.
"Bob Seger recorded the bulk of Night Moves before
Live Bullet brought him his first genuine success, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it's similar in spirit to the introspective
Beautiful Loser,
even if it rocks harder and longer. Throughout much of the album, he's
coming to grips with being on the other side of 30 and still rocking. He
floats back in time, turning in high-school memories, remembering when
wandering down "Mainstreet" was the highlight of an evening, covering a
rockabilly favorite in "Mary Lou." Stylistically, there's not much
change since
Beautiful Loser, but the difference is that Seger and his
Silver Bullet Band
-- who turn in their first studio album here -- sound intense and
ferocious, and the songs are subtly varied. Yes, this is all hard rock,
but the acoustic ballads reveal the influence of
Dylan and
Van Morrison,
filtered through a Midwestern sensibility, and the rockers reveal more
of Seger's personality than ever. Seger may have been this consistent
before (on
Seven,
for example), but the mood had never been as successfully varied, nor
had his songwriting been as consistent, intimate, and personal.
Thankfully, this was delivered to a mass audience eager for Seger, and
it not only became a hit, but one of the universally acknowledged high
points of late-'70s rock & roll. And, because of his passion and
craft, it remains a thoroughly terrific record years later."--Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic
Playlist shown in second photo.