Say hello to The Gaslight Anthem. Dare I suggest the majority of you haven’t heard of them?? Well, some might know them simply as the band that got Bruce Springsteen to join them on stage during their performance at Glastonbury this year. Well, this is their album “The ’59 Sound”.
Released in 2008 on SideOneDummy Records, it’s a twelve-track album which instantly personifies the ‘Americana’ type of band. Big choruses, full of melodies and short instrumental interludes and breakdowns – usually surrounding a glitzy guitar solo.
The opening track, “Great Expectations”, is just that. Big glorious choruses and verses that contain muted guitar riffs and snare-infected drum loops. The reference to Bruce Springsteen early is clear to see in their music – it’s genuine rock music. Listen to it on your stereo, and then imagine to loud and it can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
The album’s title track was the first experience I had of the band, and it still stands out to me as one of, if not the best track off the album. The reason? The catchy chorus, which starts with lead singer Brian Fallon crying out “Did you hear the 59 sound?” is infectious. I’m a sucker for songs like this, and many people are…a few of you will love it too if you hear it for the first time after reading this.
Tracks such as “Old Lincoln White” and “High Lonesome” went by relatively unannounced on my first couple of listen to the album, but that’s possibly due to the first couple of great tracks. But give them their due, they equally strong tracks and prove that throughout the album there’s not just a couple of tracks acting as the spine of the album – there’s plenty of highlights rather than plenty of basic filler music.
There are moments when a punk element outweighs the Americana side of things – “The Patient Ferris Wheel” is a song that oozes ‘punk’ due to the opening guitar riff and drum beat. Very fast, distorted and something not too dissimilar to the likes of the Offspring.
Other highlights include “Casanova, Baby!” - a song that combines quieter verses and loud choruses. Fallon’s gravel-like vocals work perfectly on this track. They use the age-old patent of stopping the music while the singer proclaims something before kicking back into the chorus. Works every time.
I think it’s rather obvious I’d recommend this little number. Yes, some people will argue many tracks are frankly too ‘similar’ for this to be a five-star album, and where it to be five-star then we’d all have to argue that more of you will have heard of this band. But do yourself a favour a make your new favourite band of the day the Gaslight Anthem. If the Boss is happy to grace the same stage as them then they must be half decent!
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