Sunday, January 4, 2009

Album Review: The Gaslight Anthem's The '59 Sound

My apologies for being a very infrequent poster as of late. I redesigned the site. I hope you like it! Thanks to Iron Design for the great logo. But here I am in 2009 and I'm ready to roll.

The Gaslight Anthem is a band from New Jersey that combines melodic punk (think Social Distortion) with the storytelling of Bruce Springsteen. While location is important for most bands, it is especially true for this quartet due to the comparisons they have drawn to Springsteen. To me, the major points of comparison lie in the populism of Brian Fallon's lyrics and the epic quality of their songs. Throw in some soul and blues and you've got it. This is people's music.

The '59 Sound is the band's second full length album and it's really amazing. I don't know how I missed it when it came out in August. But had I heard it then, it certainly would have been on my 2008 top 10 list. The songwriting is fantastic. The interplay between the two guitars, especially the lead lines of Alex Rosamilia, make repeated listening a joy, discovering nuanced details of the tunes that I hadn't heard before.

What makes The '59 Sound so special is the excellent songs played with a sometimes you have to live as though you've nothing left to loose passion. And that has made me very passionate about this band.

You can stream the whole album here.

Or check out this live video of the title track.

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