Bob+seger

For reasons never entirely explained, Bob Seger suffered a bit of a breakdown shortly after Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, so he decided to bring Tom Neme, a guitarist/pianist, into the Bob Seger System to help lighten the load and share the burden…

Longtime Bob Seger fans are united by one desire: to have his earliest recordings reissued. Usually, this means his earliest singles for Cameo and Hideout, but the sentiment also pertains to his first seven records that have remained out of print for years, with some – like the superb Back in '72 – never seeing a CD reissue. All this means that the 2009 appearance of Early Seger, Vol. 1 caused great excitement, especially since Seger chose Hideout as the imprint for this self-released compilation of highlights and outtakes…

Michigan's Bob Seger is an American treasure, but he doesn't get the full respect or attention of, say, Bruce Springsteen or John Mellencamp because he wasn't as visible. His late-'70s prime was pre-MTV, New Jersey-born Springsteen had the fawning support of the New York-based media, and Mellencamp embraced high-profile political causes like Farm Aid and married model Elaine Irwin…

The Distance was hailed as a return to form upon the time of its release and, in many ways, might be a little stronger, a little more consistent than its predecessor, Against the Wind. Still, this album has the slickest production Bob Seger had yet granted, and the biggest hit single on The Distance wasn't written by him, it was a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Shame on the Moon."…

Recorded the year after Live Bullet, Bob Seger's quintessential live album, Live: Boston 1977 finds the Michigan native delivering a live set while he and his Silver Bullet Band were at the height of their power…

Michigan's Bob Seger is an American treasure, but he doesn't get the full respect or attention of, say, Bruce Springsteen or John Mellencamp because he wasn't as visible. His late-'70s prime was pre-MTV, New Jersey-born Springsteen had the fawning support of the New York-based media, and Mellencamp embraced high-profile political causes like Farm Aid and married model Elaine Irwin…

With his seventh album, appropriately titled Seven, Bob Seger delivered one of his strongest, hardest-hitting rock records – the toughest since the days of the Bob Seger System. Not to say that he ever abandoned rock & roll, since Back in '72 was filled with fantastic rockers, but it was tempered with reflective singer/songwriter material…

Bob Seger's Mongrel may have been a terrific album, but nobody heard it, just like its predecessor. So Capitol was ready to drop him and wanted a contract-fulfilling album as soon as possible. Seger delivered the low-key, introspective Brand New Morning to get out of the deal. Later he claimed that the album was a collection of demos released somewhat against his will, but listening to the record it's hard to believe that these intimate yet fully realized songs were bare-bone work versions…

At times sounding like a poor man's Springsteen, Bob Seger continued to mine the fields he'd plowed so well over previous efforts. There's the send-up of the U.S.A. in "American Storm," and the hard-rockin' "Sometimes," and the heartbreakingly beautiful "Somewhere Tonight." Oh yes, and the song used in those incessant commercials for American pickup trucks, "Like a Rock." A mature effort from a great American talent…