If there is any grace in heaven, Night Moves will give Bob Seger the national following which has long eluded him. It is simply one of the best albums of the year. As a vocalist, Seger recalls Rod Stewart; his raspy voice can both soar and attack. As a composer, he echoes Bruce Springsteen in his painful attempts to memorialize his past.

Night Moves offers rock & roll in the classic mold: bold, aggressive and grandiloquent. Seger's Silver Bullet Band and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section share the backup credit and provide support of almost operatic intensity. The arrangements use traditional devices: on the title tune, for example, tempo and volume continually shift to create climax upon climax; in "Mainstreet," a single guitar rings out the drama through the repitition of spare lines.

Seger is a romantic in search of an adolescent conception of love which has always eluded him. He can laugh at his condition ("Sunspot Baby") or try to exorcise it (his reworking of "Mary Lou"), but most of the time he rubs at it like an old wound ("Night Moves" and "Mainstreet"). All of these are songs of reminiscence, for Seger, above all, is a survivor.

If there is a flaw in the album, it is that the production is not aggressive enough. Occasionally the horns are too muted, the drums too hesitant. But these errors, like Seger's penchant for self-conscious poeticizing ("Sunburst"), are minor in an album bursting with energy and conviction.

- Kit Rachlis, Rolling Stone, 1-13-77.

Bonus Reviews!

Further reading on Super Seventies RockSite!: Album Review: Smokin' O.P.'s Album Review: Live Bullet Album Review: Stranger in Town Single Review: "Night Moves" Bob Seger: In His Own Words

Detroit's favorite native son rocker has another tasty set of rock'n'roll with an extra bonus of two change-of-pace ballads thrown in. Seger is a tasteful and impressive guitar flash whose singing has improved markedly in fluency and expressiveness. His songwriting also provides no shortage of vehicles for effective rocking. Seger is really as good in this genre as anybody else around today. Best cuts: "Night Moves," "Mainstreet," "Rock 'N' Roll Never Forgets," "Sunspot Baby," "Mary Lou."

- Billboard, 1976.

I've never had much truck with Seger's myth -- he's always struck me as a worn if well-schooled rock and roll journeyman, good for one or two tracks a year. But this album is a journeyman's apotheosis. The riffs that identify each of these nine songs comprise a working lexicon of the Berry-Stones tradition, and you've heard them many times before; in fact, that may be the point, because Seger and his musicians reanimate every one with their persistence and conviction. Both virtues also come across in lyrics as hard-hitting as melodies, every one of which asserts the continuing functionality of rock and roll for "sweet sixteens turned thirty-one." In one of them, the singer even has his American Express card stolen by a descendant of Ronnie Hawkins's Mary Lou, if not Mary Lou herself. Worrying about your credit card rating -- now that's what I call rock and roll realism. A-

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

There's nothing new here, just the best of the Fifties and Sixties rock & roll and soul music restated with honest currency and sung by one of rock's best voices. The years of dues behind Night Moves cling to it like grime on flesh. Dave Marsh described it best: "That wonderful chronicle of moments when age becomes irrelevant and innocence gains experience." There really isn't a bad cut on the album. The CD's sound is a joy, not perfect, but a joy -- bright, full, detailed, clean, and very dynamic (it does have some compression and occasional distortion in the vocals). A+

- Bill Shapiro, Rock & Roll Review: A Guide to Good Rock on CD, 1991.

Bob Seger's breakthrough album, a classic of blue-collar rock, features such standouts as the wistful "Mainstreet," the no-frills rock of "Rock and Roll Never Forgets," and the title track, a reflective coming-of-age masterpiece. Throughout, Seger believably details the characters in his songs with compassion. * * * * *

- Rick Clark, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

Night Moves is a masterful collection of songs that retains the energy of Seger's Live Bullet -- particularly on the ferocious rockers "The Fire Down Below," "Sunspot Baby" and "Rock and Roll Never Forgets." * * * * *

- Gary Graff, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

Seger arrives, armed with blue-collar Motor City rock at its best on this heartland classic, featuring the title hit plus lesser-known gems rife with bittersweet nostalgia. A hometown boy who knows how to rev up on a crowd and much more than the guy on the Chevy ads, he's a voice of rare grit and a supreme songwriter you suspect has been listening to your thoughts. * * * * *

- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.

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