Bob Seger
Night Moves

Great year, 1976! It was the year of Hejira by Joni Mitchell, Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, Frampton Comes Alive, and Black and Blue. Then there was Hotel California by the Eagles, and on the West Coast something began to change. With them, "the rock of late-decade America hit the lowest point of its history," at least according to someone very influential. It's a viewpoint I don't share, but I recognize that that year and that album were undoubtedly a watershed. Many sought (and found) an evolution of rock, made of contaminations and public success; others wanted to stay in the womb of a genre that still wanted to keep the great family of classic rock united, the one in continuity with rock&roll and country. Sincere and spirited, Bob Seger did this, and he did it well. There were few left who didn't care about anything else, few and true. And this is the essence of the album: to reiterate that rock can move forward without frills and lace, with a hard yet seductive voice and well-sharpened electric guitars. The world can be faced this way! Well done, Bob, after all, if it weren't for you, Bruce, and Tom, everything would have ended, and we have no idea how!