CD Review: Bob Seger

Ten tunes from the vaults of Michigan rock icon Bob Seger reaffirm
the strength of classic rock ‘n’ roll and testify to its key appeal:
nostalgia. Such meat-and-potatoes music may have more staying power
than Detroit, the city that made Seger, the Stooges and the Motown
stable music icons. “Long Song Comin’,” a sharply political track from
1974, speaks especially poignantly to the Rust Belt rue Seger
articulates so well. Backed by session musicians from Muscle Shoals and
Detroit, the raspy-voiced Seger has buffed chestnuts like the Allman
Brothers’ “Midnight Rider,” Tim Hardin’s “If I Were a Carpenter” and
his own “Get Out of Denver,” a testament to his affection for the Chuck
Berry/Little Richard schools of rock. He’s also polished four
unreleased tracks — the best is “Wildfire,” a love song that’s
also a great bar singalong — to fill Early Seger. Class
disdain colors the sly, jazzy “U.M.C.,” domesticity stars in the ballad
“Someday” and mobility — a topic that animates Seger as deeply as
Bruce Springsteen, his more celebrated Northeastern soulmate —
fires “Get Out of Denver” and “Gets Ya Pumpin’.” This is not a major
Seger record, but it’s satisfying. And even when the lyrics are
lightweight, the music is muscular and swinging. — Carlo
Wolff

This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2009.