Live Bullet: Difference between revisions

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

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Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Christgau's Record Guide	B^[2]

‘Live’ Bullet is a live album by American rock band Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, released on April 12, 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 medley of "Travelin' Man/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 in adjacent media markets such as Chicago. Even in his home state of Michigan, Seger often struggled to garner mass appeal outside the Metro Detroit area. In December, 1975, 3 months after 'Live' Bullet was recorded, a scheduled concert at Western Michigan University was cancelled after only a few hundred advance tickets were sold. In June 1976, 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.^[3]

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 1970s, and has great historic value in that regard.

As I told everybody last night, I was reading in Rolling Stone where they said, "Detroit audiences are the greatest rock and roll audiences in the world." I thought to myself, "Shit! I've known that for ten years!"
— Bob Seger, "Nutbush City Limits", 'Live' Bullet

Critical reception

Critic Dave Marsh called Live Bullet "one of the best live albums ever made."^[4]

In 2015, Live Bullet was ranked No. 26 on Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time" list.^[5] Readers of Rolling Stone ranked it No. 10 in a 2012 poll of all-time favourite live albums.^[6] In an article supporting the 2015 list, Seger states, "We were doing 250 to 300 shows a year before Live Bullet. We were playing five nights a week, sometimes six, as the Silver Bullet Band, and we just had that show down."^[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bob Seger, except where noted

Side One
No.	Title	Writer(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.	Title	Writer(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.	Title	Length
1.	"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man"	3:01
2.	"Heavy Music"	8:14
3.	"Katmandu"	6:23

Side Four
No.	Title	Writer(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 on June 26, 1976.

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. Additionally, the tracks "Travelin' Man" and "Beautiful Loser" feature no audible pause between the two, and are played as a single medley (though the CD has a digital track marker for each). As a result, many album-oriented rock and classic rock radio stations have played them together as a medley.

The Silver Bullet Band

Bob Seger – lead vocals, guitar, piano
Drew Abbott – lead guitar, background vocals
Alto Reed – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, percussion, background vocals
Robyn Robins – organ, clavinet, Mellotron, piano on "Katmandu"
Chris Campbell – bass guitar, background vocals
Charlie Allen Martin – drums, background vocals, answer vocals on "Heavy Music", harmony vocals on "Jody Girl" and "Get Out of Denver"

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

^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band: Live Bullet > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
^ Campbell, Mary. "Bob Seger to storm into Poplar Creek with rock poetry" Chicago Sun-Times July 25, 1986.
^ The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983. ISBN 0-394-72107-1
^ ^a ^b "50 Greatest Live Albums". rollingstone.com. 29 April 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
^ "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Live Albums of All Time". rollingstone.com. 21 November 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2020.

[1] Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band: Live Bullet > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2011.

[CG-2] Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.

[3] Campbell, Mary. "Bob Seger to storm into Poplar Creek with rock poetry" Chicago Sun-Times July 25, 1986.

[4] The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983. ISBN 0-394-72107-1

[RS-LB-2015-5] "50 Greatest Live Albums". rollingstone.com. 29 April 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2020.

[RSpoll-2012-6] "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Live Albums of All Time". rollingstone.com. 21 November 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 | released   = April 12, 1976
 | recorded   = September 4–5, 1975
-| venue      = [[Cobo Hall]], Detroit
+| venue      = [[Huntington Place|Cobo Hall]] in [[Detroit]]
 | studio     =
 | genre      = [[Rock music|Rock]]
 | length     = 70:40
 | label      = [[Capitol Records|Capitol]]
-| producer   = [[Punch Andrews]], [[Bob Seger]]
+| producer   =
+*[[Punch Andrews]]
+*[[Bob Seger]]
 | prev_title = [[Beautiful Loser]]
 | prev_year  = 1975
@@ Line 21: / Line 23: @@
 {{Album ratings
 | rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
-| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}} <ref>{{AllMusic |class=album |id=r17684 |tab=review |label=Bob Seger &amp; the Silver Bullet Band: ''Live Bullet'' > Review |first=Stephen Thomas |last=Erlewine |accessdate={{date|2011-07-04|dmy}} }}</ref>
+| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}} <ref>{{AllMusic |class=album |id=r17684 |tab=review |label=Bob Seger &amp; the Silver Bullet Band: ''Live Bullet'' > Review |first=Stephen Thomas |last=Erlewine |accessdate=4 July 2011 }}</ref>
 |rev2 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
 |rev2Score = B<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: S|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=S&bk=70|accessdate=March 12, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref>
 }}
-'''''‘Live’ Bullet''''' is a [[live album]] by [[United States|American]] [[Rock and roll|rock]] band [[Bob Seger|Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band]], released in April [[1976 in music|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 (album)|Night Moves]]'', with launching Seger's mainstream popularity.
+'''''‘Live’ Bullet''''' is a [[live album]] by [[United States|American]] [[Rock and roll|rock]] band [[Bob Seger|Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band]], released on April 12, 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 (album)|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 [[WLLZ (FM)|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.
+'''Live' Bullet'' became a staple of FM rock radio in Detroit. Classics such as the live version of "[[Nutbush City Limits]]" and the [[Medley (music)|medley]] of "Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser" were among the most widely played live tracks on Detroit stations such as [[WLLZ (FM)|WWWW]] (W4), [[WRIF]], and [[WYCD|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 (band)|Point Blank]], [[Elvin Bishop]] and [[Todd Rundgren]]. 78,000 people were in attendance and the concert lasted until nearly 1:30&nbsp;a.m.  The next night, Seger played for fewer than a thousand people in [[Chicago]].<ref>Campbell, Mary. "Bob Seger to storm into Poplar Creek with rock poetry" ''Chicago Sun-Times'' July 25, 1986.</ref>
+The success of Seger's music at this time, however, was highly regional, with Seger still remaining quite unknown in adjacent media markets such as [[Chicago]]. Even in his home state of Michigan, Seger often struggled to garner mass appeal outside the Metro Detroit area. In December, 1975, 3 months after '''Live' Bullet'' was recorded, a scheduled concert at Western Michigan University was cancelled after only a few hundred advance tickets were sold.  In June 1976, Seger played the [[Pontiac Silverdome]] in metropolitan Detroit at a historic concert that also included [[Point Blank (band)|Point Blank]], [[Elvin Bishop]] and [[Todd Rundgren]]. 78,000 people were in attendance and the concert lasted until nearly 1:30&nbsp;a.m.  The next night, Seger played for fewer than a thousand people in Chicago.<ref>Campbell, Mary. "Bob Seger to storm into Poplar Creek with rock poetry" ''Chicago Sun-Times'' July 25, 1986.</ref>
 However, it was only in the following winter that the release of his next recording, ''[[Night Moves (album)|Night Moves]]'', launched Seger into more national markets. Over time, the life-on-the-road tale "[[Turn the Page (Bob Seger song)|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 concert]]s in the seventies, and has great historic value in that regard.
+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 concert]]s in the 1970s, and has great historic value in that regard.
-{{Quotation|As I told everybody last night, I was reading in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' where they said, "Detroit audiences are the greatest rock & roll audiences in the world." I thought to myself, "Shit! I've known that for ten years!"|Bob Seger|"Nutbush City Limits"|'Live' Bullet}}
+{{Quotation|text=As I told everybody last night, I was reading in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' where they said, "[[Detroit]] audiences are the greatest rock and roll audiences in the world." I thought to myself, "Shit! I've known that for ten years!"|author=Bob Seger|title="Nutbush City Limits"|source=''{{'}}Live' Bullet''}}
 ==Critical reception==
 Critic [[Dave Marsh]] called ''Live Bullet'' "one of the best live albums ever made."<ref>''The New Rolling Stone Record Guide''. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983.  {{ISBN|0-394-72107-1}}</ref>
-In 2015, ''Live Bullet'' was ranked No. 26 on ''Rolling Stone'''s "50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time" list.<ref name=RS-LB-2015>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-greatest-live-albums-of-all-time-173246/bob-seger-the-silver-bullet-band-live-bullet-1976-161621/|title=50 Greatest Live Albums|work=rollingstone.com|access-date=August 11, 2020}}</ref> Readers of ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it No. 10 in a 2012 poll of all-time favourite live albums.<ref name=RSpoll-2012>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-10-best-live-albums-of-all-time-18920/10-bob-seger-and-the-silver-bullet-band-live-bullet-132663/ |title=Readers’ Poll: The 10 Best Live Albums of All Time |work=rollingstone.com |access-date=August 11, 2020}}</ref> In an article supporting the 2015 list, Seger states, "We were doing 250 to 300 shows a year before ''Live Bullet''. We were playing five nights a week, sometimes six, as the Silver Bullet Band, and we just had that show down."<ref name=RS-LB-2015/>
+In 2015, ''Live Bullet'' was ranked No. 26 on ''Rolling Stone'''s "50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time" list.<ref name=RS-LB-2015>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-greatest-live-albums-of-all-time-173246/bob-seger-the-silver-bullet-band-live-bullet-1976-161621/|title=50 Greatest Live Albums|work=rollingstone.com|date=29 April 2015 |access-date=August 11, 2020}}</ref> Readers of ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it No. 10 in a 2012 poll of all-time favourite live albums.<ref name=RSpoll-2012>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-10-best-live-albums-of-all-time-18920/10-bob-seger-and-the-silver-bullet-band-live-bullet-132663/ |title=Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Live Albums of All Time |work=rollingstone.com |date=21 November 2012 |access-date=August 11, 2020}}</ref> In an article supporting the 2015 list, Seger states, "We were doing 250 to 300 shows a year before ''Live Bullet''. We were playing five nights a week, sometimes six, as the Silver Bullet Band, and we just had that show down."<ref name=RS-LB-2015/>
 ==Track listing==
@@ Line 71: / Line 73: @@
 | title3   = U.M.C. (Upper Middle Class)
 | length3  = 3:17
-| title4   = [[Bo Diddley (song)|Bo Diddley]]
+| title4   = [[Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley song)|Bo Diddley]]
 | writer4  = [[Bo Diddley|E. McDaniels (Bo Diddley)]]
 | length4  = 5:40
@@ Line 98: / Line 100: @@
 | length3  = 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 2011 remastered CD reissue has one extra track, "[[Breaking Up Somebody's Home|I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home]]", (3:05), recorded live at the Pontiac Silverdome on June 26, 1976.
 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.).
@@ Line 104: / Line 106: @@
 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.
+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.  Additionally, the tracks "Travelin' Man" and "Beautiful Loser" feature no audible pause between the two, and are played as a single medley (though the CD has a digital track marker for each).  As a result, many [[album-oriented rock]] and [[classic rock]] radio stations have played them together as a medley.
 ==The Silver Bullet Band==
@@ Line 110: / Line 112: @@
 *[[Drew Abbott]] – lead guitar, background vocals
 *[[Alto Reed]] – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, percussion, background vocals
-*[[Robyn Robins]] – organ, [[clavinet]], [[mellotron]], piano on "Katmandu"
+*Robyn Robins – organ, [[clavinet]], [[Mellotron]], piano on "Katmandu"
 *Chris Campbell – bass guitar, background vocals
 *Charlie Allen Martin – drums, background vocals, answer vocals on "Heavy Music", harmony vocals on "Jody Girl" and "Get Out of Denver"

v t e Bob Seger
Bob Seger Craig Frost Chris Campbell Alto Reed Drew Abbott Charlie Allen Martin David Teegarden Rick Manasa Robyn Robbins Dawayne Bailey
The System albums	Ramblin' Gamblin' Man Noah Mongrel
Seger solo albums	Brand New Morning Smokin' O.P.'s Back in '72 Seven Beautiful Loser Face the Promise Ride Out I Knew You When
The Silver Bullet Band albums	Night Moves Stranger in Town Against the Wind The Distance Like a Rock The Fire Inside It's a Mystery
Live albums	Live Bullet Nine Tonight
Compilation albums	The Bob Seger Collection Greatest Hits Greatest Hits 2 Early Seger Vol. 1 Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets
Singles	"East Side Story" "Heavy Music" "2 + 2 = ?" "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" "Lucifer" "Lookin' Back" "If I Were a Carpenter" "Who Do You Love" "Midnight Rider" "Turn the Page" "Beautiful Loser" "Katmandu" "Nutbush City Limits" "Night Moves" "Mainstreet" "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" "Still the Same"/"Feel Like a Number" "Hollywood Nights" "We've Got Tonite" "Old Time Rock and Roll" "Fire Lake" "Against the Wind" "You'll Accomp'ny Me" "The Horizontal Bop"/"Her Strut" "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" "Feel Like a Number" "Shame on the Moon" "Even Now" "Roll Me Away" "American Storm"/"Fortunate Son" ""Like a Rock"/"Livin' Inside My Heart" "Shakedown" "The Real Love" "C'est La Vie" "Landing in London" "Downtown Train" "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Going Back to Birmingham)"
Related articles	Discography Gibson/Miller Band Punch Andrews