One of the more curious entries in last year's Village Voice Pazz & Jop music critics' poll was a fan-made (not commercially released) compilation of early Bob Seger material titled Never Mind the Bullets, Here's Early Bob Seger. The album was ranked 111, beating out releases by Tom Petty, Elton John, and Ray Lamontagne. Seger himself was surprised to find this out when I spoke to him during a conference call featuring a bunch of fawning rock critics and the man himself: "Wow, I didn't know that." With yet another "Best of Bob Seger" set hitting shelves just in time for the holidays, it seems people might be interested in hearing some of Seger's varying early work. Not that Seger has any say in it. "If you're talking pre-Capitol stuff, I have no control over it. You remember the name Allen Klein? He owns that, and it's difficult to deal with Mr. Klein. It's completely out of my hands." But have no fear — there is plenty of vintage Seger that could be released: "I have a lot of spare songs that I've done down through the years that I do want to see the light of day, all the way back to the early '70s and even '60s." Old-time rock 'n' roll, indeed.