The 25 Best Live Rock Recordings - No. 17: 'Live' Bullet
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band: 'Live' Bullet (Capitol Records, 1976)
Sometimes it begins with a journeyman artist from Detroit who finally grabs traction, assuming his rightful rock throne with a corrosive live recording. Bob Seger became an overnight sensation with the release of Live Bullet in 1976 when he was 10 years and 8 albums deep into his career. Album-oriented-rock radio stations were ripe for Seger’s made-for-rock voice and hard-driving sound.
Live Bullet showcased music from throughout Seger’s early career, from the Bob Seger System’s Ramblin’ Gamblin Man (Capitol Records, 1969) to Smokin’s O.P.’s (Reprise, 1972) to Back in ‘72 (Reprise, 1973) and Seven (Reprise, 1974). It was with 1975’s Beautiful Loser, recorded at Sheffield, Alabama’s Muscle Shoals studios, that Seger began to gain purchase and speed toward the brighter lights.
The recording was made from a show at Cobo Hall in Seger’s home base of Detroit, Michigan during shows on September 4-5, 1975. Cabo Hall enjoyed a great deal of attention as an important rock venue during this period. That Seger was appearing before a large and appreciative home crowd did not hurt the festive environs of the show.
Released on April 12, 1976, Live Bullet appeared at a time when the stars were aligning for Seger. Following his anvil-pounding version of Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits” was a cascade of music superbly programmed: a medley of “Travilin’ Man” segueing into “Beautiful Loser,” the radio darling “Turn The Page” sandwiched between Van Morrison’s “I’ve Been Working” and Bo Diddley’s self-named song.
What was side three of the two-LP set, was the pinnacle of the performance with “Ramblin’ Gamblin Man” (from the album of the same name) to “Heavy Music” (from Smokin' O.P.’s) to “Katmandu” (from Beautiful Loser). The latter song may be the most incendiary 12-bars ever committed to a song. Seger was still serious here with “Old Time Rock And Roll” (from Stranger In Town (Capitol Records, 1978)) and Risky Business (Warner Bros, 1983 still in the future.
Seger closed the show with a definitive reading of Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock” from which I will never hear these lines working outside in the Southern Summer heat the same way again:
“In the heat of the day down in Mobile Alabama,
Working on the river with a steel drivin’ hammer
Tryin' to get some money, get some brand new shoes
Tryin’ to find a lady, chase away my blues
Hot and wasted lord sweatin' in the sun
'cause I'm not a foreman 'till my work is all done.”
When a pimply-faced teenage Catholic boy, captured far behind the Cotton Curtain, first heard this, it was a shot across the bow intended to kill the delicate sensibilities of Jackson Brown, spraying spittle in the faces of all listening.