Smokin' O.P.'s [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
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

Tracks:

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

Amazon.com

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

Amazon.com

Bob Seger Photos

More from Bob Seger

Face The Promise
Nine Tonight
Against the Wind

Greatest Hits
Stranger in Town
Night Moves

Customer Reviews:

Smokin'!.......2007-04-13

This is a forgotten gem. Seger makes these covers better than the originals and even on the slow numbers he's burning. The Bo Diddly workout is just a warm up. Love the One You're With wasn't even this soulful when the Neville Bros. covered it (hard to believe, but true!) Even the Four Tops couldn't do If I Were A Carpenter with this much heart and heat, nevermind Tim Hardin, who wrote it. Leon Russel's Hummingbird is an improvement on the original as well. Then there's the cover of one of Chuck Berry's more obscure titles. Heavy Music seems to sum up what this collection is all about. I believe what makes all these covers so good is that frills (like strings) have been dispensed with. There's just voice and a bare bones backing band and they don't hold back. That, my freinds, is rock and roll.

Excellent Lucky Strike parody!.......2007-04-03

The cover conception is a parody of the Lucky Strike cigarette pack. I have to admit that it's beautiful! SMOKIN' OP's,Bob Seger claims in interviews,is supposed to be "smoking other's people's cigarettes". Here's another awesome pre-Silver Bullet Band album of Seger's with great tracks that include Stephen Stills' hit LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH,Chuck Berry's composition LET IT ROCK and E. McDaniels' BO DIDDLEY. Seger worked with David Teegarden who would join the SBB at one point in the legacy. LIR,appears to be Seger's live encore,which ended his LIVE BULLET and NINE TONIGHT albums. BD was part of the LB line-up as well.

3 1/2 stars.......2007-03-19

there is a great album trying to get out here, and not quite making it. there are three alsolutely outstanding cuts on this album that make it something you should have. these are: "Bo Diddley," a raw scorching rocker, with wicked guitar. "if i were a carpenter," a stunning version of the tim hardin classic. and "let it rock," another great raw slice of rock and roll. the 1st & 3rd of these songs appear on the wonderful "live bullet" album, but the versions here are more raw and powerful than the live performances, making this album a worthwhile purchase. unfortunately, the other six tracks on "smokin' o.p.'s" are, though enjoyable enough, not essential. so this recording has three seeds of greatness that fully flowered. the rest did not quite make it. hope that helps you decide if you want to purchase it or not.

Bob Seger before you knew him . . ........2007-01-26

Years before Bob Seger really popped on the current music scene, Smokin' O.P.'s was released. Not alot of original tunes, but Seger put his own signature on several great rock era songs and made them really cook.

If you love Bob Seger, you owe it to yourself to hear what he did before his star really rose.

For Record Collectors Only.......2007-01-05

This album reminds me of the kind that gets released when a major artist dies with very little material in the vault. I'm sure it cost very little to produce and I am also curious about the choice of songs. Segar has one of the most distinctive personas in rock - You can identify one of his songs in three seconds even if you never heard it before. He mostly writes his own material and virtually every song he has ever written is better than any of the stuff here. "Bo Diddley" rocks hard but so does "Making Thunderbirds" and the latter is actually about something real. Bob Seger has never been and will most likely never be a sellout and I feel that because he is so talented and focused on his other albums that this one really flies wide of the mark. I actually cringe to hear Bob putting the same energy into "Love the One You're With" (from the Songwriting Mediocrity Hall of Fame) as he does one of his own songs. I blame his manager and producer for this.

S.L. Made From Raw Southern Beats FEATURING: Mikee, Devin The Dude, Maximillion, Smackola, O-Z, Lonestarzz, Dumdum, Juan Gotti, Lenky Don, Z-Ro, Shadrak, Livi Labs, Monique, Jadesta, Smackola, Kool B., Guerilla Maab Reunited

Average customer rating:

S.L. Made From Raw Southern Beats FEATURING: Mikee, Devin The Dude, Maximillion, Smackola, O-Z, Lonestarzz, Dumdum, Juan Gotti, Lenky Don, Z-Ro, Shadrak, Livi Labs, Monique, Jadesta, Smackola, Kool B., Guerilla Maab Reunited
Mikee , **********TRACK LISTIINGS********** , Chapter I / Country Life - Mikee/E.S.G./S.P.M. / Skit - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life, Chapter I / Still Drinkin' Still Smokin' - Devin The Dude/Maximillion/Smackola Intro - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life , Chapter I / Skit - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life, Chapter I / Benjamins - Dumdum/Juan Gotti/Lenky Don / Skit - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life, Chapter I Set It Off - O-Z/Lonestarzz / Skit - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life , Chapter I / I Like - Lonestarzz / In My Prime - Z-Ro/Monique Livin' In The City - Z-Ro/Mikee/Shadrak/Livi Labs / Skit - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life , Chapter I / Skit - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life, Chapter I / If It Wasn't For This Game (Where Would I Be) - Shadrak / Sweet Dreams/Outro - Kool B. Dangerous - Jadesta/Smackola / Skit - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life , and Chapter I Guerilla Gladiators - Guerilla Maab Reunited / Bonus Track 1 - Dat Boi Mikee Presents: Southern Life
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000RE5WSO

Average customer rating:

Still Burning
the Dee-troit sound
Old Time Rock And Roll

Smokin' O.P.'s
Bob Seger
Manufacturer: Capitol
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000DRDW
Release Date: 1993-01-26

Tracks:

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

Customer Reviews:

Still Burning.......2005-03-30

Seeger's covers album was my favourite Seeger for no other reason than the awesome power he delivers on those three opening tracks;McDaniel's 'Bo Didley/ Who Do You Love', the Stephen Still's anthem,'Love The One Your With'and a yearning, mournful rendition of Tim Hardin's,'If I were A Carpenter'. He got smoother as he 'progressed'into acceptability. Give me this raw passion any day! Using a cobra snake as a necktie, honey. Tell me. Who do you love? Bo never said it better. This is pretty seductive rhetoric, Bobby. I believed you back then.

the Dee-troit sound.......2005-02-25

Detroit music in the 1960's and early 1970's was more than just Motown. The area also produced cult favorites and proto-heavy rockers like The Stooges and the MC5. Unless you're from Detroit, however, you may be unaware that Detroiter Bob Seger released a series of albums before he arrived on the national stage in the mid-1970's with break-out hits such as 'Night Moves" and 'Beautiful Loser'. In fact, for quite a few years, both Seger and his fans bemoaned the lack of national attention his work received. Looking back on some of his work reveals why his local fans were perplexed at his delayed ascent, and also why a national audience eluded Seger.

'Smokin' O.P.'s' (meaning smoking other people's... in this case other people's hits rather than cigarettes, although the front insert is a wonderfully simplistic play on a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes) is a great collection of cover songs. In his early incarnations Seger sounded much more like the sharp-edged J. Geils Band (who first gained acclaim with their 'Full House' LP, recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit) than the more middle-of-the-road rocker he became in the mid-'70's. 'Smokin' O.P.'s' was Bob's fifth album, released in 1972, and for the most part was a collection of excellent cover songs. Most are standard hard-rock offerings (the sound that went down best in local Detroit venues) including an impressive opening trio of Ellis McDaniel's 'Bo Diddley/Who Do You Love', Stephen Stills' 'Love the One You're With', and Tim Hardin's 'If I Were a Carpenter'. The first two songs feature slick lead guitar solo's from Monk Bruce, while 'If I Were a Carpenter' owes it's foundation and some great solo work to organist Skip Knape (aka 'Van Winkle' from 'Teegarden & Van Winkle'; David Teegarden provides percussion on this disc as well).

On the original vinyl release side one mellowed out a bit at the end with a cover of Leon Russell's 'Hummin' Bird' ("don't fly away"). Seger is really showing some grit by covering these four classic hits, and while it's hard to say that any of them surpass the original versions, they are sung with an obvious joy and excitement that make them a thrill to experience. It's probably the best single album side Seger put together before his more acclaimed persona emerged.

The remaining five tracks offer a couple gems as well. Seger offers a sweet version of 'Turn On Your Love Light', feeding off a funky rhythm guitar foundation, and the closer, a remake of Seger's 1966 hit with The Heard, 'Heavy Music'. 'Heavy Music' seems misplaced on the disc, as does it's predecessor, 'Someday'. Both are Seger compositions (which doesn't fit with the theme of the album), 'Someday' is a misfit as a quiet, piano-based ballad, and 'Heavy Music' would serve much better as an opener than the closer. 'Let It Rock', the opener of side two, comes across as a generic bar-hall stomper, and 'Jesse James', while less distinguished than some of the other tracks, has a beat like a churning locomotive that blends in well with the albums other tracks.

While there's a lot to like on 'Smokin' O.P.'s' including some excellent musicianship, quality composing ('Heavy Music'), and an audibly resounding desire to deliver "the goods", clearly Seger needed to develop more consistency, and broaden his range of music to become an elite performer, a mystery he solved as the '70's progressed. It's a shame that Bob has not seen fit to reissue some of his earlier work, such as this disc, his original 'Bob Seger System' album, as well as 'Noah' and 'Mongrel'. On a smaller scale, for fans of Seger, not having access to these tracks is akin to only experiencing The Beatles from 'Rubber Soul' on. While these discs may not reveal the mature talent Seger would eventually develop, their raw energy and gritty late 60's/early 70's sound has its own vintage appeal. If you release them, Bob, the fans will come.

Old Time Rock And Roll.......2003-03-22

I used to see Bob Seger at several venues back in Michigan around 1969 and later. I truely enjoyed him then as well as now.

The version of Bo-Diddley on here is the best I have heard. Bob Seger never sang a song without pure unadulterated passion and this CD is no exception. This CD is full of old hits, I bought my copy at a used CD store in Oak Ridge Tn and drove home with the windows down and thinking I was young again.

Bo Diddley, If I was a Carpenter, Heavy Music and Turn on your love light will turn on some old memories for sure.

Bob Seger. The raw edge of old time rock and roll.

Smokin' O.P."s / Seven
Average customer rating:

Track Listing For This 2 On 1 Cd - SMOKIN OP'S/SEVEN

Smokin' O.P."s / Seven
Bob Seger
Manufacturer: Classic Remasters
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000KINBNU

Product Description

Very Rare!!!! Both complete albums on one cd.

Customer Reviews:

Track Listing For This 2 On 1 Cd - SMOKIN OP'S/SEVEN.......2007-01-17

Here Are The Tracks For This Compact Disc!

SMOKIN OP'S

1. BO DIDDLEY
2. LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH
3. IF I WERE A CARPENTER
4. HUMMIN'BIRD
5. LET IT ROCK
6. TURN ON YOUR LOVE LIGHT
7. JESSE JAMES
8. SOMEDAY
9. HEAVY MUSIC

SEVEN

10. GET OUT OF DENVER
11. LONG SONG COMIN'
12. NEED YA
13. SCHOOL TEACHER
14. CROSS OF GOLD
15. U.M.C. (UPPER MIDDLE CLASS)
16. SEEN A LOT OF FLOORS
17. 20 YEARS FROM NOW
18. ALL YOUR LOVE

Average customer rating:

2 Great Albums on 1 Compact Disc

Smokin' O.P.'s / Seven
Bob Seger
Manufacturer: Classic Remasters
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000KIJGL6

Product Description

Very Rare, two full LPs on one cd.

Customer Reviews:

2 Great Albums on 1 Compact Disc.......2007-02-06

This disc has 2 of Bob Seger's Albums on it and here are the tracks:
Track listing
1. Bo Diddley
2. Love The One You're With
3. If I Were A Carpenter
4. Hummin' Bird
5. Let It Rock
6. Turn On Your Love Light
7. Jesse James
8. Someday
9. Heavy Music
10. Get Out Of Denver
11. Long Song Comin'
12. Need Ya
13. School Teacher
14. Cross Of Gold
15. U.M.C. (Upper Middle Class)
16. Seen A Lot Of Floors
17. 20 Years From Now
18. All Your Love

Music Review:

Music Review

Music Review

Face The Promise	Nine Tonight	Against the Wind
Greatest Hits	Stranger in Town	Night Moves