The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

So, the Gaslight Anthem. Through some pretty relentless touring- not to mention some killer songs- they became darlings of the underground punk community. At least, the portion of said community that spent hours and hours hitting refresh to drop witty comments on Punknews.org. Personally, over the course of a year, (2008) I saw them go from opening for the Loved Ones, headlining a 90 person room, headlining a 600 person room, and finally opening on a national tour for Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, and Thrice. During that year, they managed to release the much-lauded The ’59 Sound and expand their audience significantly. Backlash, sell outs (except they’re still on an indie, kids), etc. They kept at it, touring hard, building a fanbase, playing with Bruce Springsteen in the UK. Crazy.

Now, in 2010, they’re dropping their follow-up to The ’59 Sound, the greatly-anticipated American Slang.

First things first, that reverb on the vocals that so defined The ’59 Sound is nowhere to be found. Neither, for that matter, is the oft-mentioned Maria, or Virginia. And, aside from the use of an old line from “The Navesink Banks,” singer Brian Fallon is apparently done (for now) referencing other songs in his songs. I guess after building nearly an entire song on lyrical references (“High Lonesome”) it was time to scale it back.

Musically, the album continues on the move away from the punk sound of their first album and EP, and toward the sort of working class rock’n'roll that we saw on The ’59 Sound. The music is still distinctively the Gaslight Anthem, and while Brian sounds a bit odd in places- namely, the fantastic “Old Haunts”- his clear, slightly raspy voice hasn’t changed much, which is good, ’cause it might be one of my favorite voices out there today.

The lyrics here seem to reflect one big change in the band; that Brian doesn’t live in New Jersey anymore, so no more references to Jersey nights, or such things. Also, he’s settled into the band’s fame, so no more wide-eyed gazing toward the legendary Hollywood (as opposed to the Hollywood that actually exists). In fact, he lives in Brooklyn, and there are various references to that (“Bring It On,” “The Queen of Lower Chelsea,” also the Williamsburg Bridge on the album cover). Youth, of course, comes up a few times, both in looking back on it (“Stay Lucky”) and the acceptance of its passing. (“Orphans,” “Old Haunts”) Being roughly the same age as Brian, the reluctant giving up on certain parts of youth resonate, as it would with anyone met felt the uncomfortable transition to real adulthood with discomfort and uncertainty.

I’m a huge fan of this record. I think the lyrics are the same sort of earnestness that could be eye-rollingly cheesy if he didn’t mean it so damn much with the catchy, powerful rock music that they’ve come to specialize in. The Springsteen idolatry is still here, but it’s less-so now; the band is comfortable in its own voice and sound, and this, likely, is the record that will really, truly break them in the mainstream. If The ’59 Sound set up the pins, this is the album that will knock ‘em all down. Highly recommended.

The Gaslight Anthem - Sink or Swim

The Gaslight Anthem released one of 2008′s best albums, The ’59 Sound. That was their sophomore effort, and is one three releases of new material they’ve put out in their short time together (the others being this, Sink or Swim, and the Señor & the Queen EP). So let’s take a trip in the Wayback Machine to the long-forgotten year of twenty-ought-seven, when a young quartet of New Jersey punks released their debut LP.

Coming out of the Jersey punk scene, these guys have a sound that’s reminiscent of bands like the Bouncing Souls; muscular guitar work, somewhat gruff vocals, and a heavy sense of melody. The Souls are a clear influence on the band, but so are more diverse artists. Bruce Springsteen, New Jersey’s favorite son, stands out most. The Clash are also revered by these guys; the song “Ida Called You Woody, Joe” is a tribute to the late, great Joe Strummer.

The music on this album is primarily fast-paced punk rock. It’s not hardcore, and it’s not quite traditional pop-punk, though it certainly owes a certain debt to the latter camp. The guitar work by lead guitarist Alex Rosamilia is fantastic, especially on songs like opener “Boomboxes & Dictionaries,” “I Coul’da Been a Contender,” and “We’re Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner.” The band only slows it down twice; on the quick, but very enjoyable “The Navesink Banks” about halfway through the album, and for the closer “Red At Night.”

Most of the songs seem inspired to set kids into a frenzy of fist-pumping and finger-pointing sing-a-longs in sweaty basement shows across the country, or at least across New Brunswick. And without exception, the songs succeed. In particular, I would call out “Angry Johnny and the Radio” for this; the song starts kind of slow, then about a third of the way through, after a short break, builds into a soulful shout-along anthem. Having seen this song performed live a couple of times, I’d say it is incredibly effective.

Singer/guitarist Brian Fallon’s lyrics mostly have to do with girls names “Maria.” (later, on the aforementioned EP, he would sing “We call every girl we ever met Maria”) There’s a lot of heartbreak, perhaps because, as he sings on “Angry Johnny:” “We always love the sad, sad songs.” The songs essentially paint a portrait of a Jersey scene that tends to evoke visions of the ’50s. The themes are simple, but effective; filled with memorable hooks and lines that you’ll find yourself singing to yourself for days after.

All in all, it’s an incredibly impressive debut, and definitely suggests the band will only get better from here on out.

Various Artists - All Aboard: A Tribute to Johnny Cash

Now, I think we can all agree that tribute albums are hit-or-miss affairs, at best; often, the albums are terrible, and offer no compelling evidence to justify their existences. How many times have you listened to a tribute album to an artist you like and not come away thinking “I’d have rather had this as a ‘Greatest Hits’ package?” I bet it’s a handful. We’re not even going to talk about genre/era “tributes,” since more often than not those are just “hip” bands making ironic covers that they think are HI-LARIOUS. (Notable example: the late’90s Metaliska album. That shit was so good)

And it’s with that in mind that one enters into this, Anchorless Records’ (based out of Allston, MA!) tribute to Johnny Cash. They’ve assembled a punk-centric collection of artists like the Bouncing Souls, the Gaslight Anthem, Chuck Ragan (of Hot Water Music), MxPx, the Loved Ones, and others, along with local favorites gone national, the Dresden Dolls. So the talent is strong, not a bunch of rookie bands looking to make a name for themselves with an ironic cover of a classic. Remember how well that worked out for Alien Ant Farm?

The songs here are all quality, of course; Johnny Cash had a great catalog of songs, and this is a fine sampling of the man’s material. And the interpretations do a good job of mixing styles. Some of them play the songs truer to the originals than others; while Chuck Ragan’s largely-acoustic take on “Wreck of the Old ’97″ is a straight version, MxPx do a great pop-punk version of “Hey Porter.” And the Gaslight Anthem’s sound is well-suited to “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” The Dresden Dolls’ “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” is a definite highlight, their inherent theatricality (almost entirely due to Amanda’s voice) along with some wonderful instrumentation and backing vocals, makes the song their own.

Not all of the songs here work as well or are as memorable as those mentioned above, but all in all, the covers here are solid, and are very enjoyable. It’s clear that the artists involved aren’t playing the songs with a sly wink and a smirk on their faces, but actually respect and enjoy the original works. This album is a worthwhile listen for fans of Johnny Cash, or any of the bands involved.

The Gaslight Anthem - The

If you’re at all tuned into the punk world, this has to have been one of the mostly hotly-anticipated releases of 2008, perhaps second only to the new Dillinger Four record.

And with good reason; in 2007, New Jersey’s the Gaslight Anthem delivered one of the year’s surprise hits with their debut LP, Sink or Swim. As I understand it, they had no recorded output up until that point, so their acclaim had come based solely on word-of-mouth and a killer live show. Then the album dropped, and it sent shockwaves through the scene. They capped off 2007 by opening for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones on night 1 of the 10th Hometown Throwdown in Boston, MA.

So, with one quick stop at the Señor and the Queen EP released earlier in the year, that brings us to August 2008, when the band unleashed its sophomore effort on the world. And it would be fair to say it took the punk world by storm, and breached into the mainstream; they became the first band to appear on the cover of Kerrang! magazine without a single word having been written about them previously. Other mainstream publications began to take notice; the band was even written up in the New York Times.

All this acclaim was with good reason. The band took their New Jersey punk anthems, mixed them with the soul influences we all knew they had, turned down the distortion, and wrapped that music around the colorful stories that characterize singer/guitarist Brian Fallon’s lyrics; songs about love, death, music that gets you through the bad times, and girls named Maria. The lyrics are strong, and make for great, sing-a-long choruses in a live setting or in your bedroom. The stories he tells are filled with young men and young women, seeing each other despite what her parents think of him (“Miles Davis & the Cool”), or sitting in the diner with a cup of coffee, waiting for the girl who never shows (“Here’s Lookin’ At You, Kid”). Even if you haven’t been there, you know the emotions, and you can feel those emotions in Fallon’s voice. The lyrics are universal, if perhaps stuck in a certain time and place; there are no modern references in these lyrics, no iPods or Internet. In the aforementioned “Miles Davis…,” the protagonist summons his love to the window not with a phone call or a text message, but a stone, tossed up at her window.

The album is amazingly solid; no sophomore slump here! Every song is extremely listenable, and it’s the kind of album that gets better with subsequent listens. And you could even call it a crossover album. It definitely attracts a non-punk audience as well as the punks who were fans of Sink or Swim.

I can’t recommend this album highly enough. One of the best releases in 2008. To get a good feel for the album, I recommend checking out the tracks “Great Expectations,” “The ’59 Sound,” “High Lonesome,” “Miles Davis & the Cool,” or “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.” Yeah, I know, like half the album.

Oh yeah, and “Casanova, Baby!” as well. I’m telling you, it’s all really good.

Rating: 5 stars

Note: if you get the album via iTunes, it comes with a bonus track, a cover of “Once Upon a Time” by Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise. It caps off the album well. If you buy the CD, you can find the track online just about anywhere.