Music Review: Ride Out

Ride Out, the seventeenth album from the prolific singer-songwriter Bob Seger, is reportedly the final album of his storied fifty-five year career. It is a real shame; his music, both solo and with the Silver Bullet Band, has been a high-quality staple of roots-rock for decades now. Luckily, fans will find that his new album is something to cheer about. Ride Out is a likable and jovial album that functions as a fitting swan song for Seger.

Nothing on this album is quite as good as Night Moves or some of his other evocative, bluesy work from his ‘70s and ‘80s creative peak, but as a whole it is perfectly satisfying. Ride Out finds Seger working with collaborators such as Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, John Hiatt and Steve Earle on his usual fare of guitar-driven mid-tempo jams. His collaboration with Tweedy, a cover of famed folk singer Woody Guthrie’s “California Stars,” is one of the highlights of the album. It is a tastefully done version of a song that did not need much changing from its original. Seger imbues Guthrie’s lyrics with a sense of wonder and longing, and Tweedy provides able backing vocals and harmonies. The instrumentation is gorgeously spare as well. Seger has never extensively dabbled in synths, and he knows exactly how to arrange these songs to showcase music and vocals.

This no-frills philosophy extends to much of the rest of Ride Out, as well. Besides “California Stars,” there are many other tracks worth checking out. There is not anything here that could be considered a major stylistic departure, but Seger has forged his half-decade-long career off of an instantly recognizable sound. The best song on Ride Out is by far the closing “Gates of Eden,” which is just beautiful. A stunning examination of death and the afterlife, Seger sings about how he hopes to find the gates of Eden when he is dead and gone. It is a gorgeous exploration of difficult themes that he manages to elevate beyond the usual bundle of clichés.

Overall, Ride Out is more of the same from Bob Seger, but that is by no means a bad thing. His style has proved enduringly popular for many, many years now, and it is a shame that this nicely rendered album will be his last.