2 posts tagged “gaslight anthem”

I mentioned The River & various modern updates recently  in my review of the last Gaslight Anthem album, and I thought I'd return to that briefly, just to post the 3 songs in question and see if anyone out there knows of any other direct modern takes/updates/covers/etc.

The original:

11. The River

Lyrics (from here):

"The River"

I come from down in the valley
where mister when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
when she was just seventeen
We'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride

Then I got Mary pregnant
and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don't remember
Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse
that sends me down to the river
though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
my baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride.

The Killers thematic twist/update/take from 2006:

10. This River Is Wild

"This River Is Wild"

Leaves are falling down
On the beautiful ground
I heard a story from the man in red
He said the leaves are falling down
Such a beautiful sound
Son, I think you better go ahead

But you always hold your head up high
Cause it's a long, long, long way down
This town was meant for passing through
But it ain't nothing new
Now go and show them
That the world stayed round
But it's a long, long, long way down

You better run for the hills before they burn
Listen to the sound of the world
And watch it turn
I just want to show you what I know
And catch you when the current lets you go
Or should I just get along with myself

I never did get along with everybody else
I've been trying hard to do what's right
But you know I could stay here all night
And watch the clouds fall from the sky

This river is wild
This river is wild

Run for the hills before they burn
Listen to the sound of the world
Watch it turn
But shake a little
Sometimes I'm nervous when I talk
I shake a little
Sometimes i hate the line I walk
I just want to show you what I know
And catch you when the current lets you go

Or should I just get along with myself
I never did get along with everybody else
Ive been trying hard to do whats right
But you know I could stay here all night
And watch the clouds fall
From the sky

Because this river is wild
God speed you boy
This river is wild

Now Adam's taking bombs
And he's stuck on his mom
Because that bitch
Keeps trying to make him pray

He's with the hippie in the park
Coming over the dark
Just trying to get some of that little girl play

You better run for the hills before they burn
Listen to the sound of the world
But watch it turn
I just want to show you what I know
And catch you when the current lets you go

Or should I get along with myself
I never did get along with everybody else
I've been trying hard to do whats right
But you know I could stay here all night
And watch the clouds fall from the sky

And pay this hell in me tonight
Because this river is wild
God speed you boy
This river is wild
God speed you boy
This river is wild

Now the cards are everywhere face in dust
The fairground
I don't think I ever seen so many headlights
But there's something pulling me
The circus and the crew
Well they're just passing through
Making sure the merry still goes round
But it's a long, long, long way down

And now Gaslight Anthem's take/update/etc. from this year:

10. Meet Me By The River's Edge

[I forgot to post this here first, it wound up on my general blog first, so sorry non-existent legion of readers.]

Have I blogged about these guys before?  I'm sure I must have, because I really like them.

'The 59 Sound

 Anyway, on to the album.

We have an interesting situation here in the sense that I'm actually going to recommend buying something where every song isn't awesome.

Now, none of them are bad mind you, but some do tend to "flame out" little bit (in the sense of a slowly crashing blimp, not a really gay party), but the crashes themselves are usually worth watching.

Maybe you hear them and immediately go "Hey this is just a punk rock updating of the Jersey Shore Sound, kinda like the last Killers album", or maybe you just hear the bits and pieces of a modern Springsteen kinda thing going on (in the same spirit as the Hold Steady - but coming from a completely different angle).  Or maybe you just like good modern rock and roll - which seems to get labeled as "punk rock" a lot in the genre tags.  And maybe it is, maybe the two are so enmeshed now that it doesn't matter...because I can definitely hear the punk influence here, but I'd still have to say it tends more strongly towards the rock.  Any which way you come at it, if you like flavors of rock, I think you'll really like this band and this album.

So, I'll embed what I think is the best song, and then what I think is the weakest song below so we have the whole spectrum out there.

Here's "The '59 Sound", which is either a really touching personal story, or a "great and beautiful lie".

And now here's "Even Cowgirls get the Blues", which sounds different from the rest of the album, and just doesn't do it for me.

Even cowgirls get the blues - The Gaslight Anthem '59 sound

So, somewhere in between there lies the rest of the album.

It starts off really strong with 5 good songs, then stumbles just a little bit with the almost-there-but-still-too-awkward  "Miles Davis and the Cool", then kinda does the Ellen DeGenres running-after-trip thing (sorry, can't find a vid link! :( ) for a 3 tracks.   Nothing horrible, just not quite connecting.  There is a random cameo from the Bosstones singer doing bgvs in one of the songs. I should note that nothing here is as jarring as the Killer's "Uncle Johnny".  Jesus that was a bad song in the middle of a good album.

It starts to pick back up again with"Meet me by the River's Edge", a modern take on "The River" run through the "No Surrender" blender.  In this case, our protagonists aren't going to the river as an escape, but rather as the escape  - instead of a stopgap, it's a catalyst.  It's an interesting take, and just for that it gets points.  Another random Killer's comment, since both bands are doing the same kind of thing (except in the Killer's case it was only for one album) - Gaslight does a better "The River" update than the Killers.  I think you could argue (I'm not sure I would though) that the Killer's track is a better song, but I think Gaslight does a better thematic update.  "Meet me ..." sounds much less forced than "This River is Wild" in its approach to me.  Neither can touch the original.

After that are 2 nice, mellow songs that I haven't really had a chance to get into yet. I'm usually listening on the bus, or downstairs with the giant heater running behind me, so mellow tracks are often lost on me for a while.

So, why should I buy this you say?  Don't I normally recommend against buying an album that has songs that aren't 90% stellar?  Yeah, for the most part I do.  But sometimes I make exceptions for things that are exceptional for one reason or another.

Part of that "exceptional" comes from the amazingness that is their first album - Sink or Swim.  That one is just freaking killer, amazing debut album and it's just another sign of how screwed up the music industry is that it didn't at least kinda jump off.  Maybe that's a good thing though and they'll get in "the hard way" and be better for it.  I kinda doubt it, but I'm hopefully.  We need more bands crafting songs of substance and kicking ass.

Also, I should add that the album itself is pretty damn close to 90%, even if certain tracks falter a little bit.  As a whole it just holds together.

This band hit the ground running, and I'm hopefully that they don't pull a Bloc Party on album #3, whenever that comes out.

Final Judgment: 87.3%

This was a really tough decision, and may get revised in the future.   I think for some people it's gonna be a 95% album, but those 3 songs in the middle just haven't done it for me yet, so that is gonna bring things down.  As a note, anything I rate over 85% is a "go out and buy me!!".  Sink or Swim is probably around a 92-93%.

If I were I making music in a band right now, I'd hope it would sound something like Gaslight.  Not exactly, but it's definitely the kind of vibe I'd enjoy and in the area I'd be going for.

I'll leave you with a track called "Wooderson" from the first album:

The Gaslight Anthem - Wooderson