Yesterday, I'd sorted a bitchin' Bob Seger System post titled "Check Out This Powerful Live Footage of Bob Seger System Circa 1970," but then sometime overnight the YouTube™ publisher of the "Powerful Live Footage of Bob Seger System Circa 1970" pulled the god-damn footage. My deepest apologies to anyone who'd hoped to see some RAGIN' live footage of Seger. However, as I'm on the subject of Seger, for the few of y'all NOT in-the-know, for at least a decade prior to him becoming the bearded boss of AOR's killerest "Night Moves," he had been writing, producing, playing, and recording in several bands, most notably the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System. The Last Heard's pounding, soulful rave-up of a single, "Heavy Music," reportedly sold over 50,000 copies!

Jump the hump if you wanna hear more of Bob Seger's thump!

In all, the Last Heard released a handful of great garage 45s, including the killer "East Side Story," but were never afforded an album. There are bootleg compilations of the Last Heard's 45s; rumor has it Seger has sworn off the Last Heard, but I kinda think a legit reissue hasn't been doable, as the Last Heard's recordings on the Cameo label are owned by notorious manager/publisher Allen Klein (a butthole of a man who won't reissue anything) . Anyway, on signing with Capitol the Last Heard regrouped as the Bob Seger System. For their first 45, the System released one of the most pointed anti-war jams ever recorded, "2+2=?." Its flip, "Death Row," was no slouch, either. BSS followed "2+2=?" with a Top 20 single, and title track for their first LP, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man. Things were looking good for the group as Ramblin' Gamblin' Man also charted. Y'all, Ramblin' is a fantastic album; everything about it kills, and it's prolly the closest nod to the sprawling influence of the 13th Floor Elevators without being a straight nick. Then came their fumble, the follow up to Ramblin'—the now forgotten ignored album, Noah. The record is good, just not quite up to the Seger standard; my understanding is it wasn't so much a BSS record as a failed attempt to match Seger with songwriter, Tom Neme.

Once Seger got the group back on track, they recorded a third LP, which was released late summer of 1970 and titled Mongrel. The band had now evolved away from being a Detroit group with Elevators' tendencies into a proper, heavy, high-energy rock and roll band with a dash of the boogie and an occasional rural flourish. Unfortunately, Mongrel wasn't the break for the System; the single off Mongrel, "Lucifer," didn't chart, either. The band then fractured and Seger went solo and THEN, a couple years later, formed the Silver Bullet Bland. Oh, for what it's worth, I don't think ALL of Seger's post BSS was awful! Back in '72 and Seven are pretty good albums, but after the mid-'70s and as he entered his 30s, his writing mellowed.