The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

Great Expectations - The Gasli...

The opening lines of 2008's The '59 Sound read as follows: "Mary, this station is playing every sad song/I remember like we were alive/And I heard and sung them all from inside of these walls/Of the prison cell where we spent those nights". What's incredible about this, is that the Bruce Springsteen allusions, comparisons, and flashbacks are just beginning.

The Gaslight Anthem draws very heavily from its influences, whether it be tales of heartbreak and lust in the streets of New Jersey or nostalgic, doleful numbers like "Here's Looking at You, Kid", one of the album's standout tracks, and a clever Casablanca reference. Brian Fallon definitely comes off as a Springsteen-esque youth with a defiant, daring edge, who can be quite the romantic or poet when duty calls.

While The '59 Sound comes in with flying colors, it begins to drag a bit after "Film Noir" ends, and hits an all time low at "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", a downright disappointment to every bit of emotion the band had built up to that point. Fortunately, the band picks things up again on "Meet Me By The River's Edge", a song about young lovers that go down to a river to wash away their sins, and last year's nominee for Most Cliches in a Song. The album wraps it all up on a rocking note with "The Backseat"; while it's not the best album closer, it certainly serves its function quite well, and ends a great album, albeit an inconsistent one, on a grand note.

Final Score: 77/100