The Bob Seger System-Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (1968)


 

Artist: The Bob Seger System


Label: Capitol

Format: LP

Cat:  SM-172

Year of Release: 1968

Country and Year of Edition: US 1975 yellow capitol Jacksonville Pressing

Date of Sale: 7/31/23

Sell Price: $9.94

Condition: VG+/VG+

Discogs Last Sold: 6/8/23 VG+/VG+ $16.46

Low: $7.00 VG+/VG+

Median: $9.97

Average: $11.46

High: $18.99 NM/VG+

Current low price: $9.00 NM/VG

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 11

Have/Want: 262/61

Where Sold: Salamanca, NY

Time It Took To Sell:  8 years

Where and When Bought: Worcester That's Entertainment mid 80's $2.99 sticker still on it

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade:  B+

Sad To See It Go: No

Bob Seger's "good" era was a pretty long stretch for Capitol some of it disavowed by Bob himself.   The change came around the 1976 double Live Bullet before Night Moves made him BOB SEGER.

This is the debut of the 3 albums from 1968-1970 coming out of his band The Last Heard the 2 years prior.  This was a time where he’d more likely be paired with the Stooges and the MC5 rather than Skynyrd and Springsteen or later Manilow and Diamond.  Ramblin' Gamblin' Man actually had a great radio hit in the opening title track which made the album peak at #62 on Billboard in February of '69.  This would be his highest charting record for 8 years until Live Bullet peaked at #34 with a 155 week chart run that kicked off his commercial remaking.

As for Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, it doesn't seem like the material had much live legs for Bob after the Systems 1973 dissolution.  Even the first psych rock single 2 + 2 = ? got dropped from the set by the mid 70's.  "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" of course made the cut his whole career as a set closer and continued as an AOR hit alongside his later mega-hits.

The standout tracks for me outside the first single are the second cut "Tales of Lucy Blue" which the album notes on the back said almost became the album title.  My favorite was the second side opener "White Wall" which had kind of a Cream feel.  You get that bands like Love and Cream had an influence with these titles.  "Ivory" also has it's psychedelic charms.  Tracks like the ballad "Train Man" and "Black Eyed Girl" with the charming "Foxy Lady" veneer of the Psychedelic Rock era, perhaps give a hint of later years, but they seem like baby steps.  The closer "The Last Song (Love Needs To Be Loved)" has a proto-anthem charm that tellingly never made the arena cut.

You wouldn't know what he'd grow into 8 years later.

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