Bob Seger had a chance to share some special moments with his fans during the final tour dates of his farewell tour, which wrapped up in Philadelphia on Nov. 1, 2019.
One of those moments happened during the Detroit rock legend’s performance in Toronto on Oct. 26, just two shows away from the final curtain in Philly. As Seger told the Canadian crowd that evening, though the bulk of what would become the Night Moves album had already been completed, manager Punch Andrews felt like they still needed one more song. So he’d been dispatched to Toronto to work with producer Jack Richardson. It was there in the city that after several days, he finally landed on the right song, which they recorded in those closing moments before he packed up and went back home.
That song, as he revealed, was “Night Moves.” As you can imagine, the Toronto crowd went wild and it’s still a moment as a music fan that I get goosebumps, just thinking about it. It had been a last minute decision to drive to Toronto to see the gig and just getting to hear that story, I knew I’d made the right decision.
Bob Seger turned 80 on May 6 and all signs indicate that the notoriously private singer-songwriter won’t be ending his retirement. Understandably, he seems to be enjoying the time with his family. He’s made a few public appearances, including an unexpected return to the stage in 2023 to honor longtime friend Patty Loveless as she was being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. But largely, he’s been out of the limelight.
So what’s next, if anything? Gary Graff has been in the Detroit area covering Bob’s career for more than four decades. He recently joined the UCR Podcast to examine some of the possibilities, while also looking back at some of Seger’s past triumphs, including 1978’s Stranger in Town.
Bob’s Early Albums
Though Seger had a Top 20 hit with “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” in 1968, he entered a dry spell of nearly a decade after that and was frustrated that the albums he was releasing weren’t finding a larger audience. 1976’s Night Moves finally turned the tide with the title track peaking at No. 4. Still, as he told Graff in the book, Travelin’ Man: On the Road and Behind the Scenes with Bob Seger, he knew he was on the right path. “In that seven-year period…even though we were playing, like 250 nights a year, I could tell I had something because the audiences wanted me back…and we killed every night,” he said. “So I knew I had something.” But he surmised that perhaps the music he was making wasn’t good enough. “I played too many nights and I really didn’t have enough time to write.”
Listen to Bob Seger’s ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man’
The bulk of his early catalog, from 1969’s Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man album through 1974’s Seven have remained largely unavailable and out of print for more than five decades. Only Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man and 1972’s Smokin’ O.P.’s have seen new light on the store shelves with a reissue. As music moved into the digital age, the songwriter was one of the last remaining holdouts and finally made an initial dozen albums from his output available on streaming in 2017 — but those early albums remain missing in action.
“They really merit being out there. I think Bob was a little hard on himself, but not necessarily a lot hard on on himself,” Graff says. “When you get to Beautiful Loser, you can really hear he had learned a lot of lessons, and he had taken a step back and applied a much more advanced and sophisticated attitude towards songwriting and recording to that record and then the albums that came after that. Before that, it was a little more slapdash. The songs, if anything, maybe weren’t as finished as they could have been and weren’t as polished as they could have been. There were still a lot of good songs, between Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man and and Beautiful Loser, but he didn’t always take the time to finish them.”
READ MORE: How Bob Seger Got Closer to a Breakthrough With ‘Beautiful Loser’
What’s in Seger’s Vault?
Bruce Springsteen is preparing to release Tracks II: The Lost Albums, an expansive collection featuring seven previously unreleased albums. Does Seger have albums that similarly, he put on the shelf? “Not entire albums like that, but a there’s a lot of songs,” Graff shares. “You know, there were albums where Bob worked on 20 or 30 songs and 10 or 12 made it and some were considered for later albums. So there’s material and there is a great lost Seger kind of set [that could be released]. They did the Early Seger Vol. 1 [compilation, in 2009] that had [some] old songs and then the newly recorded versions of old songs. We thought that was going to be the start of something and it’s been crickets since.”
“Days When the Rain Would Come” is one track that made it out on Early Seger Vol. 1. It’s a song which dates back to 1986’s Like a Rock and is arguably one of the best pieces that Seger left off of a record. In addition to the other unreleased songs on Early Seger, the compilation also surfaced three songs from 1974’s Seven and Seger’s version of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider” is another highlight, making its first appearance on compact disc. One further vault escapee to be aware of is the 2018 release of Heavy Music: The Complete Cameo Recordings 1966-1967, which collected all of the tracks from Bob Seger and the Last Heard. It was the first time his pre-fame band’s singles had been available since they were originally issued on 45 singles at that time.
Listen to Bob Seger’s ‘Days When the Rain Would Come’
Will We See Further Archival Releases?
Of course, the question is always in mind — will those early albums eventually be reissued? Will we get to hear any of the unreleased things that are in the archives? “I think it’s 50/50 in terms of the odds. For some reason, they’re holding back on [reissuing the early albums] and I’m not entirely sure [that it’s not] the label that says, ‘These records didn’t sell back in the day, what makes us think they’re going to sell now?’ I think there’s different feelings about how they should be packaged,” Graff explains. “I think the obvious package is these come out as Bob Seger: The Lost Era or whatever you would call it, in a box set type of package. Or you make a compilation of the best of those albums. There just doesn’t seem to be any movement or any interest from within, which I find curious and like a lot of fans, find frustrating.”
“But I remember having discussions with them about a plain old box set back when that’s what people did, three or four discs, you know, a best of with unreleased material. The Seger camp had no interest in it,” he continues. “These are the same people who had no interest in MTV in 1983. They truly do march to the beat of their own drummer when it comes to this kind of stuff. But I do think they are sometimes not tuned into what the market wants and I believe would support. Bob Seger has his own version of what Springsteen is doing in June with Tracks II. He has enough unreleased material and really, really good unreleased material, like the actual song, “Stranger in Town.” There’s great stuff around that would make a great archival release. But there really doesn’t seem to be the appetite for doing it, nor does there seem to be a lot of interest in explaining why.”
Looking Back at ‘Stranger in Town’
Speaking of Stranger in Town, the album itself was released this month in 1978 and found Seger once again mixing material he’d recorded with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section with songs that he tracked with the Silver Bullet Band in other locations. Arriving on the heels of Night Moves, the Detroit singer had reason to feel confidence about where he was headed — and the results proved that he wouldn’t be left with disappointment. “t was the big follow-up, you know. He busted through in a big way with Night Moves. Could he do it again? Yes, he could do it again,” Graff reflects. “I like Night Moves a little better, because it was a little more gut bucket. The evolution to more polished recording was a little more prevalent on Stranger in Town and would become more prevalent on Against the Wind, but they’re still really good songs. I don’t know that there’s a bad song on Stranger in Town. With that record, I think he lets the confidence of Night Move’s success eclipse any of the follow-up pressures that somebody in that position might have felt. They were still touring — the Silver Bullet Band was on the road a lot, so he was sharp. He was honed from touring, had a bunch of good songs to do and just kind of went in and did it like he did the one before.”
Listen to Bob Seger’s ‘Brave Strangers’ From ‘Stranger in Town’
Seger’s Best Live Performances
Both Live Bullet and Nine Tonight offer important testimony when it comes to the magic of seeing Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band perform live. While I unfortunately didn’t get to see any of those shows in the ’70s and ’80s, the Toronto show in 2019, as mentioned previously, was one highlight. I was also fortunate to see a number of Seger concerts when he made his initial return to the road in 2006 after a decade’s absence from touring. One major milestone in the years that followed was definitely getting to see Bob and the band play a hometown show in the Detroit area. It was a moment, hearing the crowd roar as Seger mentioned certain local landmarks lyrically.
When pressed for his own highlights, Graff has two. “I interned for the big concert promoter in Pittsburgh, [while I was] in college. We had Seger on the Against the Wind tour for two big nights at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena One of my duties with the promoters was when they had a big arena sell out, they made a commemorative plaque to go with all the other crap these artists received [while touring]. But the first time I went to interview Bob Seger in 1982 at his management offices in the Detroit suburbs. I’m walking up the steps, and there’s the plaque I made, sitting on the wall of their office. So that was a fun connection. But it was my first experience. I’m a newbie, a virgin, breaking my Bob Seger cherry and holy crap, that was good.. And then when he brought the Like a Rock tour home to Detroit, I think it was the first of five, maybe six shows at Pine Knob, the big amphitheater here. The vibe when they walked out on stage and then hit the first note, I mean, it felt like a coronation. It felt like an inauguration. It felt like everybody in that building, from the guys on stage to the people at the top of the lawn, they were all so happy to be there at that individual moment. That rush still sticks with me and that would have been summer of ’83.”
Listen to Gary Graff’s Thoughts on Bob Seger on the ‘UCR Podcast’
Bob Seger Albums Ranked
He boasts one of the most mysterious catalogs of any major rock star, but have no fear we’ve sorted it all out for you.
Gallery Credit: UCR Staff
