Face the Promise (CD - 2006)

Personnel: Bob Seger (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, synthesizer, string synthesizer, percussion); Bob Seger (vocals); Eric Sean Murphy, Patty Loveless (vocals); Brent Rowan (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Kenny Greenberg, Biff Watson (guitar, electric guitar); J.T. Corenflos (guitar); David Cole (electric guitar, percussion); Aubrey Haynie (mandolin, fiddle); Connie Ellisor, Elisabeth K. Small, Zeneba Bowers, John Catchings, Jim Grosjean, Mary Kathryn Vanosdale, Craig Nelson , Carl Gorodetzky, Pamela Sixfin, David Davidson , David Angell, Gary VanOsdale, Matthew Walker, Carole Rabinowitz-Neuen (strings); Jim Hoke, Randy Leago (tenor saxophone); Sam Levine (baritone saxophone); Steve Herman (trumpet); Bill Huber (trombone); John Hobbs, Billy Payne, Gordon Mote (piano); Glenn Worf, Larry Paxton (bass guitar); Barbara Payton, Laura Creamer, Leslie Mills, Shaun Murphy, Thornetta Davis, Bernie Barlow (background vocals); Kid Rock (vocals, slide guitar); John Jarvis (piano); Paul Leim (drums, cowbells); Eric Darken (drums, tambourine, percussion); Eddie Bayers, Steve Brewster (drums).

Audio Mixers: David Cole; Bob Seger.

Recording information: Home Studios, MI; Ocean Way Studios, Nashville, TN.

Of all the heartland-based "working class rockers" of the 1970s and '80s, Bob Seger was one of the most consistently credible and satisfying. Not only did he brandish a muscular classic rock sound, but he was a talented songwriter, giving equal emphasis to rebellious electric barnstormers and melancholic, thoughtful folk-tinged tunes. Seger's spotlight may have faded by 2006's FACE THE PROMISE, but that doesn't mean any of his power as a singer, songwriter, and performer had diminished.

Seger's gruff voice sounds as weathered and gutsy as ever, and his status as an elder statesman hasn't led him to turn down his amplifiers a single notch, as the pounding title track and "Wreck This Heart," the album's opener, prove. But one of Seger's great strengths has always been his reflective, acoustic-driven songs, and "No Matter Who You Are" and "Won't Stop" deliver on that count, demonstrating that even after all these years Seger still has his touch. minimize