Album Review: The '59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem

While the comparisons to the Jersey shore’s golden boy Bruce Springsteen is perhaps lazy for critics, it’s hard not to hear the Gaslight Anthem picking up that mantle from the Boss and running with it on the lovely opener “Great Expectations”. Led by singer Brian Fallon, the group nails the high-energy, Killers-lite title track that sounds a bit like the Replacements circa Tim. There’s a thread through this record that works extremely well, whether it’s the mid-tempo, tight pop of “Old White Lincoln” or the equally gorgeous rock fuelling “High Lonesome”, even if they cop a line or two from Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire”.

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On The ’59 Sound, schoolboys and young girls named Matilda, Sally and Bobby Jean die on a Saturday night, but not before they meet by the river’s edge, stand in the pounding rain and hang out in the backseat. From the evidence presented, we can also reasonably conclude that tramps like these, baby, they were born to run. Which is to say, if some bands wear their influences on their sleeves, the Gaslight Anthem broadcasts its source material with a bullhorn and neon lights.

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