I wanted to write about a musical arrangement Bob Seger has used in his music. It isn’t always
present in his music and he has used it less over the years, but it is common and a significant part of
his work so I’m calling it the Bob Seger sound. This Bob Seger sound incorporates piano, electric
guitar, acoustic guitar and organ. It’s most common on rock ballads, but is also present on full on
rock songs and of course quiet ballads. I’m only including songs in this article that feature these four
instruments. I am mentioning many, but not every single Bob Seger song that has all these
instruments on it will be featured.
The song I’m going to begin with is a rock ballad “Mainstreet” (1976). This song is significant as the
recorded with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a group of session musicians Bob Seger has
recorded with several times. I’ll now mention three songs from the next album “Stranger in Town”
(1978). One of its songs “Till It Shines” sounds similar to “Mainstreet” and it uses these four
elements effectively. It’s lead guitar part is far more intense than “Mainstreet” and the guitar solo is
played very well by late Glenn Frey of The Eagles. We’ve Got Tonight has those four instruments,
but uses them in a different way to produce a ballad that isn’t overtly rock like. It has an orchestra
and the organ parts are more subtle. Also, the electric guitar doesn’t give a rock sound. The Famous
Final Scene on the same album uses the ballad with an orchestra sound of “We’ve Got Tonight”, but
it brings the rock style into it, especially by Pete Carr’s rocking lead guitars. The piano on the song
rocks too.
The following album “Against The Wind” (1980) featured quite a few songs with these instruments,
being its ballads “No Man’s Land”, “Good For Me”, “Shinin’ Brightly”, “Fire Lake” and “Against the
Wind”. The last two are hits, especially the title track which is one of the most globally recognised
Bob Seger songs. Against The Wind goes in a more country direction, which is most evident in Paul
Harris’ piano solo and Drew Abbott’s electric guitar part playing along with it. Its organ is probably
most prominent in the second verse.
The “Like a Rock” (1986) song has this arrangement. It’s a title track of the album of the same name.
It feels like a hybrid of “Against The Wind” and “Mainstreet”. It even refers to “Against The Wind” with
its lyric “Hard Against The Wind”. The organ is the only keyboard part during the first verse and it
does have a moment later on where it's louder in the mix with it matching with Bob’s powerful
singing. There are two other songs recorded during the same album’s sessions which remained
unreleased until 2009’s “Early Seger Vol. 1”, being “Star Tonight” and “Wildfire”. Star Tonight is a
signature Bob Seger rock ballad. We initially only hear piano, acoustic guitar and organ. The electric
guitar is barely present until it comes in giving the sudden jolt of a rocking guitar solo. The organ is
prominent in a special way in parts of the song. Wildfire is a full on rock song with these four
instruments, which has a similar arrangement of not having its electric guitar part until the solo and it
has some parts following that. It’s organ part is very subtle. This song features great piano, including
a piano solo and is reminiscent of his 1982 hit “Roll Me Away”.
In 2003 for his “Greatest Hits 2” album, Bob Seger used these four instruments in a different way
than he usually does with his original blues song “Satisfied”. This song is interesting as it features
two acoustic guitars and one electric guitar, unlike some of the songs on this article which feature the
reverse arrangement when it comes to guitars. The electric guitar part is barely audible, with the
acoustic guitars being the prominent guitar part. The acoustic guitars do a blues part following the
first piano solo. Speaking of the piano, it is very catchy and melodic. I’ll conclude with “I’ll Remember
You” from Bob’s latest album “I Knew You When” (2017). This song features all four instruments
prominently with each one being stronger in different parts of the song. It’s a rock ballad that really
rocks and has incredible singing by Bob. It could have been a hit if it came out during Bob Seger’s
peak period.
Many of the songs on this list have been featured in my articles “Ten Powerful Rock Ballads by Bob
Pete Carr who played on some of the songs discussed and many others for Bob Seger. RIP Pete
Carr.
