Go listen to "2 + 2 = ?" (aka "two plus two is on my mind") from the LP "Tales Of Lucy Blue" (aka "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man") by The Bob Seger System and tell me that Jack White did not rip-off this son

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Alex Acuna & The Unknowns Thinking of You (1991) Photography
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is the queen-ish song ("there's no home for you here") traceable to an actual queen song

Jody I think that's a case of AMG conflating a few Jack Whites, the tip-offs being T-Bone Walker and Jimmy Wakely.

I thought that might be the case.

'Black math' is great - striding Deep Purple and glam rock as it were

the last track off 'Elephant', 'Well Its True That We Love One Another' - the dynamic of it reminds me of many things but i can't really place it

Creeque Alley by the mama's and papa's maybe?

the bob seger system stuff's pretty easy to find (esp. Smokin' O.P>'s, Mongrel, & Tales of Lucy Blue) it's the Last heard stuff that's tough to track down. Apparently most of it is collected on a "Best Of Hideout Records" CD.

there's ramblin' gamblin' man LP's on ebay for btwn 99 cents - $2.50 if anybody wants to hear "2 + 2"

I bet most of Southeastern Michigan has heard it!

Anyway, yeah the early Bob Seger System stuff is aces. Apparently Bob has a bee in his bonnet about keeping that early stuff under wraps. It's too bad, all the Cameo/Parkway singles are really great, as is Ramblin' Gamblin' Man. "Persecution Smith" is the best tune of the early lot, sort of his take on "Tombstone Blues". You can find the 45 without too much trouble.

Noah and Brand New Morning are pretty horrible though. I can see why he'd be embarassed there.

So yeah, I mean anyone growing up in Michigan heard this stuff - even the early stuff - you can't escape it. You know how some rock stations do a Memorial Day "top 500 songs of all time" countdown? I remember once WRIF did every Bob Seger song from A to Z.

Anyway, that song is the best rock song I've heard in years.

I have never heard any Seger outside of the hits, probably because my parents hated rock music so I never heard it growing up and I never listened to the classic rock stations.

The thing about Queen- current "rock critics" who start spreading around Queen comparisons don't or wouldn't own Uriah Heep records (except for Matos, which is why he rules), so they would never pick up on that precedent.

I'll be in the corner with my dunce cap, thank you very much.

The most obvious Uriah ripoff by Queen is "In the Lap of the Gods" (which also seems to rip off Bryan Ferry.) Anyway, rock critics who say Joy Division when they really mean Uriah Heep are annoying, too.

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Every Lester Bangs articles about Bob Seeger. Sorry Lester, just because he's from Detroit doesn't mean he's good.
-- David Beckhouse (dbeckhous...), March 4th, 2003.

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Actually, Seger was great. Way better than the MC5. But never mind. (The only music question I REALLY care about: How come all his early Last Heard/Seger System-era (i.e.: pre Silver Bullet) garage punk classics -- "Looking Back," "Lucifer," "Back in '72," "2 + 2 = ?," "Heavy Music," "Get Out of Denver," "Rosalie," "East Side Story," "Persecution Smith," "U.M.C.," "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", "Santa's Got a Brand New Bag," "Ballad of the Yellow Beret," etc. -- have never been compiled? Not even as a Japanese bootleg or whatever? And with all the obscure old talentless twerps post-punks and indie idiots have embraced over the past quarter century, how come they've never embraced Bob, one of the great punk rock singers and songwriters in history? It makes no fucking sense at all to me.)
-- chuck (cedd...), March 5th, 2003.

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But Bob exists in the collective consciousness for only three reasons these days -- that Tom Cruise mime sequence in Risky Business, the Ford truck ad song and being covered by Metallica. Therefore he is all too easily overlooked.
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), March 5th, 2003.

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Yeah, I know. But the collective consciousness can be changed; lots of reissues have been about *changing* perceptions. And what's weird is that Seger has a huge, already existing audience for such a reissue. Certainly it'd be more marketable than, I dunno, Os Mutantes or Gary Wilson or Faust or White Witch, right? I assume there are some *legal* reasons the stuff never got reissued on Rhino or wherever, but I still don't see how that would prevent imports or bootlegs -- in fact, given the potential market, you'd think it would *inspire* them! (By the way, his Silver Bullet stuff through 1978 is mostly worth owning, too -- *Night Moves* and *Stranger in Town* are amazing albums. And he even had a couple good tracks in the '80s. But his early stuff is more punk rock than Brian Wilson or Nick Drake or Esquivel or Scott Walker will ever be, and nobody seems to care!)
-- chuck (cedd...), March 5th, 2003.

Chuck, you heard "2+2=?", "East Side Story" and "Heavy Music" on the WRIF late 70's / early 80's didn't you? Tell me I'm not crazy here.

Seger is like Vernors is like Woodward Ave. Coney Islands.

Absolutely. (Unless it was WABX or WWWW. All three, probably.)

I vaguely recall seeing, like, 40 copies of a vinyl bootleg early Seger comp (same label as *Seeds and Stems* or *Michigan Brand Nuggets*, I think) at Sam's Jam's in Ferndale once in the mid-'80s; it cost around $16, and I was a cheapskate and didn't buy it, which I regret more than any other album non-purchase in my life. I never saw it again, and have never seen any early Seger compns, vinyl or CD, bootleg or legit, in person or on line, since. And I've definitely looked, though of course that doesn't mean they don't exist.

Also good article on Seger in Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung.

Oops -- I meant *Michigan Rocks* (a vinyl apparent-bootleg stooges/ seger/mc5/frost/rationals/amboy dukes/third power/etc. compilation available everywhere around detroit circa '79 or so -- any of you collector scumbag types wanna tell me how much my copy is worth??), not *Seeds and Stems*; Seeds and Stems *was* the name of the label.

I never saw *Michigan Brand Nuggets,* I don't think, but I have an old copy of *New York Rocker* where somebody reviews it. (Actually, it may well be called *Detroit Brand Nuggets* instead. I forget.)

"Girl You Have No Faith in Medicine" from Elephant borrows the riff from Urge Overkill's "Positive Bleeding".

Could you be any more vague?

they call them "planes"

"Now tell me how cool Seger is. He is a cool guy isn't he, Meg?
M: He is awesome. The first album is amazing.
J: Early Bob Seger System.

A lot of people are dissing the Seger. But he's down with it isn't he?
J: They need to get back to the Bob Seger System. You have to find the Bob Seger System Band.

'Get down on your knees,' like the Swingin' Neckbreakers cover, do you know that one?
J: '2+2 Is On My Mind' is my favourite song.

By the Underdogs or one of those bands.
J: Yeah, yeah."

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