Bob Seger - Smokin' O.P.'s
List Price:
Our Price: $6.43
You Save: $6.55 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.82 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Bob SegerBrand: SEGER,BOB
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Music Label: Capitol
Soundtracks:
- Bo Diddley
- Love the One You're With
- If I Were a Carpenter
- Hummin' Bird
- Let It Rock
- Turn on Your Love Light
- Jesse James
- Someday
- Heavy Music
Music reviews of Smokin' O.P.'s
Music Review: Excellent, hard-rocking early Seger
Rating: 4 Stars
1972's "Smokin' O.P.'s" is almost a cover album, really. Bob Seger, a singer-songwriter who mostly records his own material, "smokes other people's songs" here (that's supposedly the idea behind the odd title), including "Bo Diddley", Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With", and Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock".
He also covers himself, though, reinterpreting the old Bob Seger & the Last Heard-number "Heavy Music", and adding one new song to the mix, the 2?-minute ballad "Someday". And while this may seem like pretty standart Seger-fare (several of these songs show up on his live albums), "Smokin'" isn't really all that standart when you look a little bit closer.
Seger is backed by energetic, hard-hitting drummer David Teegarden, guitarist Michael "Monk" Bruce, and not least by organist and pianist Skip Knape, who also plays organ pedal bass, and the arrangements, which are dominated by crunchy guitar riffs, pounding drums and Knape's organ, are more loose and and soul-flavoured and even jam band-like than most of Seger's albums of crisp, tight rock n' roll numbers. The six-minute "Bo Diddley" rides along strongly on a very prominent, pulsating organ, and that exceptionally well-utilized organ, in tandem with Seger's unusually spontaneus and improvisational vocals, is a big part of what makes this album so realatively different from most of his other long players.
Seger turns "If I Were A Carpenter" into a passionate, plaintive soul number, and duets with singers Pam Todd and Crystal Jenkins on "Love The One You're With". He makes a totally convincing hard rocker out of the traditional folk of "Jesse James", and breathes new life into Bobby 'Blue' Bland's old single "Turn On Your Love Light". And while I'll freely admit to not being a huge Bob Seger fan, he does a very, very good job with almost all of these "O.P.'s".
I think Seger's live albums in particular are terrific, but most of his studio albums are pretty uneven in my view. Of all the Seger albums I've heard, "Smokin' O.P.'s" is probably the one that comes closest to replicating the sound of Bob Seger in concert, rocking with fiery abandon and letting the musicians stretch out and flex their muscles.
And Seger sounds like he is having fun, too. This is a really fine album, one of his very best studio efforts, and one of his most energetic for sure.
Definitely recommended!
Description of Smokin' O.P.'s
Bob Seger Photos
 | ? |  | ? |
More from Bob Seger
 Face The Promise |  Nine Tonight |  Against the Wind |
 Greatest Hits |  Stranger in Town |  Night Moves |
A much requested official CD reissue for an album that was difficult to locate even when it was out on vinyl in 1972, Smokin' O.P.'s finds Bob Seger covering "other people's" favorites, including a few of his own. Accompanied by a tough three piece band with Skip Van Winkle's churning organ often more prominent than guitar, Seger sizzles through a short but intense 35 minute set of nine tunes. Even when reinterpreting warhorses such as "Bo Diddley," "Turn on Your Lovelight" and "Let it Rock," the band charges through with such a crisp, no-nonsense attack. These versions sound fresh, if not quite new, upon this album's remastered reissue in 2005, 33 years after it was recorded. The feeling is that these tunes were already crowd favorites, so the recording has a live electricity to it, only enhanced by subsequent years of slicker music from Seger. The slow burn rearrangement of the once folksy "If I Were a Carpenter" captures the singer at his most vibrant, mixing sensitivity with leathery, roiling rock that explodes into a throbbing crescendo, all in about 3 ? minutes. The mood only eases up for Leon Russell's "Hummin' Bird" and Seger's one new composition "Someday," a "Turn the Page" styled piano ballad with strings. It is "Heavy Music" in the best sense. The album remains a potent example of Bob Seger at his most raw, when he was young and hungry and sounded it. --Hal Horowitz
General CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in General CDs
Pink Floyd - The Wall (Deluxe Packaging Digitally Remastered)Release date: 2000-04-25; Published: 2002; Music CD
Best price: $14.53
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Bob Seger - Greatest HitsRelease date: 1994-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops:
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle, Vol. 1: The 20 Greatest HitsRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.57
Price in other shops:
The Fray - The FraySony; Release date: 2009-02-03; Music CD
Best price: $6.29
Price in other shops:
Journey - Greatest HitsSony; Release date: 2006-08-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.56
Price in other shops:
The Beatles - The Beatles 1Beatles; Release date: 2000-11-14; Published: 2000; Music CD
Best price: $8.21
Price in other shops:
Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux KingRCA; Release date: 2009-06-02; Music CD
Best price: $6.90
Price in other shops:
Adam Lambert - Take OneRelease date: 2009-11-17; Music CD
Best price: $8.73
Price in other shops:
Train - Save Me, San FranciscoRelease date: 2009-10-26; Music CD
Best price: $9.39
Price in other shops:
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - The Live Anthology (4 CD)Release date: 2009-11-23; Music CD
Best price: $19.07
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Bob Seger - The Fire Inside (Remastered Amazon.com Exclusive)Release date: 2008-12-05; Published: 1991; Music CD
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger - Face The PromiseSEGER,BOB; Release date: 2006-09-12; Music CD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Night MovesRelease date: 1999-12-07; Music CD
Best price: $6.43
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Nine Tonight "Live"SEGER,BOB; Release date: 1989-10-26; Music CD
Best price: $6.34
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger - Like a RockRelease date: 2008-12-05; Music CD
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Live BulletRelease date: 1999-12-07; Music CD
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Stranger in TownRelease date: 2001-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $6.29
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Against the WindRelease date: 2003-06-24; Music CD
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger - The Distance (Remastered Amazon.com Exclusive)SEGER,BOB; Release date: 2008-12-05; Music CD
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
Bob Seger - Beautiful LoserRelease date: 1995-06-16; Music CD
Best price: $0.99
Price in other shops: