Sunday, August 7, 2022

Bob Seger - Nine Tonight (Live 2xLP on 1CD) (1981)

Year: September 4, 1981 (CD 2011)
Label: Hideout Records (U.S.), 5099909852129
Style: Rock, Arena Rock
Country: Detroit, Michigan, U.S. (May 6, 1945)
Time: 79:57
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 598 Mb

Four years later, recorded at home in Detroit and in his equally loyal adopted hometown of Boston, Seger had what he longed for and then some. Now, however, the primitive strains of "Let It Rock" are far outnumbered by the more polished adult demographics of a tune such as "We've Got Tonight," while "Against The Wind" and "We've Got Tonight" sound like exactly what they are: romanticized melodramas of adult identity crises, similar to this bonus cut, "Brave Strangers."
The irony here lies in large measure in how these songs are communicated via a bar band par excellence. It's only natural The Silver Bullet Band would acquire more polish the more it toured, Seger made sure he retained the punchy sound by holding on to the core personnel rather than opt for the session men who populated the albums he is promoting here; the only prettifications consisted of female background singers and the addition of Motor City native (and former Grand Funk member) Craig Frost on keyboards.
That said, the digital remastering fails to transcend the original recording. The mature finesse of the ensemble, unlike the in-your-face character of the previous live album, remains at a distance.The sound thus becomes a perfect allegory for Seger's struggle to maintain his own identity as his career evolved. Still, when "Night Moves" wafts by and "Feel Like A Number" chugs along, the man sounds like he's rediscovering who he really is, at least for the duration of the time he's on stage: not a celebrity, but a bonafide rocker at heart, earnestly working hard to connect with the people who paid their money to see him.
(allaboutjazz.com/bob-seger-live-bullet-and-nine-tonight-reissues-by-doug-collette)

01. Nine Tonight (05:22)
02. Tryin' To Live My Life Without You (04:00)
03. You'll Accomp'ny Me (04:13)
04. Hollywood Nights (04:49)
05. Old Time Rock And Roll (05:11)
06. Mainstreet (04:04)
07. Against The Wind (05:34)
08. The Fire Down Below (04:47)
09. Her Strut (03:50)
10. Feel Like A Number (04:10)
11. Fire Lake (03:51)
12. Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Tonight (02:59)
13. We've Got Tonight (04:55)
14. Night Moves (05:44)
15. Rock And Roll Never Forgets (03:35)
16. Let It Rock (05:58)
17. Brave Strangers (06:48)

Bob-Seger81-Nine-Tonight-01 Bob-Seger81-Nine-Tonight-02 Bob-Seger81-Nine-Tonight-back

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