The anthem goes on
Artiste: The Gaslight Anthem
Nationality: American
Album: Handwritten
Year: 2012
Label: Mercury
Genre: Rock
Tracks:
”45”
Handwritten
Here comes my man
Mulholland Drive
Keepsake
Too much blood
Howl
Biloxi Parish
Desire
Mae
National anthem
Chronological position: Fourth album
Familiarity: “American slang”
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Good hard energetic and honest rock
Best track(s): Handwritten, Here comes my man, Keepsake, Desire
Worst track(s): None
Comments: So The Gaslight Anthem have finally hit the big time, eh? Ditching their much smaller independent label, SideOneDummy to go with giant Mercury, it seems the boys from Jersey have arrived. However, vocalist and guitarist Brian Fallon has said that this album would be more like “The '59 sound”, their album previous to “American slang”, and which I have not heard. I hope this is not a bad thing, as I really fell in love with their music through their 2010 effort, loved it. Not too much to worry about though as it starts with plenty of power and energy, and Fallon's never going to escape the comparisons with Springsteen, but then, who wouldn't want to be considered in the same breath as The Boss?
This album certainly builds on the success of “The '59 sound” and “American slang”, and these guys are just going from strength to strength. The title track is a big, rousing, rollicking rocker with that gravelly drawl carrying the vocal, while there's a lot of Tom Petty in
Keepsake, where the tempo slows down for an anthemic blues rocker. Things stay slow then for
Too much blood, on which Fallon really exercises his pipes and gets a lot of his anger out, while Alex Rosamilia rips off a fine solo. Finishes on a really nice acoustic piece they call
National anthem. Really satisfying album.
Overall impression: More of the same, but when it's TGA, more of the same is good.
Intention: Keep listenin'!