Smokin Op's

Bob Seger - Smokin Op's

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CD Details

Artist: Bob Seger
Brand: 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 Light
Jesse James
Someday
Heavy Music

Music reviews of Smokin Op's

Music Review: How Bob sounds best.
Rating: 3 Stars

I am not really a Bob Seger "fan", but I am a fan of Michigan Rock, and no fan of Michigan Rock should be without this disc, as this is a classic example.
Bob Seger is one of the most eccletic performers in all of rock, willing to tackle nearly every musical style--sort-of like another Michiganite, Kid Rock, of his day. And that is why nearly every album he's ever put out is like a different "phase" of his career--what "bag" he's into at the moment, as well as creating different atmospheres for the album he is trying to create. However, like the aforementioned Kid Rock, and any other Michiganite for that matter, Seger sounds best on what he cut his teeth on first--and that is just basic, raw, stripped-down funky, rockin' soul. And that's much of what you hear on this disc. The basic theme here seems to be trying to funkify "O.P'S"--other people's music, and like any great Michiganite before or since--from Grand Funk Railroad to Ted Nugent--Seger and his band here reconstruct and even out-perform the originals. This is especially true on the first three tracks, "Bo Diddley", "Love The One You're With", and "If I Were a Carpenter". Bob Seger had probably one of the tightest bands to work with on this album, particularly the organ work of Skip Knape, which was brilliant all through this record, and I've always thought that Seger sounded best with an organ, rather than a piano, behind him (and now he has one of the best organists in rock--formerly of Grand Funk Railroad, Craig Frost, playing behind him in the Silver Bullet Band!) But this album was at least three years before all that "Silver Bullet" nonsense that I never really cared much for, all that 'grandiose, E. Street-type show band' stuff that I don't really think suits Bob Seger best--but, again, that his "bag" and wanting always to try new things. The band on this disc was just thrown together between his days in the "Bob Seger System" and the "Silver Bullet band" and was just a simple, crackerjack outfit consisting of nothing more than a bass, drums, organ, and guitar. But for the kind of music he did on this album, that's all he really needed. The back-up singers added a nice touch on "Love the One Your With", and even really outshine the ones Steven Stills used (of course, it's not hard to find a good backup singer in Detroit, they stand on nearly every street corner!)
The last song, "Heavy Music", sounds like it was a leftover track from his 60s band, that as some bands did at the time--he tried to pass off as a new song and put on a new album, but with it's Mitch Ryder-style rhythm and old, dusty, studio echo, you can't help notice that it sounds "dated"--even by 1972 standards! I do believe he had the song as far back as 1967 in two parts as "Heavy Music, parts one and two" that remained unreleased when his record label at the time, Cameo, went bust, and perhaps with the theme of this album being raw, stripped-down rockin' soul, maybe he thought the time was right for this track to re-emerge here--but it certainly sounds like an earlier recording that he at least "tweaked" with, sounding really edited down, and possibly layering some of his 1972 band to it. That said, the edited down 2 minutes of this number don't do this racuous tune justice. If there was a "part two" of "Heavy Music", it sounds as if maybe it was somehow "spliced" together with "part one", to keep the length of this album perhaps shorter, but it does sound like it was "tweaked" with. But just the two minutes I heard of "Heavy Music" tell me all I need to know about "Michigan rock", and is the perfect rock anthem for the music that emerged from that state. Put "Heavy Music" in what ever full form it might have previously existed in, I would easily give this album "5 Stars", rather than "3". As for what the "O.P" is on "Heavy Music"--perhaps, just Seger's new band adding a layer onto Seger's old band.
All told, this was Bob Seger's best album to me--just for the kind of music he made, and the kind of band he made it with. Bob Seger sounds best when he's just singing gritty old rockin' soul, with no horn section--just a bass, drums, guitar, and a double dose of organ behind him. The theme of this album is "Smokin' O.P's" (other people's music), and I've never heard a bad "O.P" smoked by a Michigan rocker--Bob Seger included!

More Smokin Op's free music reviews:
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Description of Smokin Op's

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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 ½ 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

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