Live Bullet

Live Bullet
Live album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Released April 12, 1976
Recorded Cobo Hall, Detroit, September 4–5, 1975
Genre Rock
Length 70:40
Label Capitol
Producer Punch Andrews, Bob Seger
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band chronology

Beautiful Loser
(1975)		 Live Bullet
(1976)		 Night Moves
(1976)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]

‘Live’ Bullet is a live album by American rock band Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, released in April 1976. It was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, during the heyday of that arena's time as an important rock concert venue. The album is credited, along with Night Moves, with launching Seger's mainstream popularity.

History

'Live' Bullet became a staple of FM rock radio in Detroit. Classics such as the live version of "Nutbush City Limits" and the connected song rendition of "Travelin' Man" and "Beautiful Loser" were among the most widely played live tracks on Detroit stations such as WWWW (W4), WRIF, and WABX. Other tracks such as "Let It Rock", "Turn the Page", and "Get Out of Denver" also received wide airplay in Detroit.

The success of Seger's music at this time, however, was highly regional, with Seger still remaining quite unknown even in adjacent media markets such as Chicago. In June 1976, for example, Seger played the Pontiac Silverdome in metropolitan Detroit at a historic concert that also included Point Blank, Elvin Bishop, and Todd Rundgren. 78,000 people were in attendance and the concert lasted until nearly 1:30 a.m. The next night, Seger played for fewer than a thousand people in Chicago.[2]

However, it was only in the following winter that the release of his next recording, Night Moves, launched Seger into more national markets. Over time, the life-on-the-road tale "Turn the Page" would become the most nationally played song from 'Live' Bullet, and a perennial favorite on album-oriented rock and classic rock stations.

For Detroit fans, however, the entire ‍ '​Live' Bullet recording captured a Detroit artist at the height of his energy and creativity, in front of a highly appreciative hometown crowd. 'Live' Bullet also captured the wild and free spirit of rock concerts in the seventies, and has great historic value in that regard. Critic Dave Marsh called it "one of the best live albums ever made."[3]

The 8-track tape version of this album has the distinction of being one of the few 8-tracks that is arranged exactly like the album, with no song breaks.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Bob Seger, except as indicated. 

Side One
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Nutbush City Limits"  Tina Turner 4:37
2. "Travelin' Man"    4:53
3. "Beautiful Loser"    4:00
4. "Jody Girl"    4:28
Side Two
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "I've Been Working"  Van Morrison 4:35
2. "Turn the Page"    5:05
3. "U.M.C. (Upper Middle Class)"    3:17
4. "Bo Diddley"  E. McDaniels (Bo Diddley) 5:40
Side Three
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man"    3:01
2. "Heavy Music"    8:14
3. "Katmandu"    6:23
Side Four
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Lookin' Back"    2:36
2. "Get out of Denver"    5:21
3. "Let It Rock"  E. Anderson (Chuck Berry) 8:30

The 2011 remastered CD reissue has one extra track, "I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home", (3:05), recorded live at the Pontiac Silverdome.

The live version of the song "Katmandu" was also featured as the sole Bob Seger track as part of a promotional-only compilation album issued by Capitol records entitled The Greatest Music Ever Sold, which was distributed to record stores during the 1976 holiday season as part of Capitol's "Greatest Music Ever Sold" campaign, promoting 15 "best of" albums released by the record label. 'Live' Bullet is a live album and not a "best of" compilation, though several tracks were major regional hits ("Lookin' Back" #2 in Detroit, etc.).

Many songs from the album such as "Nutbush City Limits", "Lookin' Back", and "Turn the Page" became hit singles off the album, whereas their original studio versions were overlooked. "Lookin Back" was released as a single in 1971, but had very short lived success as it was not on an actual Seger album. It was originally performed by Seger's first band, The Bob Seger System, whereas the Live Bullet version featured The Silver Bullet Band.

Two of the songs on the album are actually medleys. "Bo Diddley" is a medley of "Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?", while "Let It Rock" is a medley of "Let It Rock" and "Little Queenie" with some minor lyrical changes.

Silver Bullet Band

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1976 Billboard Pop Albums 34
1986 Billboard 200 135

'Singles | "Nutbush City Limits" (Hot-100 #69) | "Travelin' Man" (uncharted)

Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA – U.S. Gold December 12, 1976
RIAA – U.S. Platinum December 16, 1977
CRIA – Canada Gold December 1, 1979
CRIA – Canada Platinum December 1, 1979
CRIA – Canada Double Platinum December 1, 1983
RIAA – U.S. 4× Platinum June 6, 1991
RIAA – U.S. 5× Platinum September 22, 2003

Notes

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band: Live Bullet > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  2. ↑ Campbell, Mary. "Bob Seger to storm into Poplar Creek with rock poetry" Chicago Sun-Times July 25, 1986.
  3. ↑ The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983. ISBN 0-394-72107-1