The new release of The Gaslight Anthem was one of the releases I was really waiting for. The ’59 Sound is one of the best albums of all times for me and so I was really looking forward to hear new music from this band.
I must admit that I had big problems at the beginning. My first impression was boring. And after I’d listened to it about 3 or 4 times I stuffed it back into my CD shelf and just ignored it there. Disappointed.
About four weeks later I decided to give it a second chance and to my surprise it was a totally different feeling. It’s a grower. Every time I listened to it afterwards made me like it more and more. So finally the whole album was stuck in my head and in my car for weeks until I could figure out which songs are going to make it into my Gaslight Anthem playlist for my iPod. It’s smoother than their first records but nevertheless a great one. My favourite songs of it are definitely “The Spirit of Jazz”, which proved to be a lasting catchy tune and “Old Haunts”. Those are followed by “American Slang”, “Boxer” and “The Diamond Church Street Choir”. Latest was one of those songs that made it so difficult for me to like the record from the beginning on and finally it’s one of my favourite. Weird. I can’t explain it, but that’s the way it is.
- American Slang
- Stay Lucky
- Bring It On
- The Diamond Church Street Choir
- The Queen of Lower Chelsea
- Orphans
- Boxer
- Old Haunts
- The Spirit of Jazz
- We Did It When We Were Young
Additionally I have to say that The Gaslight Anthem are an incredible live band. In my ranking of great live bands they are the one to follow Pearl Jam. Anybody who has the chance to see them live, go! I took friends with me to the Cologne show that had never listened to their music before and those were absolutely flashed (and ended up in buying the CDs – perfect).