49 THE ’59 SOUND

The Gaslight Anthem

Question: when does ‘influenced by’ become ‘a blatant rip-off’? It’s a fine line, but New Jersey’s Gaslight Anthem walked it brilliantly. Unashamedly indebted to both their home state’s favourite son Bruce Springsteen and The Replacements, the quartet skilfully managed to sound like no one but themselves.

The title track of the band’s second full

length album, The ’59 Sound is a blinder. With its gloomy subject matter of kids dying in car wrecks, it manages to be melancholy, insidiously catchy and bizarrely uplifting all at the same time, with vocalist Brian Fallon spinning a tale of small-town heroes that avoids mawkish clichés, over a backdrop of massive, anthemic (pun intended) guitars.

Jon Bon Jovi might dearly wish he was heir apparent to The Boss’s throne, but on the evidence of this track it looked like The Gaslight Anthem had him whipped. It’s just a shame it didn’t last. SL From: The’59 Sound, 2008