Hope you all had a great New Year's Eve, and aren't feeling the effects of partying and ringing in 2013 too badly today!
All that reviewing of 2012 albums over the last few months has left me feeling a little drained, so I'm taking a trip back to my favourite decade, with an album from one of my favourite artistes.
Against the wind --- Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band --- 1980 (Capitol)
Bit of musical trivia for you: what was the album that knocked Floyd's phenomenal classic "The Wall" off the number one spot in the US Billboard charts? Yeah, this is it. Bob Seger's only ever number one album, and it's not even one of my favourites, though there are a lot of things about it that I like, not least the beautiful painting of the wild horses on the cover. It's his eleventh album overall, and even now, thirty years and some later, sounds pretty damn fresh to me. It features both his longtime band, The Silver Bullet Band, as well as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section who, in case you don't know them, are one of the busiest and most famous bands of session men, who have played with a plethora of stars. They were even inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, fifteen years after playing on this record. As well as being semi-regulars with Seger, they have played with people as diverse as Elton John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boz Scaggs, The Oak Ridge Boys, Elkie Brooks, Rod Stewart and JJ Cale, to name but a very few.
Winner of two Grammys, I still see albums such as "Stranger in town", "Night moves" and the later "Like a rock" and "The distance" as far superior to "Against the wind". It suffers, in my view, from some pretty pedestrian and weak tracks, though it backs that up with some proper classics. The former is in evidence as we open on the very country-influenced "The horizontal bop", which features Bob's often risque sense of humour and his desire to have a good time. Great honky-tonk piano line from the legendary Dr. John, with a happy blast of sax from Alto Reed, and it's good rockin' fun, but comes very close to the later --- and far superior --- "Betty Lou's gettin' out tonight". Things soon settle down though for the beautiful ballad "You'll accomp'ny me", which features Seger's trademark drawl as he paints a scene of a quite calm night and the absolute certainty of his love. Driven on a low acoustic guitar melody, the song is typical of the ballads Seger had become known for, and would continue, through the eighties, to be associated with. Great percussion from David Teegarden backed by soft piano from Bill Payne, who also adds some powerful organ and solid keyboards to the song. The final layer is added by the female backing vocals from Laura Creamer, Ginger Blake and Linda Dillard, a sound which would also become identified with Seger's work.
Totally different then is "Her strut", swaggering with a hard guitar from Seger and a bouncing beat, as Seger marks the line between feminism and femininity ---
"Oh, they do respect her but/ They love to watch her strut!" --- also accepting that the woman in the song uses her womanly wiles when needed to get what she wants. Not a new idea, certainly, but it's a great song and drives along on twin guitars from Seger and The Silver Bullet Band's Drew Abbot. The Muscle Shoals come in on the next track, their first appearance on the album, with a lovely acoustic guitar from Pete Carr joined by upbeat piano from Barry Beckett which itself is joined by Randy McCormick's swiring organ work, the whole thing running on a mid-paced beat courtesy of Roger Hawkins. Seger's vocal as usual hold court over everything, and his voice is instantly recognisable, that slightly gruff Michigan growl that can as easily roar out a chorus as whisper a ballad. Great little guitar solo to end, and we're into the standout of the album, indeed one of my favourite Seger tracks of all time.
Bouncing along on a jangly guitar line and hopping piano with a driving beat and searing organ, "Long twin silver line" is an ode to the great steam trains of yesteryear, and just oozes joy and freedom. Really great piano work from Beckett, with Seger counting off the train's stops ---
"Through Chicago, rolling into Kansas too/ Rolling into Denver doing all she'll do/ And she hangs a big left in Salt Lake City/ Southwest to the Nevada line/ Rollin' into California right on time!" Really gives you a sense of the power and beauty of those old transcontinental trains when they were in their heyday. One of the most uptempo, rocky tracks on the album. It's followed by what Bob himself describes as "the title cut" on the live album "Nine tonight", and it's another soft ballad with lush organ and piano from the returning Silver Bullet Band, a reflective song as many of Seger's are, looking back at his life, the loves left behind, the decisions made whether good or bad, and a realisation that things can never stay the same, and that love, while it might seem at the time eternal, is as fleeting as time itself.
Beautiful piano solo from Paul Harris, who also backs up his playing with some droning organ, the song very much a keys-oriented one. In ways, the lyrical content here would be mirrored six years later in again the title track to another album, 1986's "Like a rock". Seger calls in the help of three Eagles to assist on backing vocals on this album, and here it's Glenn Frey who adds his unmistakable voice to the lead-out of the track, the whole thing riding along on Harris's superb piano melody and soft percussion from Teegarden. Interestingly, "Against the wind" is followed immediately by a second ballad, which doesn't happen that often on Seger albums. "Good for me" is a very much gospel influenced piece, with almost church organ from Randy McCormick as the Muscle Shoals come back in, and the three ladies add their heavenly voices to the backing vocals.
The percussion is harder than in the previous track, and there's a real sense of gratitude and thanks in the lyric, with a hard piano helping out courtesy of the returning Barry Beckett. The end part features a great slow buildup which culminates in an almost spitirual outpouring from the three girls, raising the song to the heavens, then fades out on simple piano and guitar. Everything rocks back then for the already mentioned "Betty Lou's gettin' out tonight", with a real fifties rockabilly feel, great driving piano in another fine almost Jerry Lee Lewis performance from Paul Harris, while Alto Reed makes sure his horn is heard loud and clear, and there's a great energy and enthusiasm about the song: no deep lyrics, just the boys gettin' ready to fight cos Betty Lou's finally gettin' out tonight! Great fun, though as I mentioned the basic melody does pull a lot from the opener.
"Fire Lake" then rides on a swinging, swaying country beat and features Frey and his fellow Eagles, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmidt on backing vocals, with Seger in holiday mood on a happy, carefree song which then leads into the closer, "Shinin' brightly" , driven on organ and acoustic guitar, but for my money definitely one of the weaker tracks. Some great, Clarence Clemmons-like sax from The Muscle Shoals' Jimmy Johnson, and powerful organ from Randy McCormick, and some tinkly piano from Barry Beckett. A last hurrah for the three ladies on backing vocals, and they do a great job, but not the track I would have chosen as a closer.
TRACKLISTING
1. The horizonal bop
2. You'll accomp'ny me
3. Her strut
4. No Man's Land
5. Long twin silver line
6. Against the wind
7. Good for me
8. Betty Lou's gettin' out tonight
9. Fire Lake
10. Shinin' brightly
As I said at the start, I do like this album but pretty much only certain tracks. There are Seger albums I listen through to all the way, but this is not one of them. I do find myself wondering how this scored his biggest hit while others which I consider far better fared a lot worse. I suppose you'd have to say this was the pinnacle of Seger's career then, although 1982's "The distance" gave him his biggest hit single and did well enough, hitting the number five slot, while the followup, 1986's "Like a rock" not only got to number 3 but also had its title track featured in a Chevy commercial, and another song in the TV series "Miami Vice". No doubt people were asking, what is that song? But that's Bob Seger for you: you may not know him, or of him, but chances are you've heard his music somewhere, even if you haven't recognised it.
And as he moves this year into his forty-fourth year in the business, chances are you'll continue to hear from him.