Album Review #4 - Bob Seger "Stranger In Town" (1978)

 

Album Review #4

 

Artist:  Bob Seger

Album:  Stranger In Town

Year of Release:  1978

Grade:  4.5/5

 

Band Members

Bob Seger – vocals, guitar, piano

 

The Silver Bullet Band:

Drew Abbott – guitar

Robyn Robbins – organ

Alto Reed – saxophone

Chris Campbell – bass

David Teegarden – drums, percussion

 

Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section:

Barry Becket – piano, organ

Pete Carr – guitar

Jimmy Johnson – guitar

David Hood – bass

Roger Hawkins – drums, percussion

 

Other musicians:

Ken Bell – guitar on “Old Time Rock and Roll”

Glenn Frey – guitar solo on “Till It Shines”

Don Felder – guitar solo on “Ain’t Got No Money”

Bill Payne – piano, organ on “Hollywood Nights”

Doug Riley – piano on “Feel Like A Number” and “Brave Stranger”

Randy McCormick – piano on “Old Time Rock and Roll”

Howie McDonald – guitar solo on “Old Time Rock and Roll”

 

 

Background

Detroit music legend Bob Seger made his way through various bands (The Last Herd, Bob Seger System) before finally settling in with Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band.  He enjoyed some regional success and some moderate national success with his early albums but it wasn’t until he released the double album “Live Bullet” that he really broke through nationally in 1976.  The follow up “Night Moves” cemented the band as a significant voice to be heard.  That all changed with the release of “Stranger In Town”.  With the exception of “Ain’t Got No Money”, every track received significant airplay.

 

Track Listing

1.      “Hollywood Nights” (Seger) *

2.      “Still The Same” (Seger) *

3.      “Old Time Rock and Roll” (George Jackson, Thomas Earl Jones III) **

4.      “Till It Shines” (Seger) **

5.      “Feel Like A Number” (Seger) *

6.      “Ain’t Got No Money” (Frankie Miller) **

7.      “We’ve Got Tonight” (Seger) **

8.      “Brave Strangers” (Seger) *

9.      “The Famous Final Scene” (Seger) **

 

* Backing Band is The Silver Bullet Band

** Backing Band is Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section

 

 

Review

To start off, this is one of those almost perfect albums.  The album opens with “Hollywood Nights”.  The song came to him while driving through the Hollywood Hills.  The premise of the song is about a normal midwestern boy who meets the girl of his dreams and gets caught up in all the fake glamour of Hollywood.  This song starts out with a great groove and just rocks out.  The vocals and background vocals drive it home.

 

The second track (and lead off single) was “Still The Same”.  It is a mid tempo ballad with a dose of Motown (hey, he’s from Detroit after all).  The song itself is about walking away from a situation because the other person isn’t willing to change.

 

 

The next track is the one that most people associate with Bob Seger thanks to the movie Risky Business starring Tom Cruise.  “Old Time Rock and Roll” is an ode to traditional rock and roll music.  It was a hit along time before Tom Cruise danced to it in his underwear but that is what most people remember the song from.  From the opening piano chords and vocals to the very end of the song, it keeps a solid pace while trashing some of the so called “new music” and the preference to the classics. 

 

 

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“Till It Shines” is an underrated track.  It opens with a slide guitar feel.  The entire song is about overcoming adversity until the listener comes out the other side.  In other words, perseverance.  While not a “hit”, it remains a solid song that resonates with Seger fans.

 

In almost the flip side of the coin from the previous track, “Feel Like A Number” is a working man song.  It starts out with some great guitar sound.  “Feel Like A Number” is all about that feeling of just being another cog in the machine of life.  The singer fights back against this mentality in the chorus.  There is some great boogie woogie piano in the middle part of the song.  We aren’t just a face in the crowd.

 

The next song is my least favorite on the album called “Ain’t Got No Money”.  It isn’t that it’s a bad song but it just doesn’t do much for me.  I know some people who really like this song.  In fact, it reminds me of some other Seger songs earlier in his career.  Will I skip past the track if it comes on?  It depends on my mood.

 

One of Seger’s greatest ballads is next.  “We’ve Got Tonight” is an ode to an attempted one night stand.  Seger said that it was inspired by a scene in the movie “The Sting” where Robert Redford’s character tried to seduce a waitress late at night.  It was later covered as a duet between Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton that was a hit.  Seger’s pleading lyrics provide just the right emotion.

 

 

The next track “Brave Strangers” counters the melody of the preceding ballad with an upbeat take on the end of a relationship.  It remains upbeat until it abruptly changes to a slow blues before picking back up the tempo.  I remember this song getting quite a bit of airplay on the radio at the time. 

 

The final track is “The Famous Final Scene”.  This is a great final cut on an album.  It’s a great semi-ballad about the ending of a relationship and the recognition that it really is the ending.  Everyone else saw it but the person that the singer is telling.