SAFE AT HOME OR AGAINST THE WIND: BOB SEGER BOPS HORIZONTALLY

SAFE AT HOME OR AGAINST THE WIND:

BOB SEGER BOPS HORIZONTALLY

by Dave DiMartino

Don’t let anybody tell you Bob Seger is not a cool guy.

Case in point: Seger, Detroit’s ying to Ted Nugent’s yang dang, is a busy fellow. It’s the records biz: Against The Wind, his latest, sucked up to the top of the trade mags and never really unsucked, giving him his first Number One LP and more glory than any non-Motownie Detroit artist could ever rightfully expect. Fact is, Bob Seger is HOT right now, and even though he’s been hot before, it’s the capital letters that make all the difference. Hasn’t been a Detroit “local legend” since Beautiful Loser or maybe Live Bullet, mainly because he’s been too busy being an American “local legend, ” the kinda guy that should make us all proud to be Americans because, after all, even DAVE EDMUNDS covered one of his tunes.

Nah, Seger’s above all the trendiness of the rock press and even American Bandstand, and if he deserves any sort of put-down the most logical one is that the guy’s been too damn omnipresent lately, popping up on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack and the personal soundtracks of every factory worker and past-pube who’re going through heavy post-adolescent changes. In fewer words, he means a lot to more people than ever lately, and if he was a jerk it would be typical, but he’s not and it’s not.

Cover stories everywhere, we even tried to get one here a few months ago but never managed to hook up properly, Seger’s management or Capitol or our telephone answering service or maybe even us screwing up at the worst possible times. After all, Billy Joel's been in the biz almost as long as Seger has, and even though the Hassles (ugh) or Attila (ugh-ugh) never registered with certified U.S. hits like “Ramblin' Gamblin’ Man” or “Lucifer,” his Big Biz quotient tallies up there as high as Bob Seger’s and BJ managed a People magazine appearance and one could only question Bob Seger’s possibly-likewise motivation. But wasn’t it Seger who made Rock ’n' Roll Never Forgets the cliche it now is and doesn’t Bob Seger make a point of deliberately not being as obnoxious as the

Divine Mr. BJ?

Right. Which still doesn't excuse him from deliberately walking into the CREEM offices in late May and saying, "HEY, I HEARD YOU GUYS WANTED TO INTERVIEW ME!” but gives him a much wider point-spread in the Cool Guy Sweepstakes, which are certainly relevant here.

"It's all a balancing act."

In point of fact, Bob Seger indeed did walk into these very offices and caught most of us who’d written him off as a Great Guy Gone Big extremely by surprise, but we coped with him and it admirably (I think).

“Hey!” smiled Bob, pleased with himself as we grinned sickly at each other. “You guys don’t even gotta leave the office! The guy comes to you!!”

And of course the fact that Detroit’s literal Favorite Son, returning home for a brief respite from promoting his first-ever #1 LP, managed to walk the streets of Birmingham, MI, without getting mobbed or mugged or mangled made all the difference in the world to us, for good reasons. First: who in their right mind doesn’t like Bob Seger—or, even if they don’t because they’re-sick-of-hearing-him-on-the-radio (the usual excuse), who can rightfully put forth any ill will toward a guy who exudes the veritable good vibes we all remember but refuse to talk about? Bob Seger, aside from the earlier-mentioned cool, is also nice : non-prickish, non-belligerent and (it’s sad) completely normal in these days of graying Freddie Mercurys and pigs with wings. And if that wasn’t shameful enough, he’s also good, as his #1 LP may testify and as his long and distinguished recording career certainly does. Credentials are what most people lack these days, and if anybody’s checking at the front door, Bob Seger’s wallet is full of ’em, among other things.

"I was just trying to not repeat myself."

So tell us, Bob, we said, as we wheeled out the only CREEM-office tape recorder that still ticked: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE NUMBER ONE?

“Well,” smiled the seated-secondsearlier Bob, “when they told me, I was in the Sunset Marquee.” He was obviously referring to Los Angeles. “We were fixing to play the Forum. I’m surprised I didn’t put a hole in the ceiling.” Bob considered. “It was pretty cool. Something to say: ‘Well, we did it. ’ Ya know? If we never do it again, at least we did it once. And it’s nice to have it after 15 years.”

After 15 years indeed. Anyone who doesn’t have Bob Seger’s first album, called Bob Seger on the spine but Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man on the back (by the Bob Seger System, no less) should run to their nearest cut-out bin and search for the deleted-budget LP of the same name, even though, as Bob soon revealed, it’s no longer in print at his request. It’s hot stuff, for the most part, and when I pulled it out earlier today-as-I-write, it struck me that Seger’s current fame conceivably parallels, say, an analogous situation in which Roky Erickson of the Thirteenth-Floor-Elevators, after their biggie “You’re Gonna Miss Me, Baby” might suddenly make a major claim to fame in 1975 with Live Elevator, in which he and his imaginary Silver Elevator Band perform “Miss Me” along with current Springsteenish-tunes that somehow manage to strike the American Heartland in the gut and lift Roky from obscurity to sudden well-deserved fame. In fact, Seger’s local Detroit biggie “2 + 2 = ?” (never a hit in my Miami homeland) from his debut-disc in no small way resembles the Elevators’ “Miss Me” if only for its shimmering monkeyguitar lead and implied political statement. Seger’s “relies” are not only things for him to be proud of (ditto for Roky), but things to be sought after,

"I don't think anything's safe these days."

Thus, the question to Bob: which of your many fine LPs are no longer available in this country, please?

“Back In ’72,” responds Bob, who apparently would prefer not to think about it, “Noah and, uhh, Brand New Morning. That I have buried in my back yard.” Which, incidentally, merits special mention as the almost-first-of-its-kind true solo LP in which the younger Bob plays all instruments and which includes the lower-cased “song for Him” which, in this instance, Keeps The Faith. “I dunno,” figures Bob, “72’s got a couple of decent songs on it, but the mix is so awful. Just so awful. One of these days I’m gonna get some time, I’d like to sing some of those songs again. I thought I sang some of those so terrible. On Back In ’72, I was singing pretty crappy.”

What’s obvious here is that Bob can be discussed on two levels: as a current contemporary phenomenon (which, smart guys agree, automatically cheapens him) or on purely historical levels (smart guys think this makes things more legitimate). Smart guys may be right on both levels, but the latter course seems better this time out, mainly because Bob is one of those guys who really are hot-stuff-through-years. The Detroit hits, on Cameo-Parkway, maintain interest and, in one instance, prove a genuine laff-riot (“Persecution Smith” out-Dylans the Other Bob). The hits: “Heavy Music,” “Persecution Smith” and “East Side Story.”

Once more, Bob, the question: what’s the legal status of the old Cameo-Parkway stuff?

“We own it now, Capitol bought it all, ” suggests Bob, quickly covering his tracks. “As far as I know. I think it’s public domain now, I think anybody can...” He hesitates. “I shouldn’t say that with a tape recorder on. But ‘Heavy Music,’ ‘Persecution Smith,’ ‘East Side Story,’ I think those three songs are...I mean we just put ‘Heavy Music’ on Smokin’ O.P.’s, we didn’t ask anybody. And nobody called. Maybe if it had been big they would’ve called, I dunno.”

Sentimental sods that we be, however, we suggest to the open-and-quite-cooperative Seger, it would be nice to see all that old stuff compiled and finally put in circulation for true-record-collecting historians. Or fans who haven’t heard it.

“The band’s been buggin’ me,” admits Bob, “about doin’ a double ‘Greatest Hits,’ but I think maybe, somewhere down the line, maybe a year or two from now, we’ll put out a double. I’ve already got a title for it, we’ll call it Collector’s Item. And we’ll put it out, it’ll have no costs but the cover on it. We’ll put it out for $7.98 or whatever we can get away with, and we’ll put all those old things on it: ‘This is for REAL fans. Unless you’re a real fan, DON’T BUY THIS RECORD.’” Bob, for those confused, implies this would be the cover sticker. “And we’ll put on all the ‘Persecutions,’ and the ‘Heavy Musics’ and the ‘2 + 2s’ and the original ‘Looking Back’ and all this stuff that people can’t get anymore. And the cool thing is that they’re all two-and-a-half minute records, so we can put 15 of ’em on there."

Of course Seger’s reputation as “the Midwest’s John Fogerty” merits a comment or two, certainly on a historical basis, but cool as “Keep On Chooglin’” might’ve been, can you imagine the human responsible for an album title like Cosmo’s Factory copping a book title from Leonard Cohen? Beautiful Loser established Bob Seger as, considerably more than GM exhaust and probably rates top honors for making him the proverbial household word he now seems to be from West Virginia to Idaho. Live Bullet followed form with Frampton Comes Alive in the double-liveLP mid-70s doldrums and cracked him big, but if Night Moves and Stranger In Town hadn’t been so HOT, I’m In Your Muffler could’ve been a potential follow-up, dooming the Big BS to the much-dreaded Big-Fish-In-Small-Pond Hell young Peter currently does the backstroke in. And as we all know, both LPs provided Seger with the basis of 10 MORE YEARS of live performing if he wants—“R & R Never Forgets,” “Night Moves,” “Main Street,” “Hollywood Nights,” “Still The Same” and “We’ve Got Tonight” all being jukebox faves we’ll be haunted with ’til 1990. And that Seger followed it all up with a Big-Guy #1 LP (a) proves he’s no dope and (b) reestablishes his career more than any potential Stiff/Radar reissue of “Ramblin’ Gamblin' Man” might ever hope to.

But for a Working Class Hero, Seger’s not completely guilt-free. Standard form for Rock Journeymen expressly forbids selfconsciousness, certainly, so why the big wait (18 months) for Against The Wind after the last biggie, Bob? Were you, as the much-loved cliche has it, paranoid?

“No, ” says Bob, “not at all.”

Really?

"The next one'll be the best one we've even made."

“It’s just that you never really know what the songs are like ’til they’re done, and then you try to fit ’em together. Like a jigsaw puzzle. Just use the nine or ten that fit together. You start making song orders. Once they’re completed, all mixed, you take ’em home and play ’em for your friends and your family and your manager and your secretary...and if you don’t like the way one comes in, you move ’em around ’til you find, you know, the proper sequence and the proper songs. And the proper balance. And what sounds good.”

I don’t think anyone can argue that Against The Wind doesn’t sound good, at least not very convincingly, as said LP is Seger’s cleanest recording by far and-makes earlier stuff like, oh, say “Lucifer” or even “Get Out Of Denver” sound like three-andfour-chord mush. But hey, this isn’t Stereo Review and we don’t grade recording quality around here, we grade content. Usually. And all I know is when I first heard Against The Wind I didn’t think much of it. Didn’t hate it, didn’t love it, thought “Shinin’ Brightly” sounded Van Morrisonish circa “I can hear the fireworks,” then thought I’d rather hear an old Them album. Clearly not the desired response. Somehow the word “safe” floated around, waiting to be applied as effortlessly as the standard God-why-doesn’t-Bob-wake-upand-play-some-real-jams-man Factory Worker reprise.

OK,Bob, we’ll ask the question for them: why didn’t you skip the slow stuff and playsome-real-jams-man?

“Have you heard ‘Nine Tonight,’? Bob asks back, and we nod. One of the best cuts on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. “OK,” Bob continues, “that’s one of the cuts we tried real hard to fit in there, ya know? And like I said, it’s all a balancing act. Seriously, I was just trying to do something that was different’from Stranger and different than Night Moves. I really was. And if I’d put ‘Nine Tonight’ on that record, which is what Punch wanted [and if you dopes don’t know who Punch is, you’ve never read the back cover of a Bob Seger album], and pulled off ‘Good For, Me’ or something, it really would have changed the whole balance of the record for my head, ya know? I was just trying not to repeat myself,” he repeated, “And I think that’s—and I’m not trying to commend myself or anything—a bit of a risk in itself. And it’s not really a matter of being mellow, it’s a matter of the best songs. If the best songs are medium, those are the ones I gotta use. I thought ‘Nine Tonight’ was number eleven”—hint: only 10 songs on Against The Wind—“so I left it off. As far as being a good, whole-entity song from top to bottom and not sounding like anything I’d done before, ‘Nine Tonight’ has a little bit of shades of ‘Katmandu’ and a little bit of shades of ‘Hollywood Night.’ So I said ‘Hey, I already did that.’ Plus I’m thinking of the show, I don’t wanna be playing 10 songs that sound the same, ya know what I mean?”

Indeed we do, Bob. But have you always felt this way? Eighteen months is a long time between albums, you must agree, and now, with international Stardom looming larger than ever before, could it be that you’re more self-conscious about repeating yourself than ever before? The eyes of the music world, after all, are upon you.

“I make an absolute effort not to repeat myself,” says Bob, then grabbing the “safe” that was hovering nearby and applying it re his new LP. “I don’t think it’s safe.” He pauses. “I don’t think anything's safe right now. The way the music biz is going, nobody knows what’s going on.’

We nod in agreement: we certainly don’t know what’s going on.

“You look at shows how. Fleetwood isn’t selling every show, Linda isn’t selling every show. You know, knock on wood”—here actual wood-knocking sounds can be heard on the tape—“we have, every single show has gone clean. But they keep calling us up and asking us to do more shows, and we haven’t been sure, in this economy, in this situation. Everybody wants to say the business is going great, but the fact of the matter is that it was a bull market in ’77 and ’78. It isn’t anymore.”

Anyway, nobody’s gonna argue that Bob Seger doesn’t deserve every bit of the success he’s now enjoying; the paid-hisdues-in-full tag seems almost made to order for the poor guy after almost 20 years in the biz. And of course he really isn’t a “poor guy” at all anymore. He may even be responsible, at least partially, for making this year a bull market with Against The Wind’s success. Of course, maybe not, too. Who knows? But what, we ask, is left for the guy to do after all these years, with an LP finally resting comfortably at the Number One spot on all three of the trade charts?

“MAKE A BETTER RECORD!” shouts Bob. “WITH BILL SZYMCZYK! FINALLY, A REAL PRODUCER!”

Indeed, one of the reasons Against The Wind sounds unlike toilet tissue could be that Seger and the aforementioned Punch are no longer doing it by themselves. In Bob’s own words: “Me and Punch aren’t gonna do it no more! I’m gonna go in there, I’m gonna let Bill mix it all and I’m not ever gonna mix again.

“This is a true story, I told Springsteen this—I mixed ‘Nine Tonight’ 151 times, five days a week for three solid weeks. Punch had a real hard-on for that song, he loved it, and made us gd in and mix it over and over. And now Szymczyk does all that. And when we cut ‘Against The Wind,’ ‘Her Strut’ and ‘Betty Lou,’ we just went in and cut it. And Szymczyk said ‘goodbye, I’ll call you when the mix is done.’ And he mixed it about three or four times and it was perfect. ’Cause the guy’s got*such good ears. So I’m really looking forward to the next one, I think it’s gonna be the best record we’ve ever made.”

“But I’ll tell you,” confides Bob, “we were goin’ for Number One. We were Number Two for five weeks and I called Punch and said ‘TAKE ’EM ALL! EVERY CITY! I DON’T CARE! WE’RE PLAYIN’ EVERY NIGHT!”’

Seger’s got a big grin on his face, just like the one on Brand New Morning even though he refuses to remember it. “We had a chance to make it,” says he, “and we wanted to make some history. At least some Silver Bullet history if nothing else, so we could say we were Number One at least once in our lives. ‘Cause the market may change, I might be mustache wax in two months, man. Who knows?”

photos by

Not Seger. Not me. I don’t even have a mustache, but that’s not the point. So we talk a little more about music, Seger being one of the few Big Boys around that actually enjoys listening to Qther people’s music. He talks about pal Bruce Springsteen: “Yeah, I’m a big fan of Bruce’s, I see ’im every chance I get. In fact I heard one of his new tunes, it sounded great. I was gonna go down in the studio with him and [producer Jon] Landau, but after I read my Marsh review I fiqured it might be bad for his CAREER!!”

Here Bob refers to Dave Marsh’s review of Against The Wind in a recent Rolling Stone. It was, shall we say, “non-positive.”

“I’d like to discuss that song, ‘Her Strut,’ ’cause Marsh said that he thought the song was ‘misogynist, MALICIOUS MISOGYNY. My God, I don’t hate women, I’m for women standin’ up, I’m all for it. Poor Dave...”

Well, uh, have you talked with him about it?

Seger shakes his head. “No, not really. I’ll probably have dinner with him in six months, when he cools down. He’s a great critic, a great critic. He just decided it’s time to shoot Bob in the back. I mean, that’s just Dave’s viewpoint, he doesn’t like my friends. I dunno, East Coast versus West Coast, ya know? Fortunately, we’re in the middle so we can just duck.

“But anyway, ‘Her Strut.’ The very title conjures up an image to me, ya know? And it’s Something I had to work my way around, ’cause saying ‘I love to watch her strut’ is almost an automatic sexist thing. ‘Her Strut’. I really struggled with that, I did. But I loved the hardness of the word ‘strut’ in the song, ya know? And I worked real hard on the verses to try to put across the idea that this is not a sexist theme, that what I’m trying to say here is that at the bottom line it’s human nature, that men are still gonna love women for being sexual in spite of all this other stuff. Women have to understand that it’s still gonna be human nature. Can’t turn off the hormones.

“I didn’t wanna look like I was some sort of sexist monster, and I’m not, I’m really not. Honest to God.”

We believe you, Bob.

He looks up at the wall clock: “Hey, I gotta be HOME FOR DINNER at six!”

Further proof Bob Seger is cool: he tells jokes, too!

“Nah, gotta keep the home life together,” says Bob. “Ya know? Me and Teegarden— David Teegarden , old pal and current Silver Bullet drummer—“were talkin’ about it the other day. Like, on the road, everything is done for you. ‘Here’s the towels, here’s the drink, here’s the limo, here’s this and that’...And then you go home and it’s ‘Here’s the GARBAGE'. TAKE IT OUT! HERE’S THE LAWNMOWER, ROCK STAR!!’ You shoulda seen me washing my motorcycle yesterday...”

And so OK, that’s Bob Seger for you. Could quote his “Still The Same” lyrics and end profoundly, but that’s stupid. Could end by telling you his shows (six of ’em!) at Cobo Hall were GREAT, but I wasn’t in town that week, so who knows? Probably should end by telling you that he personally sought out Mitch Ryder to open those six shows for him in Detroit, and Mitch did.