Sunday, February 16, 2020

Bob Seger - Tony's Picks


A long time ago in another lifetime, I was a freshman at the University of Colorado in Boulder.  I was an aeronautical engineering student – a folly if there ever was one.  As such, I lived in a dorm full of engineering students.  On the bottom floor there was a common room, in which the only TV in the entire dorm was located.  One of the rituals some of my fellow residents and I had before dinner was to watch Kung Fu.  There was no reason why – it was just something to do after classes and before dinner.  For some reason, we started talking about music.  There were a lot of guys in my dorm who were from out-of-state, usually the East Coast.  One such guy said that he thought “Bruce Springsteen is the Second Messiah”.  To show you how long ago this was, his most current album was his fifth, The River.  I kept my opinion to myself until a guy from Michigan walked in the room.  When he walked in, I told the guy who was singing Springsteen’s praises to ask the Michigan guy who the “Second Messiah” was.  I’m from the Midwest – I knew what he’d say, so I kinda set up the guy from the East Coast.  When the question came out, I heard the response I expected – “everybody knows that Bob Seger is the Second Messiah!”  We didn’t hear a peep from the East Coast guy for the rest of the evening.

When I went to Pueblo County High School in the late 1970s/early 1980s, during which time I was on the track team.  One of our “weights” guys [shot put, discus] was a guy named Mike Foulk.  He was a big Bob Seger fan at a time when disco and Michael Jackson were all the rage.  Whenever we went to a track meet [which was usually by a shitty school bus], we heard Bob Seger wherever we went whether we wanted to or not.  Mike had a boom box, and in 1980 he wore out his copy of Against the Wind.  For reasons that escape me, it seemed his favorite song [it was definitely the “most played”] was The Horizontal Bop.  It was the worst song on the album, but my guess it was his favorite because of the subject matter [wink wink, nudge nudge].  Mike is no longer with us as he lost his fight with diabetes several years ago.  We weren’t exactly close [at best we were ‘cordial’], but these days every time I hear a Bob Seger song, I think of him.

I had the chance to see Bob Seger in concert twice [1983, 1987].  Both times were in Denver’s McNichols Arena [that place is a parking lot now for the stadium where the Broncos play].  The first time I saw him I was by myself – I had a seat at the back of the arena, but at least I wasn’t in the nosebleed section.  I remember it happened to be on the day Muddy Waters died.  The two girls who were sitting next to me were kind enough to let me use their binoculars every now and then to get a better view.  I don’t remember all the songs that were played [I didn’t keep track of setlists then, and this was way before the Internet].  I definitely remember Her Strut, Boomtown Blues and Shame on the Moon.  He played piano [We’ve Got Tonight] and he played some guitar.  It was a good show.  He played some songs that I wanted to hear, and he missed others.  That’s how it goes at concerts.

The second time I saw them Carol was with me, and I had much better seats – front row, on the floor.  Getting those kinds of seats was quite a coup in those days because back then, you had to queue up early in the morning [or sometimes the night before] at your local Select-a-Seat outlet when the tickets of the show went on sale.  It was a helluva show – Alto Reed [the sax player] nearly ended up in our laps once.  He did a slide on his knees across the stage and had to catch himself before he fell.  We were ready to catch him, but thankfully we didn’t have to [it was about an 8-10-foot drop].  As it was still the pre-Internet days, we had no idea what Seger and his band were going to play.  I was hoping to hear something that I hadn’t heard from him in 1983, and Seger didn’t disappoint.  Hearing him play Come To Poppa [my favorite Seger song, even though he didn’t write it] was a pleasant and welcome surprise.  He played several songs from the “new” album [Like a Rock], and I remember his encore was Night Moves and Get Out of Denver.  We don’t sit that close to stages anymore.  I value my hearing more today than I did when I was “indestructible.”  I had the opportunity to see Bruce Springsteen at Mile High Stadium in 1985.  Having seen both him and Seger, I can say Seger put on a better show.  The Michigan guy was right.

As is my wont, I like to share my iPod playlists.  I know that whenever I play it, somewhere Mike Foulk will be smiling.

Night Moves [Night Moves, 1976]
Come to Poppa [Night Moves, 1976]
Even Now [The Distance, 1982]
Makin' Thunderbirds [The Distance, 1982]
Boomtown Blues [The Distance, 1982]
Her Strut [Against the Wind, 1980]
Shame on the Moon [The Distance, 1982]
Miami [Like a Rock, 1986]
The Ring [Like a Rock, 1986]
House Behind a House [The Distance, 1982]
Little Victories [The Distance, 1982]
Like a Rock [Like a Rock, 1986]
Turn the Page [Live] [Live Bullet, 1976]
The Fire Down Below [Night Moves, 1976]
Old Time Rock and Roll [Stranger in Town, 1978]
Still the Same [Stranger in Town, 1978]
You'll Accomp'ny Me [Against the Wind, 1980]
Against the Wind [Against the Wind, 1980]
Tightrope [Like a Rock, 1986]
Take a Chance [The Fire Inside, 1991]
Hey Gypsy [Ride Out, 2014]
Sightseeing [The Fire Inside, 1991]
Detroit Made [Ride Out, 2014]
The Devil's Right Hand [Ride Out, 2014]
California Stars [Ride Out, 2014]
Gracile [I Knew You When, 2017]
I Knew You When [I Knew You When, 2017]
Blue Ridge [I Knew You When, 2017]
The Fire Inside [The Fire Inside, 1991]
Manhattan [It's a Mystery, 1995]
New Coat of Paint [The Fire Inside, 1991]
Tomorrow [Greatest Hits 2, 2003]
The Mountain [The Fire Inside, 1991]
Downtown Train [Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets, 2011]
Blind Love [The Fire Inside, 1991]
Glenn Song [I Knew You When, 2017]
Who’ll Stop the Rain [John Fogerty - Wrote a Song For Everyone, 2013]
Travelin' Man -> Beautiful Loser [Live] [Live Bullet, 1976]
I've Been Working [Live] [Live Bullet, 1976]
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man [Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, 1969]

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