•
Rating: The credit goes to the boss. Before singing "The 59 Sound" together with the Gaslight Anthem (it's June 29, 2009, it's Hyde Park) the group of Brian Fallon, the heavily tattooed leader of the New Jersey band, was just a punk n roll group relatively unknown with two albums well-received by critics (the raw "Sink or Swim" and the more focused "The 59 Sound") which in their lyrics unabashedly cited the entire American songbook (in High Lonesome there was even an entire chorus borrowed from Round Here by Counting Crows, and Meet Me By The River Edge referenced No Surrender and Bobby Jean in the same verse); the first time I heard it I fell off my chair. "No, it's too much" I groaned while I memorized the songs, getting carried away by the catchy melodies.
Live, the group earned their keep by playing with the necessary fury their urgent songs full of workers, broken dreams, broken bones, betrayed lovers and betrayers, and distracted loves. Brian Fallon, with a voice that's hoarse and expressive just enough yet certainly not refined, made up for the off-key notes with a blue-collar attitude and honesty worn with pride. Even the rest of the group, with the exception of the machine gun drummer Ben Horovit, certainly didn't shine for their musical virtues. But the songs got people singing along and often invited raising a fist, which was quite painful for someone like me with a dislocated shoulder.
Buoyed by the hype generated by the Boss (whom they openly admit to being inspired by) the Gaslight Anthem in 2010 released their third album, "American Slang", like the previous one produced by Ted Hutt, who also worked with Jesse Malin and Lucero.
Compared to "The 59 Sound" the sound is more varied and the lyrics become more personal and intense. The themes are the usual but there's more introspection and less citation.
The early fury gives way to a more mature rock, with softer tones but not lighter for that matter. Tom Petty and Springsteen, with few exceptions, remain in their heads but don't appear in the words.
The title track is a call to arms with a dry and authoritative gait. Fallon talks about dead fathers and wasted opportunities, and the rest of the group plays as only they know how.
The difficulties of love appear in Bring it On, a poisoned declaration to a girl from whom "the fevers that just won't break and the children you don't wanna raise" are demanded back while the shuffle of The Diamond Church Street Choir takes us back to the boss in the year 1973. Brian screams like a Cossack and shows he has taken singing lessons (but I want to hear it live, dude). The chorus is so catchy it would cheer up even a truck driver whose Playboy calendar was stolen. Orphans draws inspiration from the man from New Jersey, and Fallon is not afraid to admit it in the lyrics where he references the fountains where he drank the blood of his hero. The collection is joined by Boxer, with a Hip Hop intro quickly swept away by a nice whistlable riff, and Old Haunts and Spirit of Jazz which, if they don't add much, at least maintain a high level.
The roundup closes with We Did it When We Were Young, a phenomenal, two-voiced ballad that puts Here's Looking at you, Kid from the previous album and half of the songs released in the past two years to shame. A piece so intense that every time it ends I have to drink a glass of water.
In short, an album that highlights the strengths of the previous works and eliminates the flaws. The masterpieces are elsewhere, but if you're looking for a good album from the first to the last song, you can give "American Slang" a chance.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 American Slang (03:41)
Look what you started,
I seem to be coming out of my skin
Look what you've forgotten here
The bandages just don't keep me in
And when it was over, I woke up alone
And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
I got your name tattooed inside of my arm
I called for my father but my father had died
While you told me fortunes, in American Slang
Look at the damage,
The fortunes came for the richer men.
While we're left with gallows,
Waiting for us liars to come down and hang.
And when it was over, I woke up alone
And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
I got your name tattooed inside of my arm
I called for my father but my father had died
While you told me fortunes, in American Slang
And here's where we died that time last year,
And here's where the angels and devils meet.
And you can dance with the queen if you need,
And she will always keep your cards
Close to her heart oooh
So close to her heart before they tear you apart
When they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
I got your name tattooed inside of my arm
And I called for my father but my father had died
I called for my father but my father had died
While you told me fortunes, in American Slang
You told me fortunes, in American Slang
02 Stay Lucky (03:08)
It took so long to get me back on my feet
It takes so long to find the words and the beat
And Charlie's waiting on the end of the phone
To hear you call on him to try to recapture
But them old records won't be saving your soul
And them feelings got the reasons you know
That you've forgotten somewhere
Riding a train to place
You are out in the cold cold
And it feels like all you'd have to do
Is step outside
Stop pacing around and waiting for some moment
That might never arrive
But you're never gonna find it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
Nothing feels right in the wintery cold
Steam, heat, clang, and the dark at your door
All the other rooms are a party tonight
And you never got an invitation
And you feel in your bones
Steady aching and more
Twenty five years gone just an hour ago
Momma never told me there'd be days like these
Until it was much too late to recover
And it feels like all you'd have to do
Is step outside
Stop pacing around and waiting for some moment
That might never arrive
But you're never gonna find it
When your knees got so weak
But it's right here in case you need it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
When you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
But it feels like you just might explode inside
You've been pacing around and waiting
For some moment that might never arrive at all
What you don't have, you don't need it anymore
What you don't have, you don't need it anymore
But you're never gonna find it
When your knees got so weak
But it's right here in case you need it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
When you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
If you're anywhere in Manhattan
In the next eight days or so
Let me know
Speak to stay lucky
03 Bring It On (03:27)
My queen of the Bronx
Blue eyes and spitfire
I saw you walking back and forth
About another boy
Thinking that you may want to leave
So give me the fevers that just won't break
And give me the children you don't want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it's better than my love
Then bring it on
And take it back out to the streets
Where you know you used to be
For the Romeos of town
If I bring you down
And you're tired of those vows
And you're really walking out
So give me the fevers that just won't break
And give me the children you don't want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it's better than my love
Baby, bring it on
Oh, bring it on
Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home
I'm hearing that he tells you he can read your thoughts
Is he better than my love
Better than my love
Is he better than my love
Better than my love
So I found the letters with the reason to things
You've been feeling that
He says they'll never know
And you say the night just got too cold
Well everybody's cold
Who's gonna keep my baby warm
Who's gonna keep my baby warm
When everybody goes
So give me the fevers that just won't break
And give me the children you don't want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it's better than my love
Well then wait a minute, wait a minute
Was he not good to you
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Was he not good to you
Wait a minute, wait a minute
You don't know what's good for you
So give me the fevers that just won't break
And give me the children you don't want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
You've been baby for so long
Come on, bring it on
Oh, bring it on
Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home
I'm hearing that he tells you he can read your thoughts
If he's better than my love
Then go on, take it all
04 The Diamond Church Street Choir (03:12)
Now the lights go low on the avenue
And the cars pass by in the rain
University boys and the girls fill the bars
While I'm just waiting for the light to change
And the steam heat pours from the bodies on the floor
In the basement where the Jacknives play
For the hub city girls in the ribbons and the curls
Who know the meaning of staying out late
The know the meaning of staying out very, very late
Singing
Who does it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir
Woah, nobody knows
I've been crazy for so long without you
They'll find me beat down out in the universe
Though I'll never forget where I'm from
I might have moved away from home
And slept out there on my own
A million miles away in the stone
But the beat never leaves
And the temple's a relief
To my aching bones, rambling all over
And if I'm gone for too long
I can always hum along
So don't never forget what I told you
So don't never forget what I told you
Everybody singing
Who does it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir
Woah, nobody knows
I've been crazy for so long without you
Just, baby who sings the rhythm and the blues
So sad, so slow, so smooth
Like I do, like I do
And oh, ain't it just like you want to
And oh, ain't it just like you always wanted to
Every night waiting
So long without you
Baby, who sings it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir
Woah, nobody knows
I've been crazy for so long without you
Just, baby who sings the rhythm and the blues
So sad, so slow
Like I do
And just like you want to
06 Orphans (03:23)
Goodbye circus wheel
May you rest along the sea
I have given you the fire of my youth
And the triumph o're my enemies
Goodbye fair weather home, and your faithless factories
I have given you the blood and the truth
from the wounds they laid onto me
And whatever they left, well, I kept it for my own heart
And the lonesome all understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons of these songs
And now my lights, they never go down
they waltz the moon and stars for me now
So you can find some local libertine
to take your daughters out on the town
And I can feel it in my aging bones
How the sound of the rain mixes up
into the fountains where I drank my hero's blood
So I left you to find my very own hat full of rain
And the lonesome all understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons of these songs
Now I'm trying to keep it straight
Learning all the streets and the alleyways
And learning where they lead
Now that I'm left alone here to drive
But it's so hard to stand on your own
Against mirror of glass, hard and cold
But the clothes I wore
Just don't fit my soul anymore
No the clothes I wore
Just don't fit my soul anymore
And the lonesome all understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons of these songs
When we were young
We were diamond Sinatras
Like something I saw in a dream
We kept our secrets in rooms
locked up tight like a tomb
Where the ballerinas lay
07 Boxer (02:47)
Got your pride and your prose
Tucked just like a Tommy gun
Somewhere in the smoke
Just in case you need it
I know you got your pride and your prose
Tucked just like a Tommy gun
Somewhere in the smoke
Just in case you needed
Some of her to spin around
Rougher than the last one
Oh, what'd you used to say
The harder they come
But he just swears he's praying for a good time
He, he said he just doesn't miss her
And I have heard you never really lose it
Do you, do you
He took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
He found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something, baby, holding you down
And there were whispers that were driving you crazy
And now you hunt the heart of this town
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
And you tied two knuckles up
How they grind down
Tried to be a man
Tough just like your father
Try to settle down
Boy, I could calm down
Remember them songs
And the reasons we were singing
But he said he just doesn't miss her
He, he said it's somewhere in his framework
And I have heard you never really lose it
Do you, do you
He took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
He found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something, baby, holding you down
And there were reasons that were driving you crazy
Until you hunt the heart of this town
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
And you can wait all night long
Until it all goes wrong
And you waste away your soul
And you can wait, wait, wait, wait
You took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
You found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something, baby, holding you down
And there were whispers that were driving you crazy
Until you hunt the heart of this town
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
10 We Did It When We Were Young (04:16)
Don't write me no more letters
My mailbox is full of bombs
Between you and the kooks on my block
I don't remember the good times
I wasn't there and you were kind
And my wife has some dogs in our yard
And I cannot hold a candle for every pretty girl
We were strangers many hours
And I missed you for so long
When we were lions, lovers in combat
Faded like your name on those jeans that I burned
But I am older now
And we did it when we were young
I am older now
And we did it when we were young
There are no reasons to believe
I buried my faith on the block
With your heart and your clothes
When I find
I don't feel you or recall
I'll put your bones out in the yard
Someone else to be called and called by
And I cannot hold a candle for every pretty girl
We were strangers many hours
And I missed you for so long
When we were lions, lovers in combat
Faded like your name on those jeans that I burned
But I am older now
And we did it when we were young
I am older now
And we did it when we were young
Loading comments slowly
