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Rating: Sincerity, in music, is a very subjective and much-debated quality that does not necessarily coincide with skill. Indeed, there are few artists who have both, and even fewer are the artists who, having both, achieve success.
These four musicians from New Jersey, however, are among the most sincere young artists I have heard in quite some time. Their debut album, "Sink Or Swim" (the English version of “O la va o la spacca”), with angry and gritty punk music and lyrics that pay homage – sometimes almost plagiarize – in a philological manner to the historical tradition of American songwriting, from Springsteen to Petty to Dylan to Waits to Creedence Clearwater Revival. The images, in particular, the stories of driving with old Cadillacs, diners open until dawn, and nighttime beach getaways recall the mythology of Springsteen's first three albums.
Let’s be clear, we are still looking at a rather unripe work, recorded with the urgency of a band that had found a specific sound and was eagerly longing to break into the scene; some songs, like Boomboxes and dictionaries or I’da called you Woody, Joe, a homage to the founder of the Clash, seem like fillers, and the song that closes the album, Red at night, is a bland country-folk tune that doesn't leave a mark.
However, in the middle section of the album, there is a beautiful selection of gems. From the nostalgia of We came to dance, which celebrates the death of rock and roll, to the explosive pain of 1930, dedicated to the singer's grandmother who died of Alzheimer's (You said "I love you more than the stars in the sky,/But your name just escapes me tonight."), to the Dantean darkness of The Navesink Banks, probably the most beautiful acoustic song the group has written so far, to the farewell of We’re getting a divorce, you keep the diner, which deserved to be the album’s closing track.
The singer doesn’t have a pitch-perfect voice, but despite his young age, it is hoarse and seasoned just right; the band is not composed of virtuosos, but the sound is tight and cohesive.
In conclusion, we are faced with an excellent debut album, despite some excesses and fillers, mistakes that the Gaslight Anthem have managed to refine in subsequent albums, perhaps losing a bit of the spontaneity that nevertheless continues to be one of their main qualities.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 1930 (03:44)
Give me mercy and I need it now, I�m a bleed a little poison out, I�m a cry a little river down and then I�m setting this whole thing on fire, and I�m burning up the night she died and I�m putting every last picture aside I�m gonna say what I need to say, in my very last letter to you, cuz you always made it clear, said that you�d never be my pain. So here�s to you when you cried baby blues And just paused a cool to refrain And you said she was satisfied and this body�s just waiting to die and I could listen sometimes but you said its alright its just a whole lot harder alone. But I wish you knew her now, she�s a better side of me now, and I�m doing the best I can, its what you wanted, and I sing like you were there and I knew it was just how you would smile Mary you looked just like it was 1930 that night. But hear the nights they will eat you alive, but I won�t give in tonight, You said its not worth my time and not to record them, And not to settle just a piece of mind but I can wait it out all night, And we keep on breathing [sigh] But Mary I found a sound and this heart keeps pouring it out and the glory has come, but its probably gonna fade like the tattoo that hides this shame and the reasons always fade and the pain gets out some day and I�m saying my goodbyes deeply wise cuz I don�t know how to say Stay still in the pain But I wish you knew her now, she�s a better side of me now, and I�m doing the best I can, its what you wanted, and I sing like you were there and I knew it was just how you smile Mary you looked just like it was 1930 that night If I recall the last thing you said to me, before we broke up, before it took you from me, and you said I love you more than the stars in the sky but your aliveness just gets me tonight
09 Angry Johnny and the Radio (03:00)
Don't think twice,
I still believe it John.
We Lived those nights,
Like we were dying.
On the long haul drive,
For our Amaria.
With the ragged sails high,
And the radio on.
And I always have remembered,
In case you're wondering,
84 takes a lifetime,
And Bobby does it better.
I still sing 'em ragged for you and Maria.
I don't drive nowhere,
Without the radio on.
And I'm still here singin',
Thinking about the government,
In my old man shoes,
And how you'd understand that.
Are you hidin' in a basement,
Mixing up the medicine?
Every April Fool's I say your name,
I know your name.
I still know your name.
And I always have remembered,
In case you're wondering,
84 takes a lifetime,
And Bobby does it better.
I still sing 'em ragged for you and Maria.
I don't drive nowhere,
Without the radio on.
On, and on, and on, and on...
1, 2...
1, 2, 3, 4...
And I always have remembered,
In case you're wondering,
84 takes a lifetime,
And Bobby does it better.
I still sing 'em ragged for you and Maria.
I don't drive nowhere,
Without the radio on.
We always loved the sad sad songs.
We always loved the sad sad songs.
We always loved the sad sad songs.
We always loved the sad sad...
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