At Home in Hespeler

A guy knows what he’s going to get when he buys a Bob Seger record: rock and roll played on a straight four beat. Add in a dash of new country guitar pickin’ and you have a Bob Seger album for the new millennium. It used to be such an album was something to look forward to with eager anticipation, as I fondly recall doing for Like a Rock in the mid-80’s. But Seger’s songwriting has diminished over the years, his ability to find a new, unique, interesting way to play an E-chord exhausted, and what’s left is a collection of familiar sounding songs.

There’s nothing wrong with Ride Out, Seger’s latest album, released this week. If you liked his last number of albums, you’ll like this one well enough. The collection of decent songs, in fact, improve on multiple listens, and the early released songs, Detroit Made, Hey Gypsy and The Devil’s Right Hand after a few weeks of listening are my favorites on the album. The same can’t be said, however, of You Take Me In, the early release balled which was boring on first listen, and boring now that’s it’s heard in the context of a full album.

Seger has a go at politics with It’s Your World, a song in which he decries the state of the world without offering solutions (it is a bit rich, the multi-millionaire singer complaining about cash is king), and if the depth of Your World amounts to the depth of Seger’s politics, it’s a good thing there’s 50-years between here to The Ballad of the Yellow Beret. His attempt at Americana, Adam and Eve, also fails pretty miserably.

Hey Gypsy, on the other hand, Seger’s tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, is an album highlight. You’ve never heard a Texas shuffle played so squarely, so tightly on the beat, as this, but it works magnificently and will likely be a strong addition to Seger’s live set in his upcoming tour. The acoustic song, Listen, one of the bonus songs on the Deluxe Edition of Ride Out, is another highlight of the album.

There’s a number of good enough songs on Ride Out, but let’s also be clear, there’s no Hollywood Nights or Rock and Roll Never Forgets, no ballads as good as Mainstreet, no acoustic numbers of the calibre of Night Moves or Against the Wind. If your looking for Seger to find that magic touch he had from the mid-70’s to the mid-80’s you’ll be disappointed. But if your looking for Seger to meet or exceed what he has done the last couple of albums, he has.

Tracklist

Detroit Made
Hey Gypsy
The Devils Right Hand
Ride Out
Adam and Eve
California Stars
It’s Your World
All of the Roads
You Take Me In
Gates of Eden

Listen (Deluxe Edition only)*
The Fireman’s Talkin’ (Deluxe Edition only)*
Let the Rivers Run (Deluxe Edition only)*

*(Note: There is a Target only CD version with 2 extra songs)

Album release, Bob Seger, Record Release, Review Bob Seger, Detroit Made, Hey Gypsy, Hollywood Nights, Like a Rock, Mainstreet, Night Moves, Rock and Roll Never Forgets, Stevie Ray, Stevie Ray Vaughan

New Bob Seger…

Bob Seger’s new album Ride Out, due Oct 14th, is now available for pre-order. The pre-order comes with two songs available immediately, the single Detroit Made and You Take Me In. The album comes in regular and deluxe edition, with three extra songs on the deluxe.

Tracklist

Detroit Made
Hey Gypsy
The Devils Right Hand
Ride Out
Adam and Eve
California Stars
It’s Your World
All of the Roads
You Take Me In
Gates of Eden

Listen (Deluxe Edition only)
The Fireman’s Talkin’ (Deluxe Edition only)
Let the Rivers Run (Deluxe Edition only)

Bob Seger, Rockin' and Rollin' and Never Forgettin' Bob Seger, Detroit Made, Ride Out, You Take Me In

Bob Seger will release his first album of new material in eight years on October 14th. Ride Out will be Seger’s 17th studio album, first since 2006’s Face the Promise.

The announcement comes on the heels of the release of a new single last Friday, Detroit Made. And when I say “release of a new single,” I don’t mean put it on sale on iTunes or Amazon, made a YouTube video available or any other method of what is known as releasing a single in the internet era. Rather, Seger released the song to selected radio stations in the Detroit and Windsor area, hoping against hope, I expect, that it’s still 1977. Still, Detroit’s Greatest Hits 104.3, in a move that must screw up the tightly controlled marketing of the song, are streaming the song so that people can actually hear it. Hear Detroit Made here…

Seger’s recording of Detroit Made, a John Hiatt song, is a rousing bit of rock with a country tinge. It is a fairly classic bit of Bob Seger straight ahead rock and roll, and while in one way it bodes well for the album, if it is the best of the album, as first singles often are, then Ride Out could prove to be a bit of a disappointment.

Not to worry though, with the Seger camps marketing plan in play, it’s unlikely anybody will ever hear it anyway.

No pre-sale information is available at this date, but I will provide links to pre-sale if they become available.

Bob Seger, Record Release, Rockin' and Rollin' and Never Forgettin' Bob Seger, Detroit Made, Ride Out

Bob Seger has released to radio a new single, John Hiatt’s Detroit Made.  The song will also appear on a new Seger album, which seems to be coming this fall.

Here’s Bob Seger in Detroit last April, performing Detroit Made.

Rockin' and Rollin' and Never Forgettin' Bob Seger, Detroit Made, John Hiatt