The Gaslight Anthem

[Harry Vest]

Anybody else heard of these guys???
There from New Jersey and some of the songs have a real Springsteen feel to them. You can check out the album " Sink or Swim" online at www.punknews.org/bands/gaslightanthem

Some pretty good stuff.

 

[Anu]

59 Sound -- new album is just incredible and getting a ton of play.

Strong traces of 'Sam's Town' Killers with roots in barroom punk instead of New Wave.

 

[Anu]

YouTube - The Gaslight Anthem - I'm on fire (live)

 

[u2popmofo]

I do believe IWasBored has spoken of them a number of times. Maybe I'm wrong, I generally try to not pay attention to anything she says.

 

[IWasBored]

i believe i mentioned them once or twice.

(actually, i have no memory of doing so, but if the possibility that i did managed to infiltrate your own special short-bus world, then i must have done so)

i generally feel like bitch-slapping anyone who says they sound like the killers. you people could not be more wrong. two people have said this to me in real life, so maybe there's some validity to it, however i don't hear it at all. maybe, MAYBE, just maybe the drum beat on "old white lincoln." aside from that, i see no resemblence. just like the time i read them compared to against me.

the 59 sound is a very good album, yes. i'm a huge sucker for random son references like "and at night i wake up with the sheets soaking wet, it's a pretty good song maybe you know the rest" or the night moves reference.

 

[Anu]

'Trace' does not mean 'sound like'; plus, the Sam's Town + Springsteen + punk sense of influence gives previous comment cred.

Meanwhile, I just love this song:

Miles Davis & The Cool :
Look Miles Davis, I've been swayed by the cool.
There's just something about the summertime.
There's just something about the moon.
So I'll lay a kiss on this storm, toss it upside your window, by the roof.
Before you change your mind, Miles, bring in the cool.

Now honey, put on your red dress.
And you diamond soul shoes.
Climb on down from that window.
Climb on out of your room.
Cause I've never had a good thing and I've always had the blues.
I always heard that you always kind of wandered, Miles, strike up the Cool.

Don't wait too long to come home.
My have the years of our youth passed on.
Don't wait too long to come home.
I'll leave the front light on.
The night is our own, come home.

Poor mister pitiful, I can't turn you loose.
You move like a dream I had, woke up sweating in my room.
Your Mama's got plans, your daddy's aim is true.
She never understood that it ain't no good.
Papa never heard the cool.

So now I got out my map and found me a storm.
With a flick of the wrist and the turn of the key.
You'll just fall in my arms.

Don't wait too long to come home.
My have the years of our youth passed on.
Don't wait too long to come home.
I'll leave the front light on.
The night is our own.
You don't wait too long.

So why don't you sing to me on this long drive home?
Let the sound of your voice sway sweet and slow.
As we go down, down, down.
From our youth to the ground.
We might always be blue.
Jackson!

So don't wait too long to come home.
My have the years of our youth passed on.
Don't wait too long to come home.
I will leave the front light.
[2x]

As we go down, down, down.
From our youth to the ground.
Down, down, down, down, down.

 

[IWasBored]

yes, "sounds like"/"traces of" and all that argument aside, that is a good song. i initially didn't like much more than the first 4 tracks, but film noir, miles davis, the patient ferris wheel, and meet me by the river's edge are easily just as strong. in a month or so i'll probably feel the same about the remaining songs i didn't list yet.


simk or swim is also worth tracking down.

 

[u2popmofo]

I was quite surprised by this:

The '59 Sound | Pitchfork

So I should buy this, right?

 

[IWasBored]

yes you should. i'm seeing it everywhere now. best buy, barnes and noble, that big box book store that isn't barnes and noble...everywhere.

hey, i took my own advice from my last post today and tracked down a copy of sink or swim to replace my less than legitamently obtained mp3s. listened to it on the drive home from cambridge (no, i did not drive out to cambridge to visit their newbury comics, although i did stop by two different stores, i was out there for a show).

i remember reading someone comparing them to against me, which i don't hear on the 59 sound (and am thankful for this). i hear what the guy was talking about with some of the tracks off sink or swim.

 

[Anu]

I stand by the bizarre idea that they are the blend of punk and pop and barrock that would make a Bruce meets Against Me! meets Killers comparison somehow legit. I really love this band.

 

[IWasBored]

i'm with you on all of that, anu, minus that bit about the killers, of course. i mean, really, how could i not love a band with a song called " i'da called you woody, joe"?

call it bad timing, but i'm going to forever have an assocation between these guys and the hold steady. in other words, i'll unfairly compare GA to HS just based on the fact that i was hearing hype about both bands at the exact same time (and i think i bought cds by both bands within the same week). but this song really kicks the joe strummer reverence in "constructrive summer" in the ass. swiftly.

I was crawling around in my head in the haze of a trance.
Rico said, "I'ma turn you onto a sound, cool out your head.
This is the sound from Camden town."

And then I heard it like a shot through my skull to my brain,
I felt my fingertips tingle and it started to rain,
When the walls of my bedroom were tremblin' around me,
This ramshackle voice over attack of a bluesbeat,
Tellin' me he's only looking for fun.
This was the sound of the very last gang in town.

As heard by my wild young heart, like directions on a cold dark night,
Sayin', 'Let it out... You're doin' all right.'
And I heard it in his chain gang soul.
It wasn't just the same sad song.
Saying, 'Let it out, you're doing all right.'
And I'm doing all right, are you doin' all right?

And I carried these songs like a comfort wherever I'd go.
They was there when my summers was high, there when she left me alone.
Saying... 'The soul is hard to find.'

And I never got to tell him so I just wrote it down,
I wrapped a couple chords around it and I let it come out,
When the walls of my bedroom trembled around me,
To this ramshackle voice over attack of a bluesbeat,
And a girl, on the excitement gang.

That was the sound of the very last gang in town.
That was the sound
I hear the sound
Do you hear the sound
I hear the sound
Of the very last gang in town

 

[u2popmofo]

I enjoyed my first time through '59 Sound quite a bit. As of right this moment, the last song, 'The Backseat', was my favorite.

What songs do yous guys likes?

 

[IWasBored]

first listen i really only liked the "great expectations," "the 59 sound," "old white lincoln" and "high lonesome." basically just the first four songs. then i added "the patient ferris wheel." then miles davis and film noir. then hearing meet me by the river's edge live made me love that song, and finally the rest of the album fell into place. right now even cowgirls get the blues is really the only song on the cd i don't love.

 

[u2popmofo]

Tuesday, December 9:
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: the Gaslight Anthem

 

[IWasBored]

sweet. oh wait. i don't have cable.

 

[u2popmofo]

I don't think NBC is a cable channel.

 

[IWasBored]

we got nothing.

 

[u2popmofo]

we got nothing.

Conan's website will have it the next day.

 

[IWasBored]

i figure it will be on youtube somewhere within a few days. i guess we've got to have another house meeting about this tv situation...

 

[Anu]

Looking forward to the YouTube when it drops.

 

[IWasBored]

YouTube - The Gaslight Anthem on Conan O'Brien: The 59 Sound

 

[u2popmofo]

Pfft, I watched it when it was on REAL TV!



It was a good performance, I dig that song.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

My fave radio station has been playing the '59 Sound title track and 'The Patient Ferris Wheel' a lot lately. I think I might really like these guys.

 

[snowbunny00774]

I really like them. I want to go see them in March but I'll be away for the two dates in my area

 

[u2popmofo]

I guess I missed that they were on Letterman a week or so ago. The performance is fantastic, you can watch it here:

CBS | Late Show with David Letterman :

 

[corianderstem]

I recently just read about these guys in Q magazine, and am intrigued. Will check out post haste.

 

[phanan]

It took a 2-song CD sampler left on my car in the Comcast Center parking lot the night of the Springsteen show to get around to listen to anything by this band.

The sampler had The '59 Sound and Old White Lincoln on it.

Now I need to get this album. I'm really enjoying this.

 

[u2popmofo]

It's a solid album, phanan. I think you'll like it.

 

[IWasBored]

old white lincoln rules

like mofo said, quite a solid album





oh, and i have tv channels now. lots of them. more than anyone at the house knows what to do with.

 

[u2popmofo]

more than anyone at the house knows what to do with.

"Watching" is probably a good thing to do with them.

I listened to a few songs from this album this morning while getting ready for work. I still really love 'The Backseat', great album closer.