|
Face the Promise
Bob Seger
A CD Review |
|
 |
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!!! |
