Fire Lake by Bob Seeger another hit from Muscle Shoals

Proving once again a simple rock song can get inside your head

By Stephen Pate – Fire Lake has been inside my head for days now. I even played it a couple of times to shake it with no change.

Bob Seger – Fire Lake by DaceCoco

Fire Lake comes from Seeger’s # 1 hit album Against the Wind which has several of his best songs and a terrific cover featuring wild horses running in shallow water. Owning the LP gets you that cover for free.

“In 1980 Seger released Against the Wind (with ex-Grand Funk Railroad member Craig Frost replacing Robyn Robbins on keyboards) and it became his first and only #1 album on the Billboard 200.

The first single “Fire Lake” featured Eagles Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, and Frey on backing vocals and reached #6 on the singles chart, while the title song “Against the Wind” reached #5 as a single.

“You’ll Accomp’ny Me” became the third hit single from the record, reaching #14.

Against the Wind would also win two Grammy Awards. Through late 2006 both Stranger in Town and Against the Wind had sold over 5 million copies in the U.S., and were followed by the 1981 live album Nine Tonight which encapsulated this three-album peak of Seger’s commercial career. Seger’s take on Eugene Williams’ “Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You” became a Top 5 hit from Nine Tonight and would go on to sell 4 million copies.” Wikipedia

Against The Wind really drives home with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section including Barry Beckett.

Steve Buckingham wrote a great tribute to Beckett Tribute to Barry Beckett from Steve Buckingham, Nashville who passed away this June.

How do you win a Grammy for born-again gospel music? You get Gerry Wexler to produce it with Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

Everyone who wanted the beat went to Muscle Shoals for that special rhythm section. From Paul Simon’s Kodachrome (There Goes Rhymin’ Simon ) to Bob Dylan’s Slow Train Coming.

Seeger’s music is often keyboard centered. Against the Wind is really a piano song which makes them difficult to pull off with just guitars.

The late Doug Riley plays synthesizer on “No Man’s Land”. Riley is an adopted son on Prince Edward Island. A popular session man in his day, Riley performed with Seeger on Night Moves, Bob Seeger Greatest Hits, and Stranger in Town.

Riley who had childhood polio which he says drove him to the piano, acquired post-polio syndrome in his later life. Post polio syndrome is not a re-occurrence of the polio virus. It is the effects of polio as polio survivors age including muscle weakness, fatigue and pain.