By the time Bob Seger came to release his 13th studio album ‘LIKE A ROCK ‘(March 1986), a 20-year career trajectory appeared to have reached a settled level of accomplishment.
Through the first ten years Seger (born Ann Arbor, 6/5/1945) had taken on the somewhat unfortunate mantle of the foremost rock talent in the wilderness – a succession of excellent, but largely ignored Creedence/Van Morrison-honed albums, overlooked everywhere beyond his native Michigan and the review pages of the New Musical Express, who were quick to extol his talents as an expressive vocalist and fine songwriter.
But following a lengthy period of frequently being described as the next big thing, only for lesser lights to steal his thunder, Seger struck gold in 1975 with the dynamite, in-concert set ‘Live Bullet.’ Recorded with his Silver Bullet Band backing ensemble before a wildly-partisan Detroit audience, the intensity of the performances elevated this collection well beyond that of a workaday double live-album and into the realms of remarkable rock record.
Followed by the excellent studio offering ‘Night Moves‘ (October 1976) and then the equally impressive ‘Stranger in Town‘ (May 1978), with his now winning blend of Springsteen-affected rock and emotive ballads, Seger, on the strength of significant sales and lofty chart placings, found himself occupying commercial high-ground long after he actually deserved to be there.
His next L.P. ‘Against the Wind‘ (February 1980), arrived at the start of what proved a bittersweet year. The record became the biggest selling he would make (compilations aside) in reaching number one on the U.S. album charts, where it stayed for five weeks. But critics who had previously warmed to his work responded with a wave of negative reviews, Seger taken to task for what some detractors heard as below-par, formulaic material.
While 1981 double-live effort ‘Nine Tonight‘ sold well it lacked the originality of its ‘Live Bullet‘ predecessor, although 1982 studio set ‘The Distance‘ was, for the most part, far more worthy of his undoubted ability.
The wait of just over three years until ‘Like a Rock‘ appeared was the longest gap Seger had ever put between releases. While a number of tracks bear hallmarks immediately recognizable as his, (to the extent at least three tracks exist upon previously covered ground), in places there are production traits that plant it firmly in the mid-80s – the album a Bob Seger record of the era, rather than one of lasting resonance.
Which is not to say ‘Like a Rock‘ does not contain its fair share of commendable moments, the first side barely putting a foot wrong in terms of likeable familiarity. Yet a clear drop off in quality on side two gives the album an uneven, at times disjointed feel.
For the first time since ‘Seven‘ (March 1974), there is no involvement of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as an entity, this revered group of players having made their presence felt on a number of Seger tracks, per record, since. With his Silver Bullet brethren now amounting to a core of Chris Campbell (bass), Craig Frost (keyboards) and Alto Reed (saxophone) – Seger at various times chipping in on guitar and piano – they are supplemented by session drummers Russ Kunkel, Gary Mallaber, but mostly John Robinson.
Adding to the musical accompaniment are guitarists Fred Tackett and Rick Vito, along with keyboard players Billy Payne of Little Feat, by now a regular contributor to Seger albums and David Cole, who shares production duties with the artist and long-serving control-panel companion Punch Andrews. While the female backing vocals that had become a feature of his recordings are again present, on one track the harmonies come courtesy of Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit, who at this point are ‘former’ Eagles after the band had gone their separate ways in 1981.
Opening track ‘American Storm‘ (the proposed title piece until Seger had an 11th hour change of heart), rattles along at a fair old lick, the lyrics, while not mentioning the narcotic by name, comment on the deluge of cocaine sweeping the United States – the song also reportedly inspired by ‘Wired‘ a biography by Bob Woodward of comic actor John Belushi, who had succumbed to a drug overdose in 1982.
With Seger (guitar) and the Silver Bullet Band supplemented by Kunkel, Payne and Muscle Shoals guitarist Pete Carr, the writer makes his observations (‘It’s like a full-force gale/An American storm/You’re buried far beneath a mountain of cold/And you never get warm‘), over an up-tempo melody barely a breath away from that of ‘Even Now‘ which had opened his previous album.
While on occasion the lyrics are a touch abstract, the title inference to his concerns, Seger is under no illusion of just how far cocaine has encroached into the lives of many, also turning his focus on the cynical outlook of the drug dealer:
‘Someone’s out there on the street tonight/When things go wrong/He’ll guarantee to make them right/If the price is right.’
Although selecting ‘American Storm‘ would have been the bold move in regard to the title-track, given the subject matter, that recognition instead went to ‘Like a Rock‘ – a reflective, autobiographical piece drawn from the same well as pieces such as ‘Against the Wind.’
Over delicate acoustic guitar chords played with impressive subtlety by future Silver Bullet band member Dawayne Bailey, Seger contemplates the passing of time, looking back upon days when he was less encumbered in body and mind:
‘I was eighteen/Didn’t have a care/Working for peanuts/Not a dime to spare/But I was lean and/Solid everywhere/Like a rock/My hands were steady/My eyes were clear and bright/My walk had purpose/My steps were quick and light/And I held firmly/To what I felt was right/Like a rock.’
Decorated in the middle section by an exquisite slide guitar solo from Vito, Seger has reached a point where nostalgia comes tempered with realism, aware, but nevertheless at a loss, at just how fast the decades have come and gone:
‘Twenty years now/Where’d they go?/Twenty years/I don’t know/I sit and I wonder sometimes/Where they’ve gone.’
Revealing his reminiscing takes place late at night when ‘The moon comes callin’ a ghostly white‘, the guitar work of Vito remains incisive as Seger evokes Van Morrison in his phrasing when taking this well-crafted song to a conclusion.
Bolstered by a prominent horn section and the backing vocals of Henley and Schmit, ‘Miami‘ finds Seger at the piano in delivering a modern day immigrant experience of coming to America.
During an era when many thousands made their way to the United States from countries such as Cuba, Miami became the destination of choice and convenience. Seger, despite ’80s films to the contrary such as ‘Scarface‘, does his best to show the migrant perspective in a positive light:
‘And so they came/A hundred thousand/To find a way of life/They could believe in/Far away from home/With nothing of their own/To Miami.’
Despite painting a somewhat romanticized picture of this episode in American immigration, there is little to dislike about this agreeable, well-intentioned track. It is, however, worth noting that through his ‘Lives in the Balance‘ album which had been released the previous month, Seger’s contemporary Jackson Browne wrote about issues of the day – U.S. foreign policy, domestic politics, social tensions – from a more overtly political standpoint.
Seger returns to less contentious territory on side one closer ‘The Ring‘. Using similar musicality to that of his 1976 masterpiece ‘Night Moves‘, he conveys the tale of a couple who married young only to reach inertia in middle age, the malaise in their relationship, of which the husband seems unaware, told from the standpoint of his wife.
Against the backdrop of assertive acoustic guitars (played by Seger, Vito and Tackett) and resounding piano work of Payne, the male protagonist, who from the start of their union envisaged, ‘He could see himself getting up every mornin’/For the rest of his life/Just to look in those eyes so blue‘, is apparently content with how their life together has unfolded. She, on the other hand, has reached this juncture carrying a suitcase full of regrets.
Still a teenager on entering wedlock, (‘They were still in their teens/When he gave her the ring/They were married late one May‘), together they have raised two children, who by now have moved out. Her hopes of pursuing independent dreams, (‘She’d done well in school/She’d followed the rules/She’d always stood out from the rest/She’d go off to college/And work her way through/Then move to some city out west‘), have long since been dashed.
Indeed, Seger writes with rueful simplicity in describing her disillusionment (‘And sometimes in the wee hours when the traffic dies down/She’ll hear the sound of some bird on the wing/And she’ll look out the window and she’ll look at his picture/But not at the ring‘) as another day, immersed in regret, comes to an end.
While the melodicism of ‘The Ring‘ is instantly recognizable, the two tracks sequenced at the start of side two are less familiar in regard to Seger, but identifiable in the context of the era.
Both ‘Tightrope‘ and ‘The Aftermath‘ (co-written with keyboard player Frost), boast period-piece synthesizer inflections that at times sound more concession to the mid-80s than actual necessity. Neither song, forceful pieces dealing with night time determination to avoid being alone, is any great shakes lyrically, each perhaps better heard tucked away on a movie soundtrack of the time. Ironically, Seger had huge hit with ‘Shakedown‘ (a Harold Faltermeyer composition in similar vein) the following year from the film ‘Beverley Hills Cop II‘, all three songs blustering affairs with generally uninspired lyrics.
There is no shortage of bluster either in ‘Sometimes‘ although amidst the driving electric guitars (Tackett/Dan Huff) and wailing sax breaks there are some likeable (‘Sometimes I hear the sound/Of some night train leavin’ town/I wanna chase it down /Sometimes’) couplets – Seger venting his frustrations at the absurdities of life while all around the supporting players revel in their Stones-styled brief.
Had he aired the easy-going ‘It’s You‘ even just three years earlier it would have come as a soft-rock affair dressed in acoustic guitars, an understated electric guitar solo and wistful piano lines.
But in the here and now it takes the form of a synth-pop affair, the lyric (‘You’re the only reason I’m still here, girl/You’re the only one who keeps me sane/Somethin’ ’bout the way you’ve learned to calm me down/And see me through the anger and the pain‘), a tribute to the female companion who offers support when the world is testing his patience.
Closing cut ‘Somewhere Tonight‘ is a piano-based break-up ballad that had previously come in the guise of ‘The Famous Final Scene‘ (‘Stranger in Town‘), and ‘Love’s the Last to Know‘ (‘The Distance‘) and while superior to the latter, lacks the authenticity of the former. There is no doubting the conviction heard in his vocal, Seger, like Rod Stewart, never less than convincing no matter how contrived the track may sound.
Despite his late-70s purple patch, in relation to artistic consistency and gargantuan sales, being over (that said, his 1994 ‘Greatest Hits‘ collection sold in enormous quantities), ‘Like a Rock‘ climbed to number three on the U.S. charts and easily secured its creator another platinum disc. Reviews for the most part were polite rather than overwhelmingly positive (three stars from five in Rolling Stone) and while some had misgivings about the record, criticism stopped well short of labels such as ‘cowardly‘ that the same publication had attached to ‘Against the Wind.’
With what proved his final album of the decade, Seger relatively quiet until ‘The Fire Inside‘ (1991), he once more displayed his commitment to producing heartfelt rock that looked for its essence in believable situations happening to people in their everyday lives.
Some depictions were not the equal of those included on previous albums, but ‘Like a Rock‘, for all its imperfections, showed Seger as a force still to be reckoned with and in no mood to concede hard won ground.
BOB SEGER and the SILVER BULLET BAND – LIKE A ROCK (Released March 27 1986):
American Storm/Like a Rock/Miami/The Ring/Tightrope/The Aftermath/Sometimes/It’s You/Somewhere Tonight;
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