![]() Even before that anxiety was given a social media-friendly name (“FOMO” or “Fear of Missing Out”), it was at the core of what The Gaslight Anthem are all about. There’s an emotional disease that Czech author Milan Kundera touches on in his novel Life Is Elsewhere, in which the sufferer always feels one or two steps away from where all the action is. And even though The Gaslight Anthem’s “45” is, of course, referring to a wax-laid single (we never find out which song), it still reminds me of a weapon. “45”ĭespite being a full-blown music nerd, the number 45 always makes me think of a gun instead of a record. Each guest vocalist is used sparingly, but their presence alone embodies the Gaslight formula, which, when it works, really works: rock classicism filtered through modern punk. also showcase their more contemporary influences.ĭicky Barrett of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones lends his throat gravel to the refrain (“Fight about it!”), and Hot Water Music’s Chris Wollard adds even more backing vocal heft with the “whoa-oh-oh”s he’s built his career on. But while “The Patient Ferris Wheel” lovingly cribs a lyric from “I’m on Fire” (the title no less) and relies on boardwalk carnival imagery straight out of “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” Brian Fallon and Co. You can’t read an article about The Gaslight Anthem without hearing the words “Bruce Springsteen,” and rightfully so. As the tropes became more common, the band even risked unintentional comedy, with some critics in awe of how many times Fallon could drop the word “radio” on a single album. On that LP as well as 2010’s American Slang and 2012’s Handwritten, frontman Brian Fallon and his bandmates held fast to their fantasies about late-night diners and girls named Mary or Maria, creating a self-contained mythology of an America more real than the one we’ve got. But the fact is that it was 2008, you probably bought this on CD or MP3, and the band’s only way to be authentic was to be a little contrived.įast-forward six years and three records, and the same paradox applied right up to their final effort, 2014’s Get Hurt. The soft hisses and crackles belong to a prerecorded sound effect, the inclusion of which would be entirely unnecessary if the band trusted you to listen on glorious, 180-gram vinyl. When the needle drops on The Gaslight Anthem’s sophomore record, The ‘59 Sound, it’s not actually a needle.
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