Question on Seger’s Ramblin’ Gamblin Man

That Star Line 45 reissue is indeed awful. The drum intro on "RGM" was (and still is) my favorite part of the record. It just leaps out on the original 45. I've never heard any subsequent release that has that same crackling energy that really drives the song.

My commercial 45, which is mono, confirmed as Capitol 2297, and looks exactly like Yah Shure's scan above, has a listed time of (2:20), but an actual time of (2:23). Addressing a couple of earlier-in-this-thread queries, "The Hideout" was a popular, 60's Detroit nighttime hangout & local band performance venue. They also operated the small "Hideout" independent, local record label, circa 1965-67, and issued some local singles by the club's most popular regular acts, most notably "The Underdogs". I believe that Andrews was a primary mover/shaker in all facets of the "Hideout Records & Distributors" operation, including the leasing some of this music to the major labels, when they were interested, as was the case with Seger, and is no doubt why the notation appears on the 45. As to why Seger's earlier Capitol music is so hard to find on CD, my information does not really put the blame on Punch Andrews' wishes; amazingly, he and Seger have almost always been on the "exact same page", for more than 40 years now. My understanding is that Seger himself does not look back at all fondly on almost all of his pre-1975 recorded output, which he has owned the rights to for some years now. So, with one or two exceptions, like "Beautiful Loser" and, more recently "Smokin' OP's", he prefers to keep these albums out of print, simply because he can. I think a good part of it has to do with those album's poor sound quality. I do own a hard-to-find, issued-back-in-the-80s, Capitol CD copy of "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", and it sounds absolutely horrible. The made-earlier-in-the-thread point about the electronic-stereo nonsense is 100% true, and the sound quality of the "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" track falls way, way short on there, when compared to the 45. Whoever would've thought that a Punch Andrews-produced LP would lack punch? (sorry)....

Edited by jimct

i just listened to my commercial 45 versus the cd version from

(E) (2:20) Capitol 96261 Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (LP version)

there are 3 differences that i can discern....

first is the 45 is mono versus what i guess is a fold-down on the cd version...the difference is most noticible while listening with headphones...

second the commercial 45 runs about 0:02 longer than the version from the cd

third, the cd version is slightly FASTER than the vinyl 45 (45 runs 2:23 and the cd runs 2:20)

other than these outlined, what would be the reasons for the "lp version" qualifier in the db.........if you can listen thru the distored fold down version, they are very much alike.....

Edited by edtop40

This song will finally be issued in it's original MONO state on the new Bob Seger double CD Ultimate Hits.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1: Old Time Rock and Roll, Hollywood Nights, Night
Moves, Mainstreet, Roll Me Away, Turn the Page, Her
Strut, Still the Same, You'll Accomp'ny Me, We've Got
Tonight, Like a Rock, Fire Lake, Tryin' to Live My Life
Without You

Disc 2: Rock and Roll Never Forgets, Against the Wind,
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, The Fire Down Below, Travelin' Man
(Live), Beautiful Loser (Live), Shakedown, Shame on the
Moon, Katmandu, Little Drummer Boy, Wait For Me, Hey Hey
Hey Hey (Going Back to Birmingham) (New in 2011),
Downtown Train (New in 2011)

Edited by SoCalDrew