of unreleased Seger recordings. The quality is definitely there, and hopefully this is the first step toward the box set his fans richly crave.
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