Bob Seger
“Ultimate Hits: Rock & Roll Never Forgets”
(Capitol)
While it never reached the intensity of the great 1960s Beatles-Rolling Stones debate, in the 1970s and early ‘80s rock fans argued the merits of New Jersey’s Bruce Springsteen versus Michigan’s Bob Seger. While at the peak of his fame, Bob Seger walked away from the entertainment industry to raise his family in the Detroit suburbs. Now that his kids are grown, Seger has returned to performing.
“Ultimate Hits” covers a twenty-year period of Seger’s career starting with 1968’s “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” to 1987’s “Shakedown” which was used in key scene of the Eddie Murphy flick, BEVERLY HILLS COP II. Of course there are such crowd-pleasers as the youthful reminiscence “Night Moves,” the wistfully philosophical “Against The Wind,” and the defiant “Like A Rock.” Toss in “Fire Lake,” “Still The Same,” “Hollywood Nights,” “Turn The Page,” “Mainstreet,” “You’ll Accompany Me,” and “Old Time Rock And Roll,” the tune to which Tom Cruise danced to in his Hanes in his 1983 breakthrough film, RISKY BUSINESS, and you have very solid collection.
The downside is that Top 20 hits, “Even Now” and “American Storm” are missing, as are Seger’s terrific in-concert covers of Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.”