Bob Seger: Face The Promise : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Bob Seger's first album in more than a decade excels at stout, lucidly sung rock-soul-blues-gospel that can, in uninspired hands, sound like reheated takeout food. The killer moment comes during the title track, a barreling piece of songwriting with spidery Duane Eddy-style guitar. Seger casts himself as a "small towned-out" Delta worker. "I'm tired of this river," he carps, complaining of "nothing nights," anticipating the magnificent demand "I need an El Dorado/There's got to be someplace." Elsewhere Seger offers more dead-on renderings of his Michigan-sired rock as though it's the hottest new style in town, burning significant rubber on "Wreck This Heart" and ascending to heights of dashboard eloquence on "Wait for Me." Seger Nashvilles it up on duets with Kid Rock and Patty Loveless. The strength of the album, though, involves how, with tons of melody and tone and a little cheese, Seger fearlessly remains Seger.