How can words convey the electricity swirling around southeast Michigan in 1975 when this lp was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit? At 12 I was still listening to AM and "bubblegum" music, but a friend let me borrow a copy of Seger's "Beautiful Loser" and I thought he was " a fox" (the lingo in those days). When the "Live Bullet" lp came out months later, both generations of my family.... parents, aunts, uncles, cousins....everybody had to hear it over and over. It helped that my cousin Debbie had tried to convince us 10 years earlier that Bobby would be a star someday and we hadn't believed her and now we were all eating humble pie (she should have made bets, she'd be rich now!) To get a sense of what playing a concert at Cobo Hall meant in those days: "Kiss Alive" was made at Cobo Hall. When Elvis came, he came to Cobo Hall (at least, before the Pontiac Stadium was built). So the idea that this kid's band that Debbie used to go see when he played at bars or at college concerts recorded an lp at Cobo must have really meant he was famous, according to my family ( I guess the fact he played with John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the Free John Sinclair Rally years earlier didn't faze them).

"Live Bullet" was much better than "Beautiful Loser" because Seger sings much better live. He gets a lot from a great audience. It is a give and take thing for him.

One of the unique things about this CD is that it contains some of his older stuff, which is hard to get. It also features a great drummer & back-up singer, Charlie Martin, who was in a tragic accident shortly after this show and was never able to play again. "Heavy Music", which Bob & Charlie duet in, is superb. "Lookin' Back" is another oldie-but-goodie. "Rambling Gamabling Man" was his only national hit before he made it the following year with "Night Moves" (and that was in 1968, I believe).

"Live Bullet" seemed to be the erruption of the Detroit volcano that finally ignited Bob Seger's national success, as he made a national album hit with Night Moves just months later. It was a lot of fun to witness that little bit of time while he was still just "ours" and growing to be a national star. Or maybe international....when I left for college in 1980, I bought a used record by Canadian rockers Kate & Anna McGarrigle that contained a French version they'd translated of Seger's "Someday Lady You'll Accompany Me", called <>. Go figure!

Bob Seger's career seemed to be going nowhere fast when he recorded the fantastic live album "Live Bullet" and consequently jump started his career. Though it was released before the album "Night Moves" and as a result contains few of his best known songs, it is still full of great songs and great performances. The best sequence is "Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser" in which he links two good studio songs into one great live performance. Also first rate are the burned out performer anthem "Turn the Page," (lately covered by Metallica) with its weary vocals, the ballad "Jody Girl" and some great rave up versions of his early singles "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man," "Katmandu" and "Get Out of Denver." Any fan of Bob Seger or of great American classic rock should own this record.

If you want to know what a real Detroit rock concert was like back in the 70's, this is the CD. The performance, the production, the selection of songs - this is just a great concert experience - and its the only CD I carry in the car (I know it's 30 years old, but ...)

Its just a little rough around the edges - denoting a REAL live performance, but WOW, It FEELS like a live concert ...

(I saw these guys in Detroit the year after this album was released wnd was hooked. I attended [almost] every show after that when they came into town ... even traveled out of town to see them...)

The last few tracks - Bob and the boys are just JAMMIN' and the only way to listen to it is ... LOUD ... very, VERY LOUD.

Its just a crime that this performance isn't being sold on DVD. The way Mr. Seger interacted with the audience and could get the entire venue out of their seats, dancing and clapping and singing ...

In my opinion, it's one of the best live performances ever recorded. Highly, HIGHLY recommend it.

When I think of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, this is the performance I see ...

One of the legends surrounding this album is that Capitol was going to drop Seger if it wasn't a hit, so this represented his last shot at the big time. I'm not from Detroit, so I don't know if that's true, but in thirty years of hearing concert recordings I've never heard the kind of effort and emotion Seger put into this record from any performer, especially the mythic "side 3", the linked versions of "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", "Heavy Music" and "Katmandu". Without a doubt the greatest live rock & roll record of all time!

This album, first released in April 1976, shows what a fine live performer Bob Seger was (and is).

The choice of songs is pretty good as well, and although there are a couple of lesser tracks to be found, there is certainly no need to program out anything.

Seger and the Silver Bullet Band start off with a hard-rocking version of Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits", but most of the songs are Seger originals (the exceptions being Bo Diddley's eponymous first hit, Van Morrison's "I've Been Working", and Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock" - credited to E. Anderson!).

The shave-and-a-haircut beat is there, yet "Bo Diddley" doesn't pack the same punch in the hands of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band as it did when it was Bo Diddley himself hamfistedly attacking his square-shaped guitar, and "I've Been Working" is one of Van Morrison's lesser tunes. And besides, Seger is not Van Morrison.

But almost everything else works, from the melodious mid-tempo shuffles "Travelin' Man" and "Beautiful Loser" to the fiery hard rocker "Get Out Of Denver". The Chuck Berry-homage "Katmandu" is fun ("homage" is a nice way of putting it), and the Silver Bullet Band lay down excellent, slightly bluesy grooves on "Lookin' Back" and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".

If you're a Bob Seger fan, you probably have this album already. If you don't, get it.

If you are relatively new to Mr Seger and his particular 70s amalgam of rock, pop and R&B, this is a good place to start. And if you just want a few essential Seger albums on your shelf, go for this one, the two "Greatest Hits" albums, and the equally enjoyable live offering "Nine Tonight".

Still wondering why "Let It Rock" is credited to E. Anderson?

Berry's full name is Charles Edward Anderson Berry. Cute, isn't it?