Stranger in Town (album)

Last updated
Stranger in Town
Bob Seger - Stranger in Town.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 5, 1978 (1978-05-05)
Studio
Genre Rock [1]
Length39:28
Label Capitol
Producer Bob Seger, Punch Andrews, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band chronology
Night Moves
(1976)
Stranger in Town
(1978)
Against the Wind
(1980)
Singles from Stranger in Town
  1. "Still the Same"
    Released: April 1978
  2. "Hollywood Nights"
    Released: July 1978
  3. "We've Got Tonite"
    Released: October 1978
  4. "Old Time Rock and Roll"
    Released: March 1979

Stranger in Town is the tenth studio album by American rock singer Bob Seger and his second with the Silver Bullet Band, released by Capitol Records in May 1978. As with its predecessor, the Silver Bullet Band backed Seger on about half of the songs and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section backed Seger on the other half.

Contents

The album became an instant success in the United States, being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) less than a month after the album's release, and, like its predecessor Night Moves, it would later go 6× Platinum. [2] It was also his first album to chart in the UK, where limited editions were released on silver vinyl and in picture disc format as well as standard black vinyl.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Village Voice B− [5]

The New York Times wrote that, "while [the album] reaffirms that Mr. Seger is a fine rock singer and a sometimes sensitive songwriter, it also suggests that his gifts aren't so varied or consistent as they might be." [6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bob Seger, except where noted

Side One
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Hollywood Nights" 4:59
2."Still the Same" 3:18
3."Old Time Rock and Roll"
3:14
4."Till It Shines" 3:50
5."Feel Like a Number" 3:42
Side Two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Ain't Got No Money" Frankie Miller 4:11
2."We've Got Tonite" 4:38
3."Brave Strangers" 6:20
4."The Famous Final Scene" 5:09

Notes The Silver Bullet Band plays on side one tracks 1, 2, & 5 and on side two track 3

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section plays on side one tracks 3 & 4 and on side two tracks 1, 2, & 4

Personnel

The Silver Bullet Band

Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section

Additional musicians

Background singers

"We've Got Tonite" and "Still the Same"
"Hollywood Nights"
"Brave Strangers"
"Old Time Rock & Roll"

Production

  • Producers: Punch Andrews, Bob Seger
  • Engineers: John Arrias, Mark Calice, David Cole, Hugh Davies, Gregg Hamm, Steve Melton, George Tutko
  • Mixing: Punch Andrews, John Arrias, Bob Seger
  • Mastering: Wally Traugott
  • Remastering: Punch Andrews, 1999
  • Remastering: Robert Vosgien
  • String arrangements: Jim Ed Norman
  • Horn arrangements: Alto Reed
  • Art direction: Roy Kohara
  • Design: Ken Anderson
  • Photography: Terrence Bert, Bob Siedemann

Charts

Album

Singles

YearSingleChartPosition
1978"Still the Same" Billboard Hot 100 4
1978"Hollywood Nights"Billboard Hot 10012
1978"We've Got Tonite"Billboard Hot 10013
1979"Old Time Rock and Roll"Billboard Hot 10028

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [19] 4× Platinum400,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [20] Gold100,000^
United States (RIAA) [21] 6× Platinum6,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Seger</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1945)

Robert Clark Seger is an American retired singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, breaking through with his first album, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man in 1969. By the early 1970s, he had dropped the 'System' from his recordings and continued to strive for broader success with various other bands. In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, with a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album Live Bullet (1976), recorded live with the Silver Bullet Band in 1975 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album Night Moves. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger's best-selling singles and albums.

<i>Back in 72</i> 1973 studio album by Bob Seger

Back in '72 is the sixth studio album by American rock singer-songwriter Bob Seger, released in 1973. It was the first new album on Seger's manager Punch Andrews' label, Palladium Records, to be released under their distribution deal with the Reprise division of Warner Bros. Records and one of three early Seger albums that has never been reissued on CD.

<i>Beautiful Loser</i> 1975 studio album by Bob Seger

Beautiful Loser is the eighth studio album by American rock artist Bob Seger, released in 1975. This album marked Seger's return to Capitol Records after a four-year split. His previous record with Capitol was Brand New Morning in 1971.

<i>Night Moves</i> (album) 1976 studio album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Night Moves is the ninth studio album by American rock singer-songwriter Bob Seger, released on October 22, 1976, by Capitol Records. It is his first studio album to credit his backing band, the Silver Bullet Band, although they only perform on five of the nine songs on the album; the other four feature backing by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

<i>Against the Wind</i> (album) 1980 studio album by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band

Against the Wind is the eleventh studio album by American rock singer Bob Seger and his third which credits the Silver Bullet Band. Like many of his albums, about half of the tracks feature the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as backing musicians. It was released in February 1980. It is Seger's only number-one album to date, spending six weeks at the top of the Billboard Top LPs chart, knocking Pink Floyd's The Wall from the top spot. Seger said that the album "is about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time."

<i>Nine Tonight</i> 1981 live album by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band

Nine Tonight is a live album by American rock band Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, released in 1981. The album was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, in June 1980 and at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts in October 1980. With the exception of three tracks — "Nine Tonight", "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You" and "Let It Rock" — the album is composed of songs drawn from Seger's three previous studio albums. Only "Let It Rock" was repeated from the previous live album Live Bullet. "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" was released as a single and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The album's title track was originally recorded for the Urban Cowboy soundtrack album.

<i>The Distance</i> (Bob Seger album) 1982 studio album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

The Distance is the twelfth studio album by US-American rock singer Bob Seger, released in December 1982. It peaked at #5 on Billboard's album chart and sold close to two million copies in the United States.

<i>Like a Rock</i> 1986 studio album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Like a Rock is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger, released in 1986. The title track is best known for being featured in Chevrolet truck commercials throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

<i>The Fire Inside</i> (Bob Seger album) Album by Bob Seger

The Fire Inside is the fourteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger. The album was released in mid 1991 on the record label, Capitol. It was Seger's first album of entirely new music since Like a Rock in 1986. Though credited to "The Silver Bullet Band", much of the album used guest and session musicians, with limited contributions from Silver Bullet Band members. Among the guest artists on the album are Joe Walsh, Bruce Hornsby, Roy Bittan, Steve Lukather, Don Was, Waddy Wachtel, Rick Vito, Mike Campbell, Patty Smyth, Lisa Germano, and Kenny Aronoff.

<i>Its a Mystery</i> Album by Bob Seger

It's a Mystery is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger, released in 1995. As with his prior album, it is credited to the Silver Bullet Band, though many of the tracks feature a wide array of session musicians and the members of the Silver Bullet Band itself only make limited contributions to the album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Night Moves (Bob Seger song)</span> 1976 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"Night Moves" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger. It was the lead single from his ninth studio album of the same name (1976), which was released on Capitol Records. Seger wrote the song as a coming of age tale about adolescent love and adult memory of it. It was based on Seger's teenage love affair, which he experienced in the early 1960s. It took him six months to write and was recorded quickly at Nimbus Nine Studios in Toronto, Ontario, with producer Jack Richardson. As much of Seger's Silver Bullet Band had returned home by this point, the song was recorded with several local session musicians.

<i>Greatest Hits</i> (Bob Seger album) 1994 greatest hits album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Greatest Hits is a compilation album by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, released in 1994. Certified Diamond by the RIAA, it is Seger's most successful album to date. In December 2009, Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan confirmed that with nearly nine million copies sold. Bob Seger's Greatest Hits was the decade's best-selling catalog album in the United States, even out-selling The Beatles' 1 and Michael Jackson's Number Ones. By September 2011, the album had sold a total of 9,062,000 copies in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">We've Got Tonite</span> 1978 single by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band

"We've Got Tonite" is a song written by American rock musician Bob Seger, from his album Stranger in Town (1978). The single record charted twice for Seger, and was developed from a prior song that he had written. Further versions charted in 1983 for Kenny Rogers as a duet with Sheena Easton, and again in 2002 for Ronan Keating.

"Heavy Music" is a song first released as a single by Bob Seger & the Last Heard. Two different vocal takes of the song were released together on either side of the single, with the names "Heavy Music Part 1" and "Heavy Music Part 2". An eight-minute fourteen-second-long live version of the song is featured on the album Live Bullet with the Silver Bullet Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Time Rock and Roll</span> 1979 single by Bob Seger

"Old Time Rock and Roll" is a song written by George Jackson and Thomas E. Jones III, with uncredited lyrics by Bob Seger. It was recorded by Seger for his tenth studio album Stranger in Town. It was also released as a single in 1979. It is a sentimentalized look back at the music of the original rock 'n' roll era and has often been referenced as Seger's favorite song. The song gained renewed popularity after being featured in the 1983 film Risky Business. It has since become a standard in popular music and was ranked number two on the Amusement & Music Operators Association's survey of the Top 40 Jukebox Singles of All Time in 1996. It was also listed as one of the Songs of the Century in 2001 and ranked No. 100 in the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Songs poll in 2004 of the top songs in American cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shame on the Moon</span> 1982 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"Shame on the Moon" is a song written and recorded by Rodney Crowell on his 1981 self-titled album. It was covered by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band as the lead single from their 1982 album The Distance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">You'll Accomp'ny Me</span> 1980 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"You'll Accomp'ny Me" is a song written and recorded by American rock singer Bob Seger. It appears on his album Against the Wind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood Nights</span> 1978 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"Hollywood Nights" is a song written and recorded by American rock artist Bob Seger. It was released in 1978 as the second single from his album, Stranger in Town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Still the Same (Bob Seger song)</span> 1978 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"Still the Same" is a 1978 song written and recorded by the American singer Bob Seger. It hit #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and was an international hit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feel Like a Number</span> Bob Seger song

"Feel Like a Number" is a song written by Bob Seger that was first released on his 1978 album with the Silver Bullet Band, Stranger in Town. It was also released as the B-side of the top 5 single "Still the Same" and a live version from the album Nine Tonight was released as a single in 1981. The song was featured in the 1981 movie Body Heat.

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