‘New’ Seger Photos Appear on FB; Fans Yearn For His Early Music
Some photos of a young Bob Seger have been posted on Facebook, and they show a young Seger, in between The Bob Seger System years and ahead of the beginning of the Silver Bullet Band era. Along with the Facebook post are more great photos in the comments sections along with many Seger fans sharing memories of that time.
The description says the photos are from an early 1970's photo shoot for Creem Magazine, with photographer and art director Charlie Auringer. When you look at the photos, there's almost a look of innocence in Seger - maybe even demure. The post goes on to say at this time he was playing gigs with Teegarden and Van Winkle and also with a band named Julia. (Look in the comments section, lots of chatter on Julia) He also released a solo album around 1971 that didn't do much of anything sales-wise.
It began to appear Seger might be on his way to becoming a "one-hit wonder" (with Ramblin', Gamblin' Man) at the time of this shoot. But, obviously, right around the corner, was the formation of the Silver Bullet Band. The album "Beautiful Loser" came out in 1975, and from that album came "Katmandu", which was a monster in Michigan, and Seger was back on track to becoming the Hall of Famer he is today.
Then "Live Bullet" was recorded at Cobo Hall in September of 1975, (and again, in the comments section is a great story about Seger manager Punch Andrews' nervousness ahead of that show) Seger was one of the first to channel the power and energy of a live audience at a rock and roll concert onto vinyl, and it still is one of best live albums ever recorded. It also gave him a chance to bring back a song that new fans might have missed. Think about the possibility of "Turn the Page" being forgotten in obscurity, which also leads to this. There are many who said in the comments section they wish Seger would release some of his early recordings (that apparently he's not completely proud of or happy with)
And as they say, the rest is history. As for these two photos, Pulitzer Prize winner Mary Schmich wrote: "Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded"