"Feel Like a Number" by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band

Song#:  0858
Date:  12/19/1981
Debut:  79
Peak:  48
Weeks:  8
Genre:  Rock, Arena Rock



Pop Bits:  Seger's live album "Nine Tonight" offered up the #5 remake of "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You." For the second single, he reached back into his catalog for a song that originally appeared on his 1978 album "Stranger in Town." That studio version was not issued as a single but did serve as the b-side to his hit "Still the Same" (#4, 1978). Represented in a live version, this time around it was an a-side that just peaked inside the top half of the chart.

ReduxReview:  I had to include the studio version above as the one from "Nine Tonight" was not available. It's not that different. Add some crowd noises and a slightly exaggerated ending and that pretty much sums it up. Anyone who follows this blog knows I'm not a fan of live recordings. I'd rather be there. So while this is a solid song in the Seger catalog, the live version doesn't add much to the original. (Just FYI if it is not clear, the rating would apply to the live version - I'd rate the above studio version higher if that was the one that hit the chart.)

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Seger's first live album, 1976's "Live Bullet," featured only one single - a remake of Ike and Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits" that reached #65. However, it was another track from the LP became a rock radio standard. The live version of "Turn the Page," while never issued as a single, proved to be hugely popular and got lots of airplay - and still does. The original studio version from Seger's "Back in '72" album was released as a single in 1972, but failed to chart.

_________________________________________________________________________________