Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
— Paul, Vinyl Curator
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Against the Wind
1980 · Capitol Records EA-ST 12041 (sleeve); EAST 12041 (labels); OC 054-86 097 (back-cover barcode block) · Stereo · UK (EMI-manufactured Capitol pressing; printed-by and made-by credits on the back cover are UK firms) · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
UK (EMI-manufactured Capitol pressing; printed-by and made-by credits on the back cover are UK firms)
Format
LP
Speed
33 1/3 RPM
Genre
Rock
Producer
Bob Seger, Punch (Edward Andrews), Bill Szymczyk, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Composer
Bob Seger
Performer / Orchestra
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (uncredited as a group name on the jacket, individual members credited)
Musicians
Bob Seger (lead vocals, guitar), Drew Abbott (lead guitar, saxophone), Alto Reed (saxophones), Chris Campbell (bass), David Teegarden (drums, percussion); Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section - Pete Carr (lead guitar), Jimmy Johnson (guitar), David Hood (bass), Roger Hawkins (drums, percussion), Randy McCormick (organ); Bill Payne (piano, synthesizer, organ), Doug Riley (synthesizer), Sam Clayton (percussion), Dr. John/Mac Rebennack (piano on 'The Horizontal Bop'); backing vocals: Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Timothy B. Schmit, Bill Payne
Matrix / Runout
Side A: EA S T1 12041-1 Itrn
Side B: EA S T2 12041-1 1 0 1
Condition
Cover
VG+
Vinyl
NM-
Variant chronology
1980 - US Capitol SOO-12041 original pressing
1980 - UK Capitol EA-ST 12041/EAST 12041 original pressing <- this copy
1980 - Japan Capitol ECS-81309 pressing
1980s - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab audiophile reissue (MFSL 1-127)
This Pressing
1980 UK original pressing - Capitol purple labels (EAST 12041), stereo, manufactured by EMI in the UK.
The Album
Against the Wind arrived in early 1980 as the album that finally pushed Bob Seger to the very top of the American charts, giving him his first number one album and a lasting signature hit in the title track. Seger split the sessions between his road-tested Silver Bullet Band and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, pairing the gritty bar-band stomp of songs like 'Her Strut' and 'The Horizontal Bop' with the more reflective, string-and-piano-tinged balladry of 'Against the Wind' and 'You'll Accomp'ny Me'. The record arrived after more than a decade of grinding regional success in Detroit, and it crystallized Seger's persona as a blue-collar heartland rocker wrestling with fame, aging and the passage of time. Guest harmonies from Eagles members Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Timothy B. Schmit lent the ballads a polished West Coast sheen without sanding off Seger's rasp. Critically the album was seen as the commercial and artistic peak of his run that began with Night Moves and Stranger in Town, cementing him as one of the defining voices of American heartland rock. Its themes of weathering compromise and nostalgia for lost simplicity resonated widely, and the title song in particular became one of the most enduring rock radio staples of the era.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. The Horizontal Bop
2. You'll Accomp'ny Me
3. Her Strut
4. No Man's Land
5. Long Twin Silver Line
Side 2
1. Against The Wind
2. Good For Me
3. Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Tonight
4. Fire Lake
5. Shinin' Brightly
The Label
The labels are the purple-and-white Capitol design with the Capitol dome logo at top and the rim text 'A CAPITOL RECORDS, INC., U.S.A. RECORDING REGD. TRADE MARK', printed below the dome with the catalogue number EAST 12041 and the bracketed sub-number for each side; the sleeve carries the alternate number EA-ST 12041 and the back cover bears the EMI Records Ltd. logo, Trademasters Ltd pressing credit and a Robert Stace print credit, placing manufacture in the UK. This purple Capitol design with the U.S.A.-recording rim text was Capitol/EMI's standard UK pressing label through 1980 for this catalogue number; no deep groove or other early-pressing tell is present. The (P) 1980 copyright line on both labels fixes this copy to 1980 or later and it sits with the first UK pressing run of the title, the only UK issue carrying this exact label and catalogue combination.
Fidelity
The album was mastered at Capitol Mastering with the Muscle Shoals and Criteria-sourced tracks mixed at Muscle Shoals, Capitol Studios and Bayshore Recording; this UK Capitol/EMI pressing is a standard commercial cut rather than an audiophile mastering. Collectors generally regard the contemporary US and UK Capitol pressings as sonically comparable and solid if unspectacular, with the later Mobile Fidelity half-speed-mastered edition rated by audiophile listeners as the superior-sounding cut of this title. This copy, as an ordinary first-run commercial stereo pressing, ranks below the Mobile Fidelity reissue in the album's fidelity hierarchy but is representative of how most listeners first heard the record.
Notes
This is a 1980 UK Capitol pressing of Against the Wind, catalogued EA-ST 12041 on the sleeve and EAST 12041 on the labels, with the back cover also carrying the EMI/Trademasters UK manufacturing block OC 054-86 097. The purple Capitol labels with the dome logo and U.S.A.-recording rim text are the standard UK Capitol/EMI design for this release, dated to 1980 or later by their own copyright line. Nothing on the labels or jacket indicates an earlier or later reissue state; the copy sits with the first UK pressing run of this catalogue number.
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