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Release Date: September 12, 2006 Label: Capitol Related Sites: · Official Site Grade: B

The basic construction of a signature Seger tune is firmly in place, with his distinctive throaty vocals singing out working-class lyrics with vaguely rockabilly guitars, and gospel-like background vocal counterpoint. These background vocals are provided by long-time Seger accomplices Shaun Murphy (of Little Feat) and Laura Creamer, perhaps best known as the first vocalist put to Jim Brickman music on the title track to the latter's 1995 album "By Heart". New to the repertoire, however, are a couple of duets that steer Seger toward Nashville territory. The Merle Haggard tribute "Real Mean Bottle" was originally written by Vince Gill for his "Next Big Thing" (2003) album, but gets a barn burning treatment here as a duet with another favorite son of Michigan, Kid Rock (fortunately, the collaborations with Detroit natives stopped there, or Eminem would have been next). The track bursts with enthusiasm. The other duet is on the serene "The Answer's in the Question" with country music's Patty Loveless, who can pretty much sing the phone book as far as I'm concerned -- her vocals are that appealing. She's somewhat underutilized in the song, but is still effective. Pairing these two might have seemed unlikely, but after hearing Seger match wonderfully with Martina McBride on the awesome "Chances Are" from the "Hope Floats" soundtrack, I knew it could work.

The album opens in high gear with "Wreck This Heart," a vigorous rock number that defies his age of 61. Following that is the first single, "Wait For Me," a familiar ballad that features a soaring bridge. The title track is a hard driving tune telling the tale of a young person longing to break out of his small town to "face the promise" of the American Dream. Seger offers politically-minded critiques of consumerism ("Are You"), and treatment of the environment ("Between"). His most potent commentary is on the anti-war "No More" ("Tomorrow is the price for yesterday/A billion waves won't wash away the truth/Someday you'll be ordered to explain/No one gets to walk between the rain"). As on "Like A Rock" ("Twenty years, where'd they go?"), Seger acknowledges the passage of time to make comparisons to current events ("It was forty years ago and I was young and the jungle not the desert heard the guns/Someone said they had a secret plan and the rest of us were told to understand"). It's not quite on par with Neil Young's scathing "Living With War", but it powerfully gets its message across just the same

Closing out the disc is the achingly melancholy "The Long Goodbye". Seger plays all the instruments on this sparse dirge that mimics its subject's slow decline from Alzheimer's Disease. The personal relevance of a song such as this, along with several others that deal with the relationship to his kids, is what makes "Face the Promise" memorable, if musically it seems stuck in a time warp. You haven't heard the last of Bob Seger, after all, and this album is a welcome return.

Versions of "Face the Promise" are packaged with a bonus DVD which includes a career retrospective and a "making of" interview segment with studio footage. Also included are previously unreleased historical concert performances of "Still The Same" and "Hollywood Nights" recorded live in San Diego in 1978. Finally, there's a couple of classic music videos for "The Fire Inside" and "Like A Rock". The latter is a bit of a strange inclusion because it hardly shows Seger in it at all.