Face the Promise

Artist: Bob Seger
Listenability Scale: 83%
Released by: Capitol Records
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

It was over ten years ago when I attended my first Bob Seger concert. At that time he was supporting his "It’s a Mystery" album, and for the concert I was happy to see that Bob, at age 51, was back from "finding himself" for that album and tour. Back in 1996, for that album and tour, he took about four or five years to find himself, record, and tour again. Little did I know that it would take him another ten years to do the same? But he came out with a new CD recently called "Face the Promise," and I won’t say I want him to take another ten years to find himself, but it is still good to see the he hasn’t strayed away from his Midwest sounding rock and roll roots. And that means guitars, hard driving rock and roll, and sometimes some country twang in there for good measure.

In the terms of hard driving, guitar drivin’ music, "Wreck This Heart" opening the CD will bring you right back into that mode, reminiscent to me of both Bruce Springsteen and the Michael Stanley Band, both influential for me in my young roots growing up outside of Cleveland, Ohio in the late seventies and eighties. Things slow down a bit for "Wait For Me," the first single, which actually reminded me of some of the songs off of Warren Zevon’s "The Wind," but then "Face the Promise" kicks back into that railroad driving style of rock. "No Matter Who You Are" continues pounding out messages Seger has been singing about for years, and as wrong as it might sound for a Bob Seger CD, the strings in "No More" are perfect for the tone of the song.

As the CD progresses on, there’s the drowning, country tinged "Won’t Stop," Patty Loveless has a great duet with Seger on "The Answer’s in the Question," and even though "The Long Goodbye" isn’t a great "dancin’ with your honey song," it’s still got that rock and roll tone yet being a ballad.

Yes, I missed one main song, but I thought I would leave it for last, because this song really doesn’t have a chance to tear up any rock charts, and for the most part, I can’t see any of the songs on the CD tearing up those charts because today’s rock and roll stations aren’t the rock and roll I remember anymore, and those playing Bob Seger tunes don’t usually seem interested in heavily promoting new songs (sadly, because they are as good a lot of times as the classic songs they are playing). The song, though, with the most potential for Mr. Seger is the kick-ass, Vince Gill penned "Real Mean Bottle," for which Bob enlists the help of Kid Rock for a duet. Drop it on the country airwaves in heavy rotation because I have a decent feeling a lot of country music fans are, or can be, fans of Bob Seger, and this song fits right up that alley.

As I’ve written a lot of times, and probably will every time I right one, CD reviews are not my thing, because you either like the music or you don’t, and I can’t convince you otherwise. If you like the sound of rock and roll, sometimes mixed with some country, "Face the Promise" will probably fit right in your alley. There are 12 songs on this CD of which I know 10 will end up on my iPod, so that gives "Face the Promise" an 83% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale. And even at 61, I hope Bob Seger tours again because there is nothing like seeing "Turn the Page" live, and I could only hope Mr. Rock makes the trip to Chicago to do "Real Mean Bottle" as a guest of Mr. Seger, and if a publicist sees this, I would love to be able to be there to take the photos.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!