Giving props to fellow Michigander, who I am also seeing perform live for the second time tonight. Luckily, I got to see him a few years ago in Detroit, tonight it will be in Atlantic City–I somehow doubt there will be no surprise Kid Rock appearance this show. And while my two favorite Bob Seger songs are actually on other albums (Roll Me Away and Turn the Page), I still consider this the best compilation of work on a single Seger recording outside Live Bullet (I am, however, only considering studio works for this project).
Released in 1978 with the Silver Bullet Band, this is another set of nine songs strung together like vignettes of a book telling the story of a man-boy struggling through a new old world. Ultimately, though, it rings more of a sad love story–not necessary of the “girl that got away theme” but of life. Starting out the story with songs like Hollywood Nights and Still the Same, through Feel Like A Number, We’ve Got Tonight and Brave Strangers, ultimately ending with The Famous Final Scene.
A common theme, Seger is another one that I grew up on–it was as standard in our house as Diet Coke, chocolate cake and construction projects. Such a emphasis was put on the fact that he was a Michigan artist and spent a lot of time up in our hood of Northern Michigan (and he still does) that I actually remember thinking at one time that if you were to leave Michigan, no one would have ever heard of Bob Seger. At some point after seeing Risky Business, I changed that notion that they would only know Old Time Rock n’ Roll but still not who Seger was… after all, he was OURS!
When Seger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, I remember an interview he did saying something like he was only going to to prove to his son that people did actually know who he was as a rock star. (Personally, I think he went for the Prince performance–they were inducted in the same year. )
There you stood, everybody watched you play
I just turned and walked away
I had nothing left to say–Still the Same
So we walked out hardly speaking
Disappearing in the night
Saw each other a few times after
But we never really got it right
We weren’t lovers just brave strangers–Brave Strangers
