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Review: Sink or Swim -- The Gaslight Anthem

Last month, for the first time in 21 years, I got together with my 8th grade classmates.  It was a good reunion. I saw guys and girls that I hadn’t laid eyes on since the last post-graduation party in the summer of 1988.  It was a reunion devoid of the discomfort that reunions commonly elicit.  My classmates and I shared stories, photos of our families, tales of the people that weren’t able to make it that night.  It was a great time by all measures, and at the end of the evening I was sure that the calls to “do this again soon” wouldn’t ring hollow.

Recovering the next day – who knew those guys could drink like that? – my thoughts turned inward.  I pondered my transition from an awkward, unsure and insecure boy, through my fun-loving twentysomething years with few cares and boundless possibility, to a suburban dad with a steady job, a wife and kid, and a comfortable home on a pretty piece of property.

What struck me more about being “old,” more than anything, was the lack of urgency in life.  On reflection, it seems that as we grow and mature, we trade excitement for stability, risk for complacency.  And above all, we begin to sacrifice discovery for the comfort of the known and familiar.  Few and rare, it seems, are my peers that have retained their daring and impulsiveness.

This, of course, is a crying shame.  What made my youth exciting was the newness, the freshness.  All of the firsts:  First love.  First broken heart.  First time I felt real danger, and the first time I felt wrapped in security that didn’t come from home.  First time I saw new life, and the first time real loss touched my adolescent soul.  The reckless abandon and the thrill of rebellion.  Even the discomfort and awkwardness, and the feelings of isolation and loneliness.

I miss those thoughts and feelings.  Sure, I’ve seen a lot in the years since then, and I’ve had experiences that I could have only dreamt about back then.  But the firsts.  The firsts…

Like in the summertime when we first met/I’ll never forget, don’t you forget/These nights are still ours.

– “Boomboxes and Dictionaries”

Sometimes, all it takes is a voice to breathe life into those old memories, to put a spark to youthful idealism…

We are the last of the jukebox romeos/We are romantics by the light of the four winds/We came to sing out a chorus, reinvent the good times/Bring it all back home again.

– “We Came to Dance”

And the urgency…

And then I heard it like a shock, from 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/His ramshackle voice over attack of a blues beat.

– “I’da Called You Woody, Joe”

I’m not much of a believer in coincidence.  Call it what you will, but I think this life can give you what you need when you need it.  And so it goes with Sink or Swim, the debut from The Gaslight Anthem.  Released in 2007, but unknown to me until this winter, this album has been more of a revelation than any disc I’ve had in years.

Their sophomore effort, The ‘59 Sound came highly recommended, punk-pop fusion with the kind of songwriting that my home state is known for – honest, blue-collar songs of love and loss.  It’s a great disc, it really is.  But it’s got that polish to it, that smoothed-out sound.  It’s strong, but it lacks urgency.

Sink or Swim, by comparison, grabs you from the opening chords and doesn’t let go.  Behind the solid rhythm section of bassist Alex Levine and drummer Benny Horowitz, lead singer and songwriter Brian Fallon pulls you into a steamy world of romantic punk kids, old souls grappling with love and loss, pain and redemption, and the struggle to find their place.

If this sounds like the back story to “Jungleland,” it’s no accident.  Fallon embraces the Jersey Shore sound, crafting an homage to the old beat-up cars, dark misty roads, and a handful of archetypical girls named Maria and Mary.  But rather than coming off as cloying or dated, he and guitarist Alex Rosamilla put an electric charge into the songs, freshening the old E Street themes with a decidedly modern thrust.

All of this is, of course, exactly what I didn’t realize I’d been needing to hear, until I heard it.  It’s the urgency I’ve been missing, the sense of the now.

We’re much too young of men/To carry such heavy heads/And tonight for the first time/It felt good to be alive.

– “Drive”

I think that sometimes it takes the perspective of youth to remind me why things are important, to renew the passion, and to set me straight.

Its alright man, I’m only bleeding man, stay hungry stay free and do the best you can.

– “We’re Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner”

I've never been asked to be a third...

As if I didn’t have a long-enough to-do list, Courtney and MJ have asked me to be a part of their pretty-darn-good music blog!  I am flattered and honored.

My first post is up, and that also means that I can cross commenting on their blog off of the aforementioned list.  Enjoy!

when adam and larry are found dead as the result of a murder-suicide pact, you can all blame “all that you can’t leave behind”

A Response to TD 16 - Win, Place, or Show

This is a reply to Courtney and MJ’s Throwdown #16.

Brilliant conceit, this is.  I’m an album person.  I have plenty of singles, and I embrace the shuffle, but I believe that a true artist uses the album as a canvas, with each song a series of brushstrokes that contributes to the whole.  It’s great when an individual cut can stand on its own, but composing an album, linking the songs together to form a cohesive whole, is an act of ruthless dedication.  Good songs invariably end up on the production room floor, to be released as b-sides or one-offs.

So to find a run of three consecutive albums?  It’s near impossible.  To crib some of Courtney’s list:

Bob Dylan: Bringin’ It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde.

The Replacements: Let It Be, Tim, Pleased to Meet Me.

R.E.M.: Life’s Rich Pageant, Document, Green.

The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street

It’s hard to add to this list, and that includes consideration of other “greats.”

• Springsteen?  Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town are fantastic, but I still haven’t come to grips with the unevenness of The River.
• U2?  War, The Unforgettable Fire, and The Joshua Tree are most likely the nadir of a band that is fighting hard for sustained relevance (note that popularity and relevance are not the same thing).  MJ goes in the other direction by starting with Boy, but leaving The Joshua Tree out of a “best” U2 list is like leaving Young Frankenstein out of a best Mel Brooks film list.
• Nickelback?  DMB?  Oops, sorry.  I’m sure there will be a post about hugest rock ‘n’ roll douchebags that we can include them in.

I’m sure there are some that I’ve missed.  But I haven’t listed my choice…yet.

I’m going with Wilco.  Being There, Summerteeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.  The three albums where Jeff Tweedy found his voice, then found his footing, and finally crafted his cohesive statement.  Feel free to disagree vehemently in the comments.  But I leave you with just a sliver of the argument, for your listening pleasure:

She said "focus". Whatever.

So when last we spoke - and before I posted from Hershey - I said I had a “to do list” of bloggable things.  Here we are, then, and the to do list has only grown.  New items that need to be covered:

• Notes on Gaslight Anthem at the Stone Pony
• Notes on Bruce from Hershey
• A few words about the 12x12 project
• My 8th grade 21-year reunion (nope…not kidding)

The fact of the matter is that time is tight.  I had been blogging on the train on the way home, and I hope to get back to that.  But the last few weeks have been insane at the office, and I’ve either been too busy or too tired to write.  I know, I know — excuses.  And I agree.  Frankly, I’m probably missing out on an opportunity by not posting when I’m tired — who knows what pearls of wisdom will come forth from my addled brain?

Anyway, I’m not making any promises.  But I am going to keep trying to get on the stick here.  Not for anyone else’s benefit, but my own — I like to write, and I need to focus on stuff I like.

Springsteen setlist - Hershey

Badlands
Spirit in the Night
Outlaw Pete
Radio Nowhere
Out in the Street
Twist ‘n’ Shout (sign)
Working on a Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Raise Your Hand
Give the Girl a Great Big Kiss (sign)
Trapped (sign)
Waiting on a Sunny Day
Promised Land
Backstreets
Kingdom of Days
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born to Run
Hard Times
Thunder Road
10th Avenue Freeze Out
Land of Hope and Dreams
American Land (E Street Band!)
Rosalita
Bobby Jean

Springsteen in Hershey - in game

So I missed the pregame post. Sue me. This is a perfect venue on a perfect night. Skies are clear. Seats are filled. And the E Street is here to fulfill their solemn vow: to rock the house. I fucking love it. A Beatles cover in the first set. Jay on the skins. This rules.

Catching up

So, I’m on the train.  When the train is interminably delayed, happiness is a tethered BlackBerry.

I’m way behind in posting.  I think I owe the world (and by the world, I mean myself) a few blog posts:

• Notes on the Springsteen show in Boston
• Notes on Boston in general
• Replies to two of Courtney and MJ’s throwdowns
• Review of Julia’s restaurant in Atlantic Highlands (no, Kelly, I didn’t forget)

I’ve also been cooking up some actual blog posts, but everything is sitting behind the mountain of work I’m under at the day job.  Plus, there have been a few things going on in life that have been taking up my attention.

And life doesn’t stop.  Gaslight Anthem at the Stone Pony this weekend.  I. Cannot.  Wait.  So I think there will also be a new-to-me review of Sink or Swim in my blogging queue.  I’m prolific in my mind.  On the blog?  Not so much.

Anyway, posts are coming.  Maybe even one or two tonight if this train continues its slow crawl and my BBerry battery holds out.

Boston Setlist

Badlands
Adam Raised a Cain
Outlaw Pete
Out in the Street
Workin on a Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99 
Ghost of Tom Joad
*signs*
Raise Your Hand
I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide (request)
I’m Goin’ Down (request)
Growin’ Up (request)
Waiting on a Sunny Day
Promised Land
The Wrestler
*hi from patti*
Kingdom of Days
Radio Nowhere (Jay Weinberg on drums)
Lonesome Day (Jay Weinberg on drums)
The Rising (Jay Weinberg on drums)
Born to Run (Jay Weinberg on drums)
*break*
Hard Times
10th Avenue Freeze Out
Land of Hope and Dreams
American Land
*E Street Band*
Rosalita