[.ca] Greatest Hits Vol. 2

THE BEAUTIFUL LOSER MAKES GOOD:
As with his first collection of Greatest Hits, I find myself thinking that this album just does not do Bob Seger justice. Yes, a lot of great stuff is here-but somehow the greatness of the man is missed. Bob Seger is one of our own here in the Midwest. For years he toured extensively putting on one hell of a show; but he could not break out nationally. Then he came very close with BEAUTIFUL LOSER. Having got the scent of becoming known across the country in a big way, Seger then released LIVE BULLET and NIGHT MOVES. Suddenly Seger was the hot ticket with a deep back catalogue of records in the past. Several of those albums were cleaned up and re-released where an eager audience quickly snapped them up. Unfortunately, Seger's last good album was LIKE A ROCK back in 1986. He released a few more albums that didn't quite hit it and then he went home to raise his children for a while. This collection seems to sew up some loose ends. Some of the remaining classic songs that were not on the first collection are presented here along with some non-album songs done for movies. Along with these are two new songs made especially for this collection. Don't get me wrong: this is a very fine collection. If you don't know Bob Seger, then by all means get this CD along with his first GREATEST HITS. But if you want to get a better flavor of this great rock artist, I would recommend any of the following: LIVE BULLET (1976)---Seger's first "live" album and in many regards his best. NIGHT MOVES (1976)-The classic Bob Seger album of all time. AGAINST THE WIND (1980)-Many overlook this album but it contains many of Seger's most memorable songs. LIKE A ROCK (1986)-Seger's last great album. Really rocks. Remembered mostly for its title song but the rest of the album is just as good. If you're like me, these four CDs will make you hunger for more and so you might end up getting the rest of Seger's CDs. If not, you still will have an excellent CD or two for your record collection. But maybe you're not that interested in getting that deep into the "ancient rock cannon". Short of getting an actual Bob Seger album, there is nothing wrong and everything right in getting this CD and the first GREATEST HITS. Bob will understand.

We Can All Hope....:
Just like the rest of you I would always hope for a greatest hits cd that included "East Side Story", by far his best song, but to do that Mr. Seger would have to go back to the studio and re-record it because the original master tapes have been lost. Thank God for my Hideout 45 of the song.

OK, Bob....:
I never really dug Bob's "blue collar" mentality, but his Silver Bullet Band truly WAS hot as a jumper cable at a Georgia funeral. And I was able to tune out his "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" stuff when I started (huh-huh-huh) "going out dancing" every weekend in '78-'79; that song "The Fire Down Below"....well, let's just say, the song could be interpreted more than ONE way (wherever you are, Doreen, you were absolutely the BEST). And I'm babbling, but that's OK, because I purchased "Bob's Best Vol. I" for all those songs that had, indeed, ignited the fire down below. And the finest two songs that Bob had ever written (well, for Rock and Rollers like me), "Fire Down Below," and "Her Strut" just.....weren't there. I swapped the cd for a used copy of "Night Moves." Ah, but just a couple of months ago, somebody at Capitol or whoever must've received some "feedback" or something, because here's Vol. 2 - and those coveted two songs are #2 and #3! Maybe "Rock and Roll really doesn't ever forget!

Helping round out first hits volume:
In an Amazon.com review I wrote a couple of years ago about Bob Seger's first "Greatest Hits" CD, I of course applauded the music there but lamented the fact that certain songs were missing. Specifically, here is what I said about songs I would like to see on a "volume 2": "...For starters, I would like to see the movie songs "Understanding" and the # 1 "Shakedown" included, as they aren't anywhere else besides their respective sound tracks. As for other album songs, I'd like to see most if not all of the following: "Katmandu" (live version), "Travellin' Man", "Beautiful Loser", "Rock And Roll Never Forgets", "The Fire Down Below", "Feel Like A Number", "The Horizontal Bop", "Her Strut", "Fire Lake", "Let It Rock", "Even Now", "Shame On The Moon", "American Storm", and maybe even "The Real Love" and "Lock And Load" off of his two '90's albums of all new material...." Based on this, how should I grade the actual volume 2 release? In all, 8 of the 17 songs I recommended in the version I specified are on this collection. Another "half a song" credit can go to the classic "Katmandu"; while I prefer the live version, at least it was put on here. So I guess you could say that in my opinion of two years ago they got it exactly half right (8 1/2 of 17 songs "requested" made it to this compilation). In reality, much of the best of what I hoped for is here. First of all, I was foolish to leave the tracks "Sunspot Baby" and the live "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You" off of my list two years ago--they are both great tracks included on this collection. The two movie songs I mentioned, plus a third relatively recent one that I didn't even know about ("Chances Are"--a nice, if generic, duet pop ballad), are here. I was really happy to see rockers like "The Fire Down Below", "Her Strut", and of course "Rock And Roll Never Forgets" included. "Beautiful Loser" is a worthy classic from right before Bob became really big on the pop charts. "Shame On The Moon" and "Fire Lake" are great top 10 hits to include. The later material is misrepresented, as "New Coat Of Paint" and "Manhattan" should be replaced with "The Real Love" and "Lock And Load" off of the two 1990's albums the former tracks were taken from (as stated in my review of two years ago). The two new tracks at the end, "Satisifed" and "Tomorrow" are both surprisingly solid rock tracks--not ballads, proving that Bob may still have a bit of rock left in him. If you have volume 1, get this for a more complete picture of the legendary Bob Seger. It's not perfect, but--as at least one other reviewer said--what compilation is for someone with this long a career? Enjoy it for what it is--and if you need more Bob buy his old original albums. Most if not all of his material is highly recommended for true classic rock fans. This collection is recommended to "round out" the first Greatest Hits CD. Throw in a video for the classic "Turn The Page" on the enhanced CD, and my overall grade of this album is actually closer to 4 1/2 stars.

Contains a lot of rare material:
I'm so pleased this CD has been released. This disc contains all the songs that were missing, obviously, from Greatest Hits 1. Most noteably here are the 2 soundtrack songs that Bob did that were absent from GH1. You'll get the track from "Teachers" and the killer song "Shakedown" from Beverly Hills Cop II. Bottom line, an excellent collection containing not only great music, but a lot of music making it's CD debut. This is one of my favorite CDs out right now along with Mr.Deviant's "Techno Obsession" which is a mix of power rock and hard dance music to make some killer instrumentals.

• Understanding (from the Motion Picture Teachers)
• The Fire Down Below
• Her Strut
• Beautiful Loser
• Sunspot Baby
• Katmandu
• Shame On The Moon
• Fire Lake
• Tryin' To Live My Life Without You (Live)
• Shakedown (from the Motion Picture Beverly Hills Cop II)
• Manhattan
• New Coat Of Paint
• Chances Are (with Martina McBride from the Motion Picture Hope Floats)
• Rock And Roll Never Forgets
• Satisfied
• Tomorrow
• Turn The Page (bonus video)