The album, which features recently remastered versions of numerous classic Seger songs from the early 1970s and four previously unreleased recordings, will be available at Meijer's beginning November 24th. Starting the following Monday, November 30th, fans can purchase the CD or a full album download at the artist's recently re-launched website, http://www.bobseger.com, where snippets of each of the 10 songs can currently be heard.
The multi-Platinum rocker comes full circle with the album, returning to the Hideout Records label, which released his early singles and several of his early albums. In September, Seger entered Kid Rock's Allen Roadhouse studio and Yessian Studios in suburban Detroit to re-record elements of four previously unreleased tracks for the collection: "Gets Ya Pumpin'," "Star Tonight," "Wildfire" and "Days When the Rain Would Come."
While in the studio, Seger also re-recorded much of "Long Song Comin'" from 1974's Seven. In addition, Early Seger Vol. 1 includes five remastered tracks - "Someday" and his version of Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter" from Smokin' O.P's (released in 1972), Seger's cover of the Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider" from Back in '72 (1973) and "Get Out Of Denver" and "U.M.C. (Upper Middle Class)" from Seven. The three albums preceded Beautiful Loser, his 1975 breakthrough record.
The cover for the new collection features a photo of Seger shot by Tom Weschler, who spent more than 10 years working as tour manager and photographer during Seger's hard-gigging early days. The packaging features photos from Weschler's new book, "Travelin' Man: On the Road and Behind the Scenes With Bob Seger," co-authored with award-winning music journalist Gary Graff. The book features Weschler's photographs, text by Graff, a foreword by John Mellencamp, and an afterword by Kid Rock. The book was released last month and has spent 5 weeks at #1 on the U.S. Public University Presses sales chart.
The track listing for Early Seger Vol. 1 follows below, with historical information noted in parenthesis:
1. Midnight Rider (remastered from original Back in '72 tapes)
2. If I Were A Carpenter (remastered from original Smokin' O.P's tapes)
3. Get Out Of Denver (remastered from original Seven tapes)
4. Someday (remastered from original Smokin' O.P.'s tapes)
5. U.M.C. (Upper Middle Class) (remastered from original Seven tapes)
6. Long Song Comin' (originally appeared on Seven; extensively re-recorded for Early Seger Vol. 1)
7. Star Tonight (Seger recording previously unreleased; first released as a cover by Don Johnson for his 1986 album, Heartbeat)
8. Gets Ya Pumpin' (previously unreleased; Seger's earliest version of this song, written in 1973, was entitled "Pumpin'")
9. Wildfire (previously unreleased)
10. Days When The Rain Would Come (previously unreleased)
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