Stranger in Town [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Bob Seger | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 25, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00005OAE6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  CD-ROM  |  Unknown Binding
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,275 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #27 in Music > Rock > Singer-Songwriters

Track Listings

1. Hollywood Nights

2. Still The Same

3. Old Time Rock & Roll

4. Till It Shines

5. Feel Like A Number

6. Ain't Got No Money

7. We've Got Tonite

8. Brave Strangers

9. The Famous Final Scene

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A working-class hero is something to be. Just ask Michigan native Bob Seger, whose R&B-based rock and poetically uncomplicated lyrics made him a less cerebral alternative to Bruce Springsteen. For those who want the studio album that comes closest to a greatest-hits package, you can hardly do better than this 1978 LP. The follow-up to the previous year's smash, Night Moves, Stranger scored Seger a triple-platinum home run with can't-shake-'em-from-your-head hits like "Hollywood Nights," "Still the Same," "Till It Shines," and "We've Got Tonight." And even if the jukebox staple "Old Time Rock & Roll" has grown stale with time, Seger and company balance it out with the epic melancholy of the album's closer, "Famous Final Scene." Backed by incessant touring, Stranger in Town erased any lingering doubts about Seger's talent for crafting blue-collar rock anthems, cementing a reputation and a sound that's continued to hold up for decades. --Bill Forman

Product Description

Seger eclipsed the breakthrough success of Night Moves with this #4 LP in '78, one of the definitive rock 'n' roll records of its era. Old Time Rock & Roll (a hit in '79 and again in '83, thanks to Risky Business ) joins three other Seger essentials: the big hits Still the Same; Hollywood Nights , and We've Got Tonight !

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This time they got it right!, September 25, 2001

By 

doublehighc (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stranger in Town (Audio CD)

Stranger In Town is one of Bob Seger's all time best studio albums. But anyone will tell you that, and the proof is in the music: superb songs like "Hollywood Nights", "Feel Like A Number", and "The Famous Final Scene", as well as the perenially popular "Old Time Rock & Roll".

So how is the remastering? Wasn't the remastering of Live Bullet a disappointment? Yes, but there is a different team in place here. Robert Vosgien has done a superb job on this remastering, and the packaging includes the insert photos that were missing from the original release.

What you get in this release that was missing in the original CD are nuances and inflections - lots of them. Listen to all the things Bob does with the lyrics to "Brave Strangers". Hear the remarkable hi-hat work of Dave Teegarden in "Hollywood Nights." Delight in the resonance of the acoustic guitar strings on "Still The Same."

Yes, there is some tape hiss, but that is a good thing. This is the type of album where removing all the hiss would remove much of the music along with it. Thank goodness that mistake has been avoided here.

What we have is a classic rock album, in all senses of those words, restored to all its magnificent glory. Don't miss it!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Stunning Album........, March 24, 2002

By 

Jon (Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stranger in Town (Audio CD)

If I were to compile my Top 100 all-time favourite albums, then this Bob Seger effort would definitely appear in the upper echelons of that chart. Sadly, Bob Seger never received the recognition he deserved for this, or any other album he released in the UK, so chances are most people don't know much about the man who was running head-to-head (Stateside) in the popularity stakes with Bruce Springsteen in his pre-"Born In The USA" days.

If people compared Seger to Springsteen, "Stranger In Town" likened Seger to the Eagles. The music on this CD was maybe not as 'country rock' as the latter was better known for, but it's certainly similar in style and in mood - qualities that saw Seger guest appear with the Eagles on tour in the 70s. In other words, "Stranger In Town" typifies the musical genre known as 'middle of the road'.

Quite remarkably for a studio album - and I don't normally say this except for a 'greatest hits' collection - there aren't any substandard tracks on this CD. It's a rather short album, but the nine songs featured have stood well against the test of time - and are all bona-fide 'classics' on your favourite 'easy listening' radio station.

'Hollywood Nights' kicks off the CD - a track taken from the same musical mould that produced The Eagles' 'Life In The Fast Lane' - a tale of living the high life in 70s California. Other upbeat radio-friendly rock tracks follow with (the classic) 'Old Time Rock And Roll', 'Feels Like A Number' (another Eagles-like song) and 'Ain't Got No Money'.

But it's the ballads that really make this album. 'Still The Same', 'Till It Shines' and 'Brave Strangers' were all destined to elevate Bob Seger into the mainstream. However, there's two tracks that should've elevated Seger into superstardom. 'We've Got Tonight' - probably the best known song on the CD - is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful ballads I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. With all it's heart-wrenching emotion, sung and performed to such perfection, it seems almost blasphemous to listen to any of the countless - and let me say, inferior cover versions that have been recorded over the years.

My own personal favourite track on "Stranger In Town" is the one used to end the album. 'The Famous Final Scene' - a song about the end of a relationship - ranks alongside Meat Loaf's 'For Crying Out Loud' as one of the most thought-provoking ballads that will tug at the heart-strings of even the most cold-hearted person on the planet. And the last few seconds of the song are guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine!

The Eagles had their "Hotel California", Springsteen had his "Born To Run". For Bob Seger, his definitive studio album was "Stranger In Town". Forget about his 'Greatest Hits' CD - a collection that didn't do the man justice - if you want to hear the real talent behind this criminally ignored artist, then this is the album you need to buy. I promise you won't regret it.

Jon.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome, Stranger, November 29, 2000

By 

Eric V. Moye (New York, by way of Dallas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stranger in Town (Audio CD)

You just cannot have a full collection of rock & roll without this early offering from one of the last great rockers. He was doing (here, and elsewhere) what some call 'blue collar rock' before The Boss made so wildly popular.

This album is a killer. "Still The Same", "Famous Final Scene" are harbingers of his potential. His rendition of "We've Got Tonight" is a sweet song of seduction. The masterpiece, however, is "Hollywood Nights" which may be one of the greatest hard driving pure unadulterated rock & roll songs ever laid down. Play this in the car, and get another 10 m.p.h out of any vehicle!