Published on Jan 15, 1997
(Editor’s Note: This was actually the first review
written for “The Daily Vault” – that is, until we discovered we
were actually ready to launch ahead of schedule.)
Before “Old Time Rock And Roll”… before “Night Moves”…
before “Beautiful Loser”… there was
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.
The album gave Seger and his band an early taste of success with
the title track, a foot-stomping classic you can occasionally still
hear on oldies radio stations. Unfortunately for Seger, it would be
many more albums before he would see success again, with his
“last-ditch” effort,
Beautiful Loser.
The album was originally to be called
Tales Of Lucy Blue, the name of the second track on the
album. Good idea that Seger and the band changed their minds; the
track is marginally listenable, while “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man,”
despite being a one chord-progression song, is catchy. (The liner
notes state Seger realized “Lucy Blue is Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”.
What the hell is
that supposed to mean, Bob?)
But this isn’t even the best track on the album. That
distinction belongs to “2 + 2 = ?,” a raucous number featuring
frantic bass work from Dan Honaker and drums by Pep Perrine. In
fact, this seems like the only time the band is allowed to cut
loose and let the creative juices fly.
The remainder of the album is a mixture of low-key blues and
psychadelic nostalgia that sounds incredibly dated today. It’s
interesting that on the song “Ivory,” Seger’s wails occasionally
sound like AC/DC’s Brian Johnson. But the sad fact is this album
hasn’t aged very gracefully. The newness of the band is evident by
the uneven starts and stops on songs like “Down Home.” This was a
band that was still jelling together as a group, and wasn’t
completely in sync with each other yet.
Seger is the definite leader of the band, acting not only as
lead throat, but also as principal guitarist and keyboard player.
It’s interesting, then, that he didn’t play keyboards, the
instrument he’s best known for, on his first hit. (That distinction
belongs to Bob Schultz.)
The album is pure power-60’s pop, with over half the tracks on
the album clocking in at under three minutes, and two over five
minutes. The album is less than 40 minutes long, but at times, it
seems like an eternity, while the time flies on the good tracks.
But isn’t that always the case?
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man is, at the least, an interesting
historical portrait of the young Seger’s first efforts. But it was
by no means a portrait of what was to come out of him musically.
This is one for the collectors and diehard Seger fans.