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 & The Silver Bullet Band

Against The Wind

1980 · Capitol Records SOO-12041 · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Capitol Records
Catalogue number	SOO-12041
Year	1980
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Rock - Heartland Rock
Producer	Bob Seger, Punch Andrews, Bill Szymczyk
Composer	Bob Seger
Performer / Orchestra	The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (uncredited as a named ensemble on the jacket, credited only as producers of several tracks)
Musicians	Bob Seger (vocals), Drew Abbott (guitar), Alto Reed (saxophone), Chris Campbell (bass), Charlie Allen Martin (drums), Robyn Robbins (keyboards); Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section - Barry Beckett (keyboards), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass), Pete Carr (guitar), Jimmy Johnson (guitar)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  S00-1-12041 F.1#8 MASTERED BY CAPITAL WALLY 0
Side B:  S00-2-12041 F.9#6 MASTERED BY CAPITAL WALLY 0

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM-

Variant chronology

1980 - US Capitol Records SOO-12041 stereo, dome-logo labels, pressed at various US/Canadian plants (Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Don Mills)  <- this copy
1980 - Export pressings under local catalogue numbers (Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Singapore/Malaysia/Hong Kong) - no price band established
1983 - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab half-speed-mastered audiophile reissue, pressed in Japan (MFSL 1-127)
2019 - Capitol/UMe 40th-anniversary translucent-blue vinyl LP with bonus 7-inch single (Lookin' Back / Lucifer)

This Pressing

1980 US pressing (stereo) - flat Capitol dome-logo labels of the 1979-1983 design era, with a jacket barcode confirming manufacture in 1980 or later, consistent with the record's own copyright date.

The Album

Against the Wind arrived at the peak of Bob Seger's commercial run, following the back-to-back success of Night Moves and Stranger in Town, and it became his first album to reach number one on the national charts. Seger split the sessions between his longtime road band, the Silver Bullet Band, and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, giving the record a blend of hard-driving bar-band rock and the warmer, soul-inflected groove Muscle Shoals was known for, while a handful of tracks were cut separately in Miami under producer Bill Szymczyk. The title track and ballads like Fire Lake reflect on aging, touring life and looking back at youth, themes that resonated with an audience that had grown up alongside Seger's two decades of work in Detroit bar rooms before mainstream success found him. The album produced several hit singles and is regarded as a high-water mark of the blue-collar heartland rock movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s, alongside contemporaries like Tom Petty and John Mellencamp. It won Seger a Grammy nomination and is frequently cited by critics as the record where his introspective songwriting matured alongside his arena-rock instincts. Decades later it remains a staple of classic rock radio and is considered one of the defining albums of Seger's catalog.

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

Side 1 is a flat (non-deep-groove) pink-and-white label with the Capitol dome logo at the upper right and the rim text ROUND RECORD SOUND IN USA; side 2 is a flat mauve-and-white label with the Capitol logo set inside an oval at the lower right and a longer federal/state unauthorized-duplication warning in the rim text. Both sides carry the 1980 Capitol Records, Inc. copyright and phonographic-copyright lines, and the jacket adds a UPC barcode, a mark that did not exist on records before 1980. This dome-logo design and rim wording was Capitol's standard label across its 1979-1983 US pressing run, and the record's own copyright date and barcode place this copy within that 1980 US pressing of the catalogue number, manufactured at one of the Capitol-affiliated plants running the title that year.

Fidelity

The album was mastered by Wally (Wally Traugott) at Capitol's mastering facility and pressed at one of Capitol's US plants serving this catalogue number. Collectors generally regard the original US Capitol pressings as solid, dynamic cuts well suited to the record's mix of hard rock and Muscle Shoals-cut ballads, without major sonic complaints in forum discussion. A later audiophile vinyl reissue on Mobile Fidelity's label is regarded by many collectors as the sonic high point for the title, outranking standard Capitol pressings like this one in resolution and quietness of surface, though the original pressing remains well liked for its punch and is the version most collectors own.

Notes

This is a 1980 US stereo pressing on Capitol SOO-12041. The labels are flat, dome-logo Capitol labels carrying the 1980 phonographic and copyright lines, with rim text consistent with Capitol's standard US design used into the early 1980s; the jacket's barcode further confirms the copy was not manufactured before 1980. The pressing plant is not identified on the label, so this copy is placed within the general 1980 US pressing run for this catalogue number rather than tied to any one specific plant. No club, promotional or later reissue markings are present.

Documenting collections

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