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Blue
Ridge
"Blue Ridge" is
an upbeat song with big, enthusiastic vocals. It's
similar to "Sightseeing," in the sense that it's a
travelogue. In that earlier cut, we heard Bob's
take on castles and paintings; here it's the Blue
Ridge Mountains.
The two songs
share another similarity: they both use instruments
you'd never expect in a Seger song. "Sightseeing"
was the first Seger song to feature an
accordion. The
version of "Blue Ridge" that Ears Two and I heard
began with an extended, almost jungle-like drum
rhythm. The beat repeats four times and then
something even stranger happens: steel drums. At
this point, both E2 and I thought we had wandered
into the Jimmy Buffett section of the Vault. Steel
drums?? In a Seger song?? Yep.
By the time
you're 30 seconds into this track, there's this
wall of percussion and guitar, and you either like
it or you don't. I liked it a lot. And the vocals
sealed the deal.
Throughout the
lyrics, Seger positions himself as an interloper,
someone from another place, observing a landscape
that is definitely not his. The opening line refers
not to "the road" but "your road." Seger sings of
leaving the cold north, driving south, pulling over
and marveling at "your Blue Ridge."
I'll admit that
these lyrics are a little incongruous with the
steel drums. But the vocals make up for it. They're
confident and exuberant -- full of the
life-is-good energy that Seger does so
well. The
second verse takes us back in time, as Seger hears
echos of the Civil War battles.
I loved the
energy of the song, the infectious beat, the way
Seger hit and held the words "Blue" and "Ridge" for
a what seemed like full measure each.
This song won me
over big time. Five years in the Vault is way too
long.
October 25, 2004
- Revised 10/28/05
The Hard One
"The Hard One,"
from 1999, is a track with an urgent,
forward-driving beat and vocals to match. Think of
the energy in the opening of "Shakedown" and turn
it up a notch. The track breaks out of the gate
with screaming lead guitar, and the hard-driving
lick becomes a motif that repeats throughout the
song. Need an example? Listen to Petty's "Running
Down the Road." That sort of thing.
The lyrics have a
powerful simplicity too. On one level, the song
seems to be about love. (The last verse contains
the line "Show me your passion.") But more than
that. Coming from the guy who wrote "Like A Rock,"
this songs seems to praise things that are solid,
strong and reliable. Give me something I can
count on, Seger seems to be saying, not this
50 percent chance of rain and maybe I
love you and maybe I don't stuff.
Seger sings,
howls and wails throughout. My feelings about "The
Hard One" were rock solid. I loved it.
October 29. 2004
- Revised 10/28/05
The
Reckoning
Seger has almost
always steered clear of electoral politics, but he
often writes very political songs. "The Reckoning,"
from 1997, seems to be one of them.
Or maybe
sociopolitical is a better term -- the song is not
about Democrats and Republicans as such, but it is
directly focused on social issues that drive a lot
our politics…the accumulation and arrogance of
power, the goals of the wealthy, the needs of the
poor. So even though the song is seven years old,
it feels timely.
Musically, "The
Reckoning" begins with what I think of as the
"Night Moves" chop. The vocals are restrained
throughout. Seger reserves his big, powerful voice
for just a few lines -- usually the line just
before the words "The Reckoning." To add more drama
yet, the music stops completely as Seger sings the
words "The Reckoning."
I love Seger's
use of language in this song. The second line ends
with the word "contentious." The phrase "imperious
ardor" is used in the second verse. How many times
have you heard those words in a rock and roll song?
Zero, I would guess. There's confidence in Seger's
use of such words. He's not going to simplify the
language for us. He sings of "a government room"
where the powers that be serve the aims of the
rich. A time of reckoning is coming "to those who
would set themselves up to be king."
Though it's
almost a decade old, the song still resonates. I
would love to hear it again today.
November 3, 2004
-- revised 10/28/05
Mr.
Bottom
If you want
relief from these jangled times, you might want to
join Seger in calling for the quick arrival of Mr.
Bottom. Or, if you want to hear a Led Zeppelin riff
without playing any Zep, you might want to do the
same.
Both Ears Two and
I heard it. He listened to "Mr. Bottom" first, then
said "You're gonna recognize this."
He was right.
It's the bass line from "How Many More Times."
Maybe slightly slower. Maybe tweaked a little, but
the reference is unmistakable. Call it an homage.
"Mr. Bottom" was
written in 1999. It's a jaunty blues number, which
is the type of song Seger does well. No
sophisticated lyrics here -- though there's some
clever lines.
In a song like
this, the lyrics are mainly punctuating the beat
and giving Seger a chance to
growl.That
said, I liked the second verse especially well.
Seger gives us a list of all the forces that are
freaking up his life -- the IRS, the DEA -- ending
with the most terrifying agency of all: the PTA.
a
"Mr. Bottom" is
no anthem, and it's not a classic. But Seger's
having fun on this song, and that makes it fun to
hear.
In fact, I wrote
"definitely worth a second listen," in my notebook.
But I never got around to it. By the way, and
apropos of nothing in particular, did you ever have
one of those really cheap cassette tapes that break
as soon as you try to rewind? Tapes so cheap you
get one listen out of 'em and then they can never
be played again. I think Punch Enterprises buys
them by the dozen.
November 5, 2004
- Revised 10/28/05
Forward
Into the Past
"Forward Into the
Past" is a song with a point. You can tell that it
was meant to be anthem-like, in the way that
"American Storm" or "Even Now" raised a banner for
the albums they began.
FITP was written
in 1999, but if I didn't know better, you could
convince me that it was recorded at the same
session as "Tomorrow," or even "Real At the Time."
These songs don't sound alike, but they share a
vocal quality. Put it this way: Sometimes Seger is
singing personally to you, and sometimes he's
projecting his voice to the whole arena. This is
his arena voice.
Naturally, it's
uptempo. The rhythm section marches out in a way
that reminds me a bit of the beginning of
"Fortunate Son."
One other
reference: Remember that guitar lick from "Back in
'72"? The one that goes "loodle loodle loodle
looo." (Or just think, as E2 does, of a
"Layla"-like riff.) Well, it's back, but its
playfulness is gone. Now it's restrained and
serious.
The message is
about how progress changes the heartland; the more
our cities grow, the more our small towns wither.
The first verse personalizes this, hinting at a
broken relationship. But a hint is all we get:
"The banks
are telling him he should sell /
He's telling them to
go straight to hell."
We're left to
imagine a woman who moved to the city, while the
lonely guy tried to make a go of it on the farm.
But that's all of that story that we get. The rest
of the song is pure sociology:
The bridge
reminded me of the Born to Run bridge (i.e. "Beyond
the palace hemi-powered drones scream down the
boulevard…") Seger's lyrics describe an even
bleaker landscape.
The next verse
gives us references to "billion-dollar mergers" and
Wall Street and the idea that "independence is
outmoded." Then we go back, presumably, to the man
from the beginning: "His hometown's really empty
now...the
tall grass is returning
/Forward into the
past." The
disappearing small town seems to be the central
character of the song.
There was a time,
several years ago, when Seger mentioned "Forward
Into the Past" as the title track of the album he
is still working on. Since then, it's changed. But
"Forward Into the Past" remains a great cut. Along
with "American Storm," "Revision Street," "It's A
Mystery" and many others, it adds to Seger's
ongoing critique of the country we live in.
November 6, 2004
- Revised 10/29/05
Outland
Some songs are
instantly defined by keyboards. "Outland," written
in 1997, is one of those songs. There's a piano
intro that I'm dying for you to hear.
Simple and strong
is the way I'd describe it. You'll have to take my
word for it, because there's no way I can get it on
the page. Or take E2's word for it: "Hypnotic
keyboard riff" is what he writes.
"Very crisp
beginning," E2 says, and it just gets better from
there. "Seems to build on 'No Man's Land,' but with
more energy." (High praise, considering that "No
Man's Land" is E2's favorite Seger song.) "Should
be Bob's next single."
While "Forward
Into the Past" bemoans the state of the heartland,
"Outland" celebrates it. No critique here -- just
Seger's affection for the open spaces. He sings of
a place, out past the factories, where your hands
feel clean, and where people talk straight.
He gives us the
Burlington Northern "rumbling west" and a land
under "a million stars."
If that's all
there was, it wouldn't be enough. I'm past the
point where a romanticized description of what
people call "the heartland," will make a song stick
for me. But Seger's voice and that hypnotic piano
riff roll through my head, and I have to play it
again. "Outland" could hold its own on any Seger
album there is. Plus, E2 loves the track, and
that's more than good enough for me. Like Rosalie,
he knows music.
November 6,
2004
Before
My notes for this
one say "pleasant" and "million-seller." And also,
"Hank Williams is back." Think country music played
straight up, without the drawl, without the syrup.
If you want a
good sense of the tempo and style, give a listen to
Leon Russell's version of "She Thinks I Still
Care." I
think of these kind of tunes as 'low-demand' songs.
They don't make you think. You don't really have to
do anything, just let 'em play in the background.
Pretty soon you'll be humming the melody.
Shore Alert: As
required for every third Seger song, one of the
verses contains the phrase "distant shore." Let's
see that's "shore," "wind," "waves"…wait a
minute -- he forgot "moon." Well, maybe there's a
missing verse.
Kidding aside,
"Before" is the kind of simple song many artists
couldn't get away with. Seger can do it because of
his voice. It's not the kind of cut that gets E2 or
me very excited. But my guess is that "Before" is
highly contagious: If it had been on Against the
Wind in place of, say, "Shining Brightly," you
would have had yet another top ten single off that
album.
November 6, 2004
- Revised 10/29/05
I
Knew You When
You could call "I
Knew You When" a Seger Medium, but there was
nothing medium about its effect on me. I loved it.
I'll be horribly disappointed if it's not on his
next CD.
In fact, E2 broke
out the exclamation marks for this one: "A winner!"
he wrote.
So many things
work for this song. The melody, of course. The
lyrics. But most powerfully, what connects is Seger
himself. This is not the arena voice. This is the
Seger voice that talks just to you.
Musically,
there's a very catchy keyboard hook built around
dotted quarter notes -- dah-dah dum dum, dah dum
dum, one day I knew you when. The "dums" are the
dotted quarters. Got it? Sure you do.
The lyrics
describe a time from the 1950s and '60s. "You
always were my friend," Seger sings. "You gave me
hope to carry on / because I knew you when."
This song was
written in 1997. One question E2 and I had fun
discussing is "Who is he singing about?" Glenn
Frey? Doug Brown? Himself? Whoever it is had
"dangerous charisma," the second verse
says.
The bridge is
brilliant. It plays off the verses beautifully. And
at the end, the music drops down and Seger is
practically just talking to us. It's intimate
without being sentimental.
I can't tell you
how tempted I was to slip this cassette in my
pocket. But then the keepers of the Vault would be
hunting me down, and I'm not that hard to find.
Anyway, I'm convinced this song will be released.
Put it this way: If "I Knew You When" is not on his
next CD, it's gonna break my Seger-loving
heart.
November 6, 2004
- Revised 10/29/05
Crossfire
"Crossfire" is a
heavy rocker. Musically, it's in the same vein as
"Tomorrow," but with a faster tempo and even more
heft. Guitars assault you from the opening chord.
And it's all about street gangs and street
violence. It doesn't specifically mention Detroit,
but the reference to Canada makes it clear that
Seger is singing about the Motor City.
I've read that
Punch doesn't like songs that are too negative, so
I can imagine him telling Seger to shelve this one.
It's also the kind song E2 dislikes: his comment,
and I quote, was "argh." And also, "not very
melodic, but it rocks."
True enough. And
therein lies its appeal. It rocks. Maybe parts of
it are too negative. Maybe (if you believe Michael
Moore's Bowling for Columbine theory) it's
an example of the media painting scary pictures
until we're too afraid to go outside unarmed.
But hey, it
rocks. If it's not very melodic, well, neither is
"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man." If I wanted to defend the
lyrics, I'd say that there are many truths about
Detroit, and this is one of them.
Bottom line is, I
like this song. If I were a younger man (and, in
the wee hours of night, I am) I'd call it a
kick-ass rocker.
To go with that
guitar assault, you get nonstop lyrics. Try
this:
- Two high
school kids, see 'em on the corner,
- They quickly
turn and double back.
- They look
like gang, they might be shooters,
- No need to
mess with that.
-
- …
-
- Keep low,
risk death -- one or the other,
- Bullets fly,
you're diving for cover.
- It's a big
town thing.
- Streets are
way past mean.
- You've got
one desire -- to make it through the
crossfire.
-
It's a place
where young studs "fire at will, at random thought,
at people driving by" -- a place with "fear,
despair, no hope for the future / drugs, denial and
death are the suture," and you just hope to
survive.
Exaggerated?
Glorified? Not life-affirming? Sure, sure and sure.
But I still love
the way this song rocks. "Crossfire" is already 14
years old, and I think it should have been released
14 years ago.
November 14, 2004
- Revised 10/29/05
Tonight
"Tonight,"
another of the songs Seger wrote in 1999, has got
me stumped. I was dead sure, when I listened to it,
that there's a very similar Jackson Browne song
somewhere. But I just went through my entire JB
collection and couldn't find it.
So maybe
"Tonight" is just a song that Jackson Browne should
record. There's something about the chord changes,
which occur on the first and third beat of every
measure, that make it feel like a song that could
close out one of his albums.
In the first
verse, the song seems to be about America, and also
about desire.
- From the
bridges of old New York
- To the
freeways of LA
- From the
coast of Olympia
- To the shoals
of Florida Bay...
-
For those of you
counting "shoals" references, the total now stands
at: 1
As the second
verse begins, this tour of the countryside
continues with another great train reference --
("Tell me tales of your storied past / When the big
iron ruled the road,") -- but by the end we're in a
place "where the laws break down and emotions rage
/ And no one's heart is pure / Tonight."
The bridge has
hardwired itself deep into my head. It's just two
lines, but it really connects.
In the last verse,
we've got Orion hunting, while "the desperate and
the restless" chase after phantoms.
So maybe
"Tonight" is just a more literary version of "Fire
Down Below" -- the macro view instead of the micro.
Or maybe not.
For me, "Tonight"
is ione of those slow-blooming songs that you have
to hear several times before it works. And then it
won't stop. For me, it's definitely taken
root.
November 14,
2004
Dreamin'
Start with "I
Can't Save You, Angeline." Make the shuffle a
little bigger. Make the vocals a little more
present, and even more heartfelt. And you'll be
somewhere near the sound of "Dreamin,'" a Seger
song from 1997. Unlike
"Angeline," this song is about a love that's really
worth having.
There's some very
tasty drum work in here, and there's something
about Seger's vocal at the beginning that reminded
me of John Lennon's vocal on "Double Fantasy."
The chorus has a
great line: "The heart seeks and the soul finds a
way." By the second time through, he's growling: "I
can feel again / This night is so fine / I don't
want it to end."
The recording
quality left something to be desired -- "the piano
sounds like it was being played in a gymnasium," E2
said. My notes describe it as an underwater effect.
Either way, I'm assuming what we heard was a demo.
Still, the growl and the lazy drum-shuffle did it
for me.
November 14, 2004
- Revised 10/29/05
It's
Over
"Not soon enough,
it's not -- this one's a dirge." That was E2's
take, and I'd like to say I disagreed with
him…but, uh, well.
Truth be told, I
probably didn't give "It's Over" a fair shake. I
could tell right away that it was not the kind of
song that thrives in the light of day. At three
a.m., in the middle of a raw, emotional break-up,
"It's Over" might be powerful as hell. Hard to say.
(E2 got at the same thought a little differently:
"Seems like a movie break-up song," he wrote.)
Regardless, under
the fluorescent lights of the Vault, "It's Over"
didn't go anywhere for me.
The vocals aren't
to blame. There's a plain, appealing simpleness to
Seger's voice. The vocal track would fit just fine
on Brand New Morning, for instance.
The lyrics do
their job, without taking us anyplace
new:
- When I look
into your eyes
- I don't know
you anymore
- You're a
thousand miles away
- Standing on
some distant shore.
-
- It's
over.
There's the
"distant shore" alert. And if you're wondering how
long Seger can hold a note these days, the "o" in
"over" lasted…well, I lost count and started
copying down Mike Boila's phone number, which he
helpfully wrote on the cassette case.
The track
includes a good dose of lead guitar that E2
described as "soul-free." Some critic scrawled
"guitar screams but doesn't give the dirge more
energy," in my notebook. It looks like my
handwriting, but I would never be that negative.
Bottom line: Of
all the songs we heard, "It's Over" is one of four
I would definitely leave in the Vault.
November 14, 2004
- Revised 10/29/05
At
Sea
Knowing Seger's
passion for sailing, I assumed this song would be
heartfelt, and is it ever. It's also amazingly
varied. "At Sea," from 1997, brings together three
different musical styles and does it superbly.
I've listened
closely to Seger for thirty years. I thought I knew
the territory. But this song blew the boundaries
off the map. It's Seger, and it's new. It's the
kind of song he ought to be putting on albums, not
putting in the Vault.
It starts in a
kind of loose and jazzy mode. The first verse is
half-sung, half spoken. By the second verse, Seger
is obviously having fun with the language, spilling
syllables over the beat in a way that seems to have
as much to do with sounds than with
meaning.
- Oblivion came
breezing in with a condescending air
- Schmoozing
like a CEO at some mid-level affair.
Now the song
suddenly turns gentle. Keyboards take over and the
song becomes a ballad. In contrast to the rush of
words at the start, Seger sings just 11 words over
the next 40 seconds.
The music goes
through one more sea change and the end, with some
electric guitar that walks on water. I was stunned.
Bust down the doors of the Vault for this
one.
November 14, 2004
- 10/29/05
You're
My Girl
Even though it's
been in the Vault since 1990, you've heard this one
before. It's remarkably similar to "This Land Is
Your Land," we can all sing along.
Ready? Let's warm
up with the real thing.
- This land is
your land
- This land is
my land
- From
California
- To the New
York island
- From the
redwood forest
- To the gulf
stream waters
- This land was
made for you and me.
Seger's lines are
all one syllable short to fit the pattern. If that
bothers you, just do what Springsteen does and add
the word "sir" to the end of each line. Here we
go.
- You may be
tired
- You may be
strong
- You may be
cross
- You may be
wrong
- You may be
warm
- You may be
blue
- I will always
care for you.
In subsequent
verses, we learn that you might also be wild,
clear, sad, near, late, or long overdue.
This list is then
abruptly interrupted by 18 seconds of total
silence. Since the silence begins and ends mid-word
with absolutely no regard to the beat or rhythm of
the song, I'm forced to conclude that this
18-second gap was added not by Seger but by Rose
Mary Woods. What was she trying to hide?
All joking aside,
I liked this song. I've written before about simple
songs. Simple is incredibly hard to pull off. When
you get it wrong, you end up sounding foolish. When
you get it right, you're Paul McCartney or James
Taylor. Or someone equally inspired. And this song
mainly gets it right.
Release or not
release, you ask? In between.
November 14, 2004
- 10/29/05
Good
Neighbor
Synthy. That's
the word both Ears 2 and I came up with to describe
"Good Neighbor." Though Ears 2 also added "bassy
and relentless," while I went with "almost a dance
beat."
Got it? "Good
Neighbor" was co-written by Seger and Craig Frost
in 1990. You can hear traces of "The Aftermath" in
its synthy sound.
Anyway, I have to
give a mixed review to "Good Neighbor." I don't
really like this style of music. And this
particular song didn't do much for me
either.
Slight problem,
though. I can't get it out of my head.
Imagine this: I
went to the Vault in June. I listened to 21 songs.
Now it's November. I haven't heard these songs in
five months. Some of them are growing a bit vague
in my memory. But "Good Neighbor" is in there clear
as a bell.
What's it about?
Well, it's about a woman who doesn't compete,
doesn't seem to aim for the top..."Kinda like a
good neighbor after all."
That last line is
The Hook That Won't Die. As for the woman in
question, well, she had the juice, she had
connections, the boys on Big Street used to call,
she cuts a dashing figure…and so on. E2
guessed that it's about a female ex-celeb who's
come back to earth. There's a line that goes
"She'll never write a book / she's not that small,"
which made me think of someone in a position to
write a tell-all book, like an ex-wife or
ex-girlfriend.
Adding to the
mystery was this:
- The
limousines
- They keep on
rollin'
- The mighty
ships
- They keep her
shoalin'
If you're playing
along with the at-home version of the Shoals game,
the score is now: 2
I'm guessing that
if you like this kind of music, you might like this
track a lot. For me, "Good Neighbor" made it to the
"In Between" pile in my private Release or Don't
Release sweepstakes.
One thing for
sure: The hook in "Good Neighbor" will definitely
keep you shoalin'.
November 20, 2004
- Revised 10/30/05
Love
Changes All The Time
A break-up song.
Have you had enough break-up songs by Seger?
I haven't. "The
Famous Final Scene," "Somewhere Tonight," "Comin'
Home" -- Seger excels at this type of song. I think
it's because of the honesty of his voice, and his
willingness to tell sad stories simply, without
trying to milk the emotion.
That said, "Love
Changes All The Time," written in 1990, does not
rise to the level of "The Famous Final Scene" --
but then, what does? On the other hand, it seems to
me to be just as good, in its own way, as "Comin'
Home."
One factor that
may keep LCATT in the Vault is the musical track.
There's a similarity, noted by both E2 and I, to
"Night Moves." It's there at the start and
continues through the end, when the music goes down
to high-hat and quietly strummed chords -- "the
quiet strum and talk bit" E2 called it. Then the
music comes back and Seger howls (sorrowfully) "aww
changes all the time."
The rest of
vocals are sung softly, giving us just a hint of
Seger's power. The pitch rises to something almost
delicate for the last line in every verse. I don't
like to use the word "lilting" but I would if you
forced me.
It's the kind of
song where you expect back-up singers, but the
track we heard had none. No keyboards that I could
hear either. I liked the simplicity of
it.
But the
similarities to "Night Moves" make me think that
LCATT won't end up on a CD. It would certainly make
a good boxed-set cut, though.
November 20, 2004
- Revised 10/30/05
Your
Best Friend
I suppose it's
pointless to compare an unreleased track to another
unreleased track. But "Your Best Friend" had a feel
that reminded me, in a very good way, of "Dark
Eyes" -- a song Seger performed during one of his
Timothy White radio interviews. The tempo of YBF is
slightly faster, but not much.
The first line of
the song is sung without music -- just Seger's
voice:
- Who'll be
your best friend -- now?
- Who'll be
your harbor -- now?
- Who'll see
you through every night?
- Who'll wait
till you dim the light?
-
- Who'll be the
one you call?
- Who'll listen
to it all?
Seger goes way up
high for the word "call," landing on the word so
lightly that there's a whispery feel to it. The
effect is similar, E2 says, to "Music of the Night"
from Phantom of the Opera.
This is a
different kind of break-up song. It's sung to
someone who has a pattern of screwing up
relationships. And it's sung from the point of view
of the person who got hurt. So there's sorrow, but
it's an angry kind of sorrow.
"Your Best
Friend" was written in 1992 and probably was
considered for It's A Mystery. My notes call it
"dark and down -- a great unreleased track." Ears 2
wrote "solid vocals, very heartfelt…an ideal
Bob-at-the-piano-alone show closer." I couldn't
agree more.
November 20, 2004
- Revised 10/30/05
Hard
To Make It Home
Get funky. This
track reaches back to 1976, and it's Seger letting
out his inner James Brown. It's interesting to look
back at this cut now and see it as a kind of road
not taken. This was written and recorded before the
string of Top Ten "Seger-mediums." Listening to
"Hard To Make It Home," you can easily hear why
Motown offered Seger a recording contract before
Capitol did.
That said, it's
not really a polished track, and the lyrics are
pretty uneven. With all the great Seger material
that was about to come out in the late '70s, you
can understand why this stayed in the
Vault.
Musically, this
has a sound that reminded both Ears 2 and me of the
opening seconds of "Superstition." In the Stevie
Wonder recording, I'm not even sure if that's a
guitar or a keyboard effect. "Hard To Make It
Home," has that same tonal quality.
But the music has
more sharp angles and a big, funky up and down
beat. If you've heard Seger's version of "Long As I
Can Play," (or even the Stretch Thomas version),
you have an idea of what I'm talking about.
Vocally, Seger
struts his stuff, using a lot of the higher
register that marks his early work. The song seems
to be about the frustrations of the road and the
dues that must be paid.
- When you're
far away
- And you got
no place to go
- Don't it give
you some peace
- Just to know
that you can flow
The key line that
repeats is:
- When the
bills mount up
- And the
people keep calling on the phone
- Ain't it hard
to make it
- Hard to make
it
- Home
"Hard To Make It
Home" is a funky little snapshot of a side of Seger
we don't see too much in his later work. It was fun
to listen to it in the Vault. And the Vault is
right where it belongs.
December 10,
2004
Amazed
I'm going to have
to roll out some caveats for "Amazed," a weighty
Seger ballad from 1997.
The caveats I'd
like you to remember are:
1) The
fluorescent lights and general bustle of the Vault
are not friendly to weighty ballads;
2) One of Seger's
most loved ballads, "We've Got Tonight," leaves me
completely cold; and
3) I believe the
National Defense of Marriage Act should be amended
to ban the playing of "You'll Accomp'ny Me" at all
unions, civil and otherwise.
In other words,
I'm sometimes on the outside looking in when it
comes to Seger's slow and serious work. (Sometimes,
but not always. I love "Always In My Heart" and
"Somewhere Tonight" and almost love "Chances
Are.")
Having said all
that, I was not impressed by "Amazed." Didn't hook
me. Maybe it would hook you.
Ears 2 put it
more succinctly. "Heavy-handed ballad!" he wrote.
He further noted that the intro sounds a little
like Badfinger's "Take It All" -- a song I no
longer remember, so I'll take his word for it.
My only note
about "Amazed" was that it is in 3/4 time.
On the other
hand, E2 and I were thrilled and well, amazed, to
discover yet another "shoals" reference.
- Through the
mountains of indifference
- The shoals of
deep regret
- I'm holding
on
- I haven't
weakened
- Yet.
That brings the
total shoals score, as you surely must know, to
three. Bear in mind that E2 and I heard all three
of these in one day, compounding our
excitement.
The lyrics make
it clear that Seger is writing from the heart. It's
emotionally honest, and clearly important. I wish I
could say I liked the song more, but in the four or
five times I heard it, it didn't take. Maybe it's
me.
December 10, 2004
- Revised, 10/30/05
More
Of You
If "Hard To Make
It Home" was funk, then "More Of You" is the
absence of funk. There's a Jeff Lynne feel to this
track -- and by that I mean stiff and mechanical
with a wooden beat that sucks the energy out.
In saying this, I
realize that I am wildly out of touch with most of
the music world, since no less a genius as George
Harrison obviously loved the Jeff Lynne sound. So
again, maybe it's just me.
Still, I kept
wanting some Motown sideman to sit in on
this track. As a song, I kept rooting for it to
take off, but it seemed happy to stay in the
predictable groove.
Another caveat,
though, is that what I heard was labeled Mix 6. For
all I know, Mix 5 or Mix 7 could be killer.
E2's notes remind
me that this was written with Craig Frost in 1992.
"Sounds like this was work to write," says E2. "Not
fun, but forced." He also hears another reference
I'm unfamiliar with -- Guns and Roses' "Sweet Child
o' Mine" -- "but with less whine." Maybe that's a
good thing. As I recall, Seger has said some
positive things about Guns and Roses.
Thematically,
it's a song about how wonderful it is to be with
someone wonderful.
- Ever since
you came my way
- All my demons
seem at bay
- I've got
strength and will
- The likes of
which I never knew…
-
- And the only
thing I want
- The only
thing I want
- Is more of
you.
The lyrics take
me right to "It's You." That's a song that has
planted itself in the center of my life. "More Of
You" didn't get me there. Half-way through I was
waiting for it to end.
Some
Of Me
I have to admit,
after writing these three reviews, that my critique
seems a bit unfair. Seger put these songs in the
Vault, presumably, because they didn't meet his
standard for releasing. They showed enough promise
to merit recording them -- but after getting the
track down, something didn't quite work. That's
natural. What's unnatural is to have someone like
me shining a critical light on them.
Think of it this
way. As a writer, I've published articles and even
a book. Okay, it was a book about electrical
distribution systems and utility ownership. But it
got a nice review in a national industry
magazine.
So far, so good.
But what if someone I didn't know got access to my
hard drive and started reviewing articles I never
finished. What if the same national magazine
published a bad review of a piece I never intended
to release? (What if they made fun of the fact that
I used the word "shoals" or "shoalin'" a lot? Not
that I would ever do that.)
The answer is,
I'd be ticked off.
So what gives me
the right to do the very same thing to Seger?
Answer: Nothing.
I don't have the right, but because of the way the
Vault works, I have the ability.
Further, what
really are my qualifications, other than thirty
years of admiring his work and the fact that I have
a web site? Again, not much.
And yet…I
can't help going to the Vault and I can't help
wanting to tell other fans about what I've heard
there. Maybe if Seger weren't such a hoarder, I
wouldn't be so set on hearing and sharing this
stuff. Or maybe that's a
rationalization.
The upshot, I
guess, is that I love it when I hear amazing tracks
that ought to be released. Since I'm a fan and on
the side of Seger fans everywhere, I want to
agitate in my tiny corner of the web for releasing
these songs.
As I look ahead
at my notes, I see three or four more tracks that
I'd probably leave in the Vault. I think I'll touch
on them lightly in the next update and move
on.
Partly, that's
for the reasons outlined here. But mainly, I'm just
too eager to get to "All Brand New" -- a song I
totally fell in love with. That's coming up.
December 10,
2004
The Rest and the Best
It's time to
close up the Vault for now. I've put off writing up
some of these tracks because I'm a little
uncomfortable critiquing songs that haven't been
released. All of the following tracks were
interesting, but some didn't rise to Seger's usual
quality. That's purely my point of view, though
presumably Seger might agree -- after all, he chose
not to release them.
But one of them,
the last one, totally blew me away. It's "All Brand
New." I wanted to end with the best, so I saved it
for last. Here we go.
"It
Passes For Love"
"It Passes For
Love," written in 1992, has an early Eagles ballad
sound to it. Ears 2 called it reminiscent of
"Whatever Happened to Saturday Night" off
Desperado.
Thematically,
it's similar to The Fire Inside, in that it focuses
on shallow, superficial relationships:
- I've seen
their eyes
- Off in the
distance
- Full of
indifference
- Full of
themselves
-
- And they tell
little stories
- To fill up
the silence
- It's not the
real thing
- But it passes
for love.
"The Fire Inside"
contrasted these shallow relationships with real
feelings -- the kind that "cannot be denied." As a
result, "Fire" was full of passion and loss. In
contrast, "It Passes For Love" keeps the focus on
superficial relationship, so the picture it draws
doesn't seem to mean as much. And that softer,
early-Eagles sound was never my favorite.
"Full
Circle"
"Full Circle"
goes all the way back to 1974. The track I heard is
the same one included on the "Retro Rock" radio
broadcast -- a live track recorded in a small club.
Since I'd heard it before, I was a little less
excited to hear it in the Vault.
I was hoping I
might hear a studio version; I thought the song
might have more power in the studio. The live
version is just Bob and a guitar, sounding very
unplugged. It's clearly being played to a crowd
that wants to rock. You can hear a lot of restless
chatter as drinks and food are served during the
song.
This song has
always struck me as a precursor to some of the
great ballads Seger would write later. It's a
relationship song and it deals with life on the
road: "I tell you 'bout the concerts, I tell you
'bout the crowds, I tell you 'bout the band played
a little bit too loud. Everthing's too loud."
If there's a
studio version, I'd love to hear it. No need to
release the live track because it's already
circulating.
"Hard
Enough"
"Hard Enough" was
written twenty-one years later, in 1995.
The title of "Hard
Enough" is deceptive. It's not a rocker -- it's a
softly sung, mid-tempo song. My notes say it's
"like 'The Real Love' but without the hook."
Ears 2 notes some
really nice piano work, and a slight resemblance,
in the very beginning to The Lovin' Spoonful's "You
Didn't Have To Be So Nice."
E2 also points
out that the vocal is double-tracked -- "one track
high and the other low." The technique worked on
the refrain, he thought, but not on the verses.
The lyrics are
minimalist; this song seems to be about what's not
being said. Sometimes that works. There are
certainly some intriguing lines -- "You do your
best, no one cares, you disappear, like rain." But
I had trouble getting engaged with the song.
In fact, to come
clean, this is a song I heard in my previous visit
to the Vault, in May 2003. I overlooked it at the
time; in contrast to songs like "The Melting Pot"
and "Tomorrow," it just didn't seem to have much
traction.
"Maybe
In A Minute"
My notes say: "Or
maybe not."
The song didn't
fare any better with E2, who called it "Maybe In A
Month and A Half," and nominated it for the "worst
of the day."
FYI, the day in
question was way back in May '03. A couple of
Vault-visits ago. Again, I didn't feel inspired to
write it up at the time because, well, some songs
just belong in the Vault. (According to me, who has
never written a song, so what do I
know?)
Anyway, an
excerpt:
- Maybe in a
minute
- Somewhere
deep within
- We can find a
way
- To love
again
-
- Maybe there's
a reason
- Why it has to
be
- Maybe in a
minute
- We'll
see.
The cut, written
in 1988, begins with what E2 calls "a big synth
sound" ala Peter Gabriel. For me, it has a
"last-song-on-an-album" feel to it, (or maybe, the
song-after-the-last-song-on-the-album.) Or a
flipside. In fact, it reminded me of "East L.A.,"
only slower.
"Fly
Away"
"Fly Away" is a
song I thought I did write up from the 2003 trip to
the Vault -- but somehow I skipped it. I shouldn't
have, though, because "Fly Away" has some real
energy. It's an interesting and catchy track that
could have made it onto an album or a flipside.
It's easy to see
why it wasn't, though. Written in 1990, "Fly Away"
has a musical track that is probably too
reminiscent of "Hollywood Nights." The melody is
completely different. But the drums and rhythm are
very similar. E2 and I heard it immediately. The
drum track, in particular, seems to come straight
from "Hollywood Nights."
The lyrics hit a
Seger theme -- a life that once seemed good has
turned bad. The song is written in the second
person -- "you," not "she" or "he" -- so it's hard
to tell if Seger is writing about a man or a woman.
Maybe because of songs like "Jody Girl" and "The
Ring," I assumed he was writing about a
woman.
- Once there
were friends and dreams
- Once there
were summer scenes
- You had
someone you loved.
-
- You were so
young and fair
- Now you just
sit and stare
- Since you
lost it all
-
- You keep
yourself so safe
- You hide your
heart away.
-
- Fly away,
aching inside, hating your life, into the
clouds
- Fly away,
make every scene, give up your dreams, hide in
the crowds.
-
Seger delivers
the lines with passion. E2 called it an arena
rocker, but it's also got some emotional complexity
to it.
In the end, it
didn't jell for me as one of Seger's best, and with
the "Hollywood Nights" issue I can see why it's
unreleased. But after almost two years, I can still
hear it clearly in my head. And that's the sign of
a strong song.
"All
Brand New"
This song shows
the amazing power of a simple, heartfelt song. As I
listen to it in my head, I marvel about Seger's
range. He's the guy who gave us full-throated
high-energy rockers that could take the roof
off...who preferred the forceful vocal style of
someone like James Brown.
Yet there's none
of that here. "All Brand New," from 1999, is quiet,
almost delicate. There is nothing pretentious,
nothing revved up. It's just keyboard and guitar,
and it's over in less than three minutes. But it
will live inside your head (and maybe your heart) a
lot longer than that.
The song is a
wish that Seger offers the listener, in the vein of
Dylan's "Forever Young," or Seger's own "In Your
Time" -- although, in my opinion, it's a hundred
times more successful than "In Your Time." The
plain and simple nature of "All Brand New" gives it
a sincerity that, for me, is hard to turn away
from.
I can imagine
that Seger might have written this song for his
kids. But as I listened to it last summer, and as I
remember it now, I like to think that he's speaking
to us -- his fans.
If his next CD is
his last (anything is possible) then this song
could be the perfect goodbye. For me, anyway, it's
the way I would want to remember him -- wishing us
the best, and pointing us not to the past, but to a
future that is all brand new.
Seger at his
best.
Revised,
10/30/05
That's it for
the 2004 Vault visit. But let's not talk about
fare-thee-wells now -- the new CD is yet to come.
And after that, who knows?
March 17,
2005
A guide to the previous two trips to the
Vault.
- Vault
1
- Face
the Promise
- Days
When the Rain Would Come
- Little
Jane
- Hit
the Road
- Anniversary
- The
Future's Now
- Media
Whipped
- Like
A Rock -- (unreleased
version, extra verse)
- Kentucky
Moonlight
- Hustled
in Nashville
- Comin'
Home -- (unreleased
version, extra lyrics)
- Carfax
Abbey
- You'll
Accomp'ny Me --
(unreleased
version)
- Shinin'
Brightly --
(unreleased
version)
- Long
Twin Silver Line --
(unreleased
version)
- Horizontal
Bop -- (unreleased
version)
- Fire
Lake -- (unreleased
version)
- Wounded
Angel
- Red
Eye to Memphis
- Hard
Night for Sarah
- Sunset
- Elevator
Button
- White
Monkey
- Can't
Hit the Corners
- Babe
- Stargazer
- Snow
Today
- Star
Tonight
- Nine
Tonight --
(unreleased
version)
- Wildfire
- The
Ring -- (unreleased
version)
- Answer's
in the Question
-
-
-
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- Vault
2
- Tomorrow
- Northern
Lights
- Love
Will Find A Way
- Melting
Pot
- Runaway
Train
- Satisfied
- Kuwait
- Cold
Dark Night
- Let
Me Try
- Got
No Shadow
- Hollow
Man
- Something
More
- Finding
Out
- Numbers
Game
- Lioness
Girl
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A
note on copyrights: The reports in
this series quote lyrics under the
provisions of the Fair Use statutes.
To my knowledge, all the songs are
copyrighted by Gear
Publishing.
Return
to News &
Updates
The
trains that stopped for a hundred
years, they just rumble
through...a whole way of life
is fading fast.... But
occasionally I still answer my
email:
 sparling@segerfile.com
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Photos
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