Bob Seger was
one of the most popular and mainstream of the rock singers of the Seventies.
Seger, born in Detroit , Michigan , in 1944, had, in his initial
incarnation, been a blues-rock/soul singer in a band called “The Bob Seger
System.” This band came together in 1968 and played gritty blues rock and R&B.
The band’s debut album, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” (1969), was a fine effort that
had the title track become a minor hit. The band would record two more albums
before folding in 1970.
Seger would
reemerge as a solo artist, and several early Seventies albums were released
under his name that garnered little commercial or critical attention. That
would all change with Seger’s next supporting outfit, “The Silver Bullet Band.”
Seger and his new backing band came together in 1974, and Seger would finally
find the commercial and critical success that he had long been striving for.
The first release of Seger and The Silver Bullet Band was a superb live album,
“Live Bullet,” from 1976. The album features the new band playing a number of
Seger’s older songs in inspired performances.
The band’s next
release, “Night Moves,” (1976) would be the breakthrough that would turn Seger
into an overnight success more than a decade after his career had begun. The
album consisted of hard rock gems such as “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” “Come
to Poppa,” and “The Fire Down Below,” but it was the folk-flavoured title
track, “Night Moves,” that would become a massive hit. Another fine track,
“Mainstreet” would become a minor hit.
Seger would
follow-up one classic album with another with the release of “Stranger in Town”
(1978). Like its predecessor, this album was a huge commercial and critical
success thanks to outstanding tracks such as, “Hollywood Nights,” “Still the
Same,” “Feel Like a Number,” and the hit ballad, “We’ve Got Tonight.”
Bob Seger in 1977 |