In 2003, when "deluxe editions" and "definitive collections" were the name of the game in reissues, it was refreshing to see
Bob Seger's defiantly retro
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 hit the shelves. The title and the approach hark back to the days when a hits compilation was followed a few years later by a supplement, covering roughly the same territory and adding a few new singles.
Seger's first
Greatest Hits had all the big hits, from
"Night Moves" to
"Old Time Rock & Roll," and while it was very effective at that level, many of his big hits were
ballads, so by extension the hits collection downplayed his
rock & roll, which is was kind of odd for a singer/songwriter known as a passionate rocker. And while there was no arguing with what was on
Greatest Hits, it left off many songs that illustrated his depth as a songwriter -- and that's not even counting that it left his handful of non-LP singles and songs unaccounted for or the fact that it ignored his early
Cameo/
Parkway singles,
the Bob Seger System, or his first seven albums.
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 solves a lot of these problems and is a stronger album than the first
Greatest Hits because of it. While it's still frustrating that
Seger ignores his early material (the
Cameo/
Parkway songs are owned by somebody else, but he certainly could dip into the first seven albums, at least for
"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man"), it's also true that they're of a different aesthetic than the anthemic blue-collar
rock that he first etched out on 1975's
Beautiful Loser. That is the music that made him a star, and that's the music that fuels this collection, all the way through to the lesser-known latter-day sides
"Manhattan" and
"New Coat of Paint," as well as the brand-new cuts
"Satisfied" and
"Tomorrow," two hard-rocking songs that are some of his best music in years. These are good, but they are naturally overshadowed by the songs that form the heart of this collection: the terrific plea for compassion
"Understanding," previously only available on the
soundtrack to
Teachers; grinding hard rockers
"The Fire Down Below," "Her Strut," and
"Sunspot Baby"; the delrious
Chuck Berry homage
"Katmandu," one of his funniest and toughest songs; the
country-tinged
ballads "Shame on the Moon" and
"Fire Lake"; the aching elegy
"Beautiful Loser"; the life-afirming
"Rock and Roll Never Forgets," one of the best songs about aging within
rock & roll. In this context, even the too-produced heavily synthesized
"Shakedown" -- his contribution to 1987's
Beverly Hills Cop II and his only number one hit, never available on a
Seger album until now -- turns into a good time. Sure, there are a few songs that probably should have made the cut -- most notably
"Feel Like a Number" and
"Even Now" -- but as it stands,
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 is an excellent supplement to the first collection and a hell of a lot more fun to listen to as well. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine