It's been over a decade since Seger graced us with a studio album with all new material. And many of us were on tenderhooks, waiting to hear exactly what the sound would be of such a CD coming from a rocker who admittedly had to...
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It's been over a decade since Seger graced us with a studio album with all new material. And many of us were on tenderhooks, waiting to hear exactly what the sound would be of such a CD coming from a rocker who admittedly had to wait for his doctor's OK before he decided he could tour in good health this fall. Thankfully, the results in both the studio and the doctor's office were positive, so not only do we have a brand new Seger CD (and a good one), but many will be able to hear him sing some of its material live along with Live Bullet over the next several weeks. Bob's voice is in full form, carrying ballads like "Wait for Me", bona fide rockers like "Wreck this Heart" as well as the boogie-fied "Real Mean Bottle" (the only non-Seger composition, written by Vince Gill and with backing vocals by Seger pal Kid Rock, who I have to admit does a good job here although I think Seger's talents far surpass his). Nearly all the songs are in the voice of an older, wiser man talking to someone who wants to take chances or do things the narrator stops usually stops short of preaching about. I caught a bit of an interview on a Detroit station, where Seger was stating he'd written the song that had just been played for his kids. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out which song that could be, but given that his son and daughter are in their early teens, it could be one of several of these songs: "Are You", "The Long Goodbye" (as a father realizes someday they'll walk away forever), "No Matter Who You Are" or "Wait for Me." I have to say a few words about "No More", which could have been Seger's shovelful on the bandwagon of What Everyone Else In Rock Said about Iraq...but it's not. First of all, it's a great song, produced a la Spector "Wall of Sound" so that we (at least those of us who can remember back that far) get the sense of a Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction" or Melanie "Candles in the Rain". Which is exactly what Seger wants to do. The second stanza reads: It was forty years ago when I was young/ And the jungle, not the desert, heard the guns/ Someone said they had a secret plan/ And the rest of us would have to understand. So, before you can accuse him of doing what everyone else is doing (accusing those in power of "getting us into another Vietnam"), BAM! in the same verse he slams the opposition, who say they have a way to get us out (Seger's brother was a Marine in Vietnam. The first song he wrote was called "Yellow Berets," about those too cowardly to join up. He hasn't forgotten how it felt to find out that the newly elected administration in 1969 really had no...secret...plan...at....all.) Not that Seger leaves the Republicans (Bush's, not Nixon's), off the hook. But he does so in a way that doesn't demonize them: Are you sorry ...for the burden of the ones who had to fall/ When you didn't read the writing on the wall? In other words, he's not getting into the argument of whether Iraq had weapons, what kind and when, he's just saying, "You were wrong to start this war. Even if you didn't lie, you didn't take the consequenses into consideration." "No More" and the rest of "Face the Promise" are an enjoyable way to catch up with Bob during this phase of his life. He's still one of the Midwest's finest rock and roll musicians, and he's still going strong. Comment | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)
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