ABKCO Music & Records
A new compilation that for the first time gathers all of Bob Seger‘s recordings with his early group, The Last Heard, will be released September 7 on CD, as a 180-gram-vinyl LP and digitally. Heavy Music: The Complete Cameo Recordings 1966-1967 features 10 tracks on which Seger displays his garage-rock roots.
Seger formed The Last Heard after a stint playing keyboards with a group called Doug Brown & The Omens. He’d written and recorded a tune titled “East Side Story” that was released in June 1966 under his own name, and the track was reissued six months later by Cameo Records under the Bob Seger & The Last Heard moniker. Seger and the band went on the release four more singles for Cameo over the next several months, including “Heavy Music,” which became a local hit in Detroit and just missed cracking the Billboard Hot 100.
Most of the recordings were produced and arranged by Seger and his ex-Omens band mate Doug Brown, who also contributed guitar and organ to “East Side Story.”
The first single from the compilation is the Bob Dylan-inspired rave-up “Persecution Smith,” which is available for purchase now digitally and via streaming services. If you pre-order the album you’ll also receive an immediate free download of the track.
Heavy Music: The Complete Cameo Recordings features liner notes by respected music writer Jim Allen, archival photos and more.
After the Cameo Records folded, Bob Seger & The Last Heard signed to Capitol Records, who changed the group’s name to The Bob Seger System. In 1968, the band released what became Seger’s first top-20 hit, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.”
Here’s the full track list of Heavy Music: The Complete Cameo Recordings 1966-1967:
“Heavy Music (Part 1)”
“East Side Story” (Vocal)
“Chain Smokin'”
“Persecution Smith”
“Vagrant Winter”
“Very Few”
“Florida Time”
“Sock It to Me Santa”
“Heavy Music (Part 2)”
“East Side Sound” (Instrumental)
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