Stranger in town --- Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band --- 1978 (Capitol)
I've been a big Bob Seger fan since I heard “Night moves” and “Hollywood nights”, and have bought all his albums (apart from the
really old ones, like the ones with the Bob Seger System) to date. At the moment, I feel he's in danger of losing his way, as his last two, “It's a mystery” and “Face the promise” have done little to fire me up: in fact, the last good album from him I recall was 1991's “The fire inside”, and with four years between that and “It's a mystery”, and
eleven between it and his current, “Face the promise”, I would have expected better. But all of that is a conversation --- or indeed, review --- for another day.
“Stranger in town” comes from the peak of Seger's commercial appeal, and the zenith of his creative period. With albums like “Against the wind”, “The distance” and “Like a rock” to follow, there was, almost quite literally, no stopping Bob Seger. Two years prior to this he had released his first really commercially successful album, 1976's “Night moves”, which provided him with three hit singles, and one smash, with the title track. This, the follow up, spawned another four hits, and although “Still the same” reached number 4, it is rather oddly perhaps the less commercially successful (number 13) ballad “We've got tonight” which made the biggest and most lasting impression on the public, perhaps in part due to the cover some years later by Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton.
This is his ninth album, but only his second with the Silver Bullet Band, who would become to him what the E Street Band are to Bruce Springsteen. The album kicks off with the rollicking, galloping “Hollywood nights”, the tale of love and fame found and lost in Tinseltown. It rocks along at a great pace, with Seger in full voice, and excellent backing vocals. Mainly piano-driven, as many of Seger's songs are, it's complicated by great, but relatively sparse, guitar from Drew Abbot, but the thing that really drives the song is the steam-train drumming of David Teegarden, which just trundles the whole thing along like some unstoppable behemoth. As opening tracks go, it's right up there with the best.
“Still the same”, by contrast, is a low-key acoustic number, concerned with gambling addiction as Seger sings
”A gambler's stake/ The only risk that you would take/ The only bluff you couldn't fake”. The piano again plays its part on this track, but the guitar takes a much more active role. It's not a ballad, but has a very definite country flavour to it. It's one of the songs that has stood the test of time, and was, as already mentioned, the highest-charting single released from the album. Like most Seger songs, it has a very catchy melody, and the backing vocals do a lot to make the song. It's followed by a track which gained fame when it was included in the soundtrack to the movie “Risky business”, and has since become something of a standard. “Old time rock and roll” is a boppy, upbeat and nostalgic look back at the rock music of yesteryear, indeed beginning with a Jerry Lee Lewis-like piano run, courtesyt of Robyn Robbins. It's a real “take me as I am” song, in which Bob declares with feeling
”Today's music ain't got the same soul/ I like that old time rock and roll!” Great sax from the very appropriately named Alto Reed --- I swear: I don't make these names up! --- and a great “handclap” pause near the end which no doubt exorts the audience to join in when Bob plays live. Just great fun, rockers enjoying doing what rockers do.
Another semi-ballad next, in “Till it shines”, again guitar led, and with some great lines:
”Storm the walls around this prison/ Leave the inmates, free the guards!” This album features guest appearances from two of the Eagles, and it's Glenn Frey who contributes a great little guitar solo here, while Don Felder makes his presence felt later on. Next up is a fast rocker, another favourite live, where Bob puts a voice to the frustration of depersonalisation as he sings “Feel like a number”, the whole band jammin' away and having a great time.
”I work my back till it's wracked with pain” he moans
”Boss can't even recall my name!” and putting his finger firmly on the problems with society, back then and now, he laments
”To teachers I'm just another child/ To IRS I'm another file!” A real song of feeling helpless and nameless, but played with power and passion as Bob strikes back:
”Gonna cruise out of this city/ Head down to the sea/ Shout out at the ocean/ 'Hey! It's me!'”
The only cover on the album, Frankie Miller's “Ain't got no money” is a low-down and dirty rocker, with a really great guitar solo from, as mentioned, ex-Eagle Don Felder. Another song that's just pure rock and roll fun. Then we're into the standout, the tender ballad “We've got tonight”, which remains one of Seger's best ever songs, and one of his best known and loved. It's a real song of two strangers (in town?) finding themselves thrown together unexpectedly, both lonely, and thinking about getting together. Could be seen as a one-night-stand song, but the way Seger writes the lyric, it's tender, touching and powerful:
”I know it's late, I know you're weary/ I know your plans don't include me/ Still here we are/ Both of us lonely...” Beautiful piano and again sumptuous backing vocals.
“Brave strangers” is something of a retread of “Night moves”, though faster, as Bob recalls his youth (as again he would on the title track to 1986's “Like a rock”) and his conquests. It's a mid-paced, unapologetically raunchy song of two lovers trying to find their way in the world, and finding comfort in each other's arms, but knowing there's no fairytale ending: they're not going to end up together, as Bob acknowledges:
”So we walked out, hardly speakin'/ Disappearin' in the night/ Saw each other a few times later/ But we never really got it right.” Great bluesy sax halfway through, as the song slows down for the “love scene”, then everything speeds up again for the awkward goodbye. Perfectly observed: the act of making love set to music.
The album closes on a powerful and evocative ballad, the superlative “Famous final scene”. Seger has made something of a habit of ending his albums with ballads, and it's a good thing, as you're left humming a really good song, more often than not, at the end. “The famous final scene” is no exception, with great opening piano and guitar, a longing for things lost, chances missed and hearts broken, as he sings
“Everything must have an end/ Like an ocean to a shore/ Like a river to a stream.” Robbins' piano gets very intense and dramatic during this song, as if he's putting his whole heart and soul into the performance.
This is a Bob Seger album with few, if any, bad tracks. I had my doubts about “Night moves”, and even “Against the wind”, his next after this, had one or two duff ones, but to my mind, 1978's “Stranger in town” stands as one of Seger's finest, most complete and almost totally flawless albums, certainly deserving of its six-times multi-platinum certification, and its place among the hearts of Seger fans and lovers of good rock music.
TRACKLISTING
1. Hollywood nights
2. Still the same
3. Old time rock and roll
4. Till it shines
5. Feel like a number
6. Ain't got no money
7. We've got tonight
8. Brave strangers
9. The famous final scene
Suggested further listening: "Night moves”, “Against the wind”, “The distance”, “Like a rock”, “The fire inside”, “Nine tonight” (live double)