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Il merito è del boss. Prima di cantare "The 59 Sound" insieme ai Gaslight Anthem (è il 29 giugno 2009, è Hyde Park) il gruppo di Brian Fallon, tatuassimo leader della band del New Jersey, era solo un gruppo punk n roll semisconosciuto con all'attivo due album ben accolti dalla critica (l'acerbo "Sink or Swim" e il più centrato "The 59 Sound") che nelle loro liriche citavano a mani basse tutto il canzoniere americano (in High Lonesome vi era adirittura un intero ritornello preso in prestito da Round Here dei Counting Crows e Meet Me By The River Edge citava nella stessa strofa No Surrender e Bobby Jean);la prima volta che l ho sentito sono caduto dalla sedia. "No, e' troppo" ho digrignato mentre imparavo a memoria le canzoni facendomi prendere dalle melodie a rapida presa.
Dal vivo il gruppo si guadagnava la pagnotta suonando con la furia necessaria le sue canzoni urgenti zeppe di operai, sogni infranti, ossa rotte, amanti tradite e traditrici e amori distratti. Brian Fallon, voce roca ed espressiva al punto giusto ma non certo educata, ovviava alle stonature con l'atteggiamento bluecollar e l'onestà sul cappello. Anche il resto del gruppo, con l'esclusione del batterista mitragliatore Ben Horovit, non brillava certo per le sue virtu' musicali. Ma le canzoni si facevano cantare e spesso invitavano ad alzare il pugno, con forti dolori per chi come me ha la spalla lussata.
Forti dell'hype provocato dal Boss (a cui comunque ammettono di ispirarsi) i Gaslight Anthem nel 2010 pubblicano il loro terzo lavoro, "American Slang", come il precedente prodotto da Ted Hutt, dietro la consolle anche per Jesse Malin e i Lucero.
Rispetto al "The 59 Sound" il suono è piu vario e le liriche si fanno piu personali e intense. I temi sono i soliti ma c'e' più introspezione e meno citazione.
La furia degli esordi lascia spazio ad un rock piu adulto, con toni piu morbidi ma non per questo leggeri. Tom Petty e Springsteen, con poche eccezioni, rimangono dentro la testa ma non compaiono nelle parole.
La title track è una chiamata alle armi dall'incedere secco e perentorio. Fallon parla di padri morti e possibilità sprecate e il resto del gruppo pesta da par suo.
Le difficoltà dell amore compaiono in Bring it On, dichiarazione avvelenata ad una ragazza alla quale si chiedono indietro "the fevers that just won't break and the children you don't wanna raise" mentre lo shuffle di The Diamond Church Street Choir ci riporta al boss anno di grazia 1973. Brian urla come un cosacco e dimostra di aver preso lezioni di canto (ma la voglio sentire dal vivo, dude). Il ritornello è cosi catchy che metterebbe di buon umore anche un camionista a cui hanno rubato il calendario di Playboy. Orphans si ispira all'omino del New Jersey e Fallon non ha paura di ammetterlo nelle liriche dove cita le fontane in cui ha bevuto il sangue del suo eroe. Alla collezione si aggiungono Boxer, dall'incipit Hip Hop subito spazzato via da un bel riff fischiettabile e Old Haunts e Spirit of Jazz che se non aggiungono molto per lo meno si mantengono ad un livello alto.
Chiude la rassegna We Did it When We Were Young, un ballatone fenomenale a due voci che fa impallidire Here's Looking at you, Kid del disco precedente e metà delle canzoni uscite nello scorso biennio. Un pezzo cosi intenso che ogni volta che finisce devo bere un bicchiere d acqua.
In definita un disco che esalta i pregi dei lavori precedenti ed ne elimina i difetti. I capolavori sono altri ma se cercate un disco bello dalla prima canzone all'ultima potete dare una chance ad "American Slang".
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 American Slang (03:41)
Look what you started,
I seem to be coming out of my skin
Look what you've forgotten here
The bandages just don't keep me in
And when it was over, I woke up alone
And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
I got your name tattooed inside of my arm
I called for my father but my father had died
While you told me fortunes, in American Slang
Look at the damage,
The fortunes came for the richer men.
While we're left with gallows,
Waiting for us liars to come down and hang.
And when it was over, I woke up alone
And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
I got your name tattooed inside of my arm
I called for my father but my father had died
While you told me fortunes, in American Slang
And here's where we died that time last year,
And here's where the angels and devils meet.
And you can dance with the queen if you need,
And she will always keep your cards
Close to her heart oooh
So close to her heart before they tear you apart
When they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
I got your name tattooed inside of my arm
And I called for my father but my father had died
I called for my father but my father had died
While you told me fortunes, in American Slang
You told me fortunes, in American Slang
02 Stay Lucky (03:08)
It took so long to get me back on my feet
It takes so long to find the words and the beat
And Charlie's waiting on the end of the phone
To hear you call on him to try to recapture
But them old records won't be saving your soul
And them feelings got the reasons you know
That you've forgotten somewhere
Riding a train to place
You are out in the cold cold
And it feels like all you'd have to do
Is step outside
Stop pacing around and waiting for some moment
That might never arrive
But you're never gonna find it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
Nothing feels right in the wintery cold
Steam, heat, clang, and the dark at your door
All the other rooms are a party tonight
And you never got an invitation
And you feel in your bones
Steady aching and more
Twenty five years gone just an hour ago
Momma never told me there'd be days like these
Until it was much too late to recover
And it feels like all you'd have to do
Is step outside
Stop pacing around and waiting for some moment
That might never arrive
But you're never gonna find it
When your knees got so weak
But it's right here in case you need it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
When you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
But it feels like you just might explode inside
You've been pacing around and waiting
For some moment that might never arrive at all
What you don't have, you don't need it anymore
What you don't have, you don't need it anymore
But you're never gonna find it
When your knees got so weak
But it's right here in case you need it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
When you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
If you're anywhere in Manhattan
In the next eight days or so
Let me know
Speak to stay lucky
03 Bring It On (03:27)
My queen of the Bronx
Blue eyes and spitfire
I saw you walking back and forth
About another boy
Thinking that you may want to leave
So give me the fevers that just won't break
And give me the children you don't want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it's better than my love
Then bring it on
And take it back out to the streets
Where you know you used to be
For the Romeos of town
If I bring you down
And you're tired of those vows
And you're really walking out
So give me the fevers that just won't break
And give me the children you don't want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it's better than my love
Baby, bring it on
Oh, bring it on
Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home
I'm hearing that he tells you he can read your thoughts
Is he better than my love
Better than my love
Is he better than my love
Better than my love
So I found the letters with the reason to things
You've been feeling that
He says they'll never know
And you say the night just got too cold
Well everybody's cold
Who's gonna keep my baby warm
Who's gonna keep my baby warm
When everybody goes
So give me the fevers that just won't break
And give me the children you don't want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it's better than my love
Well then wait a minute, wait a minute
Was he not good to you
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Was he not good to you
Wait a minute, wait a minute
You don't know what's good for you
So give me the fevers that just won't break
And give me the children you don't want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
You've been baby for so long
Come on, bring it on
Oh, bring it on
Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home
I'm hearing that he tells you he can read your thoughts
If he's better than my love
Then go on, take it all
04 The Diamond Church Street Choir (03:12)
Now the lights go low on the avenue
And the cars pass by in the rain
University boys and the girls fill the bars
While I'm just waiting for the light to change
And the steam heat pours from the bodies on the floor
In the basement where the Jacknives play
For the hub city girls in the ribbons and the curls
Who know the meaning of staying out late
The know the meaning of staying out very, very late
Singing
Who does it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir
Woah, nobody knows
I've been crazy for so long without you
They'll find me beat down out in the universe
Though I'll never forget where I'm from
I might have moved away from home
And slept out there on my own
A million miles away in the stone
But the beat never leaves
And the temple's a relief
To my aching bones, rambling all over
And if I'm gone for too long
I can always hum along
So don't never forget what I told you
So don't never forget what I told you
Everybody singing
Who does it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir
Woah, nobody knows
I've been crazy for so long without you
Just, baby who sings the rhythm and the blues
So sad, so slow, so smooth
Like I do, like I do
And oh, ain't it just like you want to
And oh, ain't it just like you always wanted to
Every night waiting
So long without you
Baby, who sings it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir
Woah, nobody knows
I've been crazy for so long without you
Just, baby who sings the rhythm and the blues
So sad, so slow
Like I do
And just like you want to
06 Orphans (03:23)
Goodbye circus wheel
May you rest along the sea
I have given you the fire of my youth
And the triumph o're my enemies
Goodbye fair weather home, and your faithless factories
I have given you the blood and the truth
from the wounds they laid onto me
And whatever they left, well, I kept it for my own heart
And the lonesome all understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons of these songs
And now my lights, they never go down
they waltz the moon and stars for me now
So you can find some local libertine
to take your daughters out on the town
And I can feel it in my aging bones
How the sound of the rain mixes up
into the fountains where I drank my hero's blood
So I left you to find my very own hat full of rain
And the lonesome all understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons of these songs
Now I'm trying to keep it straight
Learning all the streets and the alleyways
And learning where they lead
Now that I'm left alone here to drive
But it's so hard to stand on your own
Against mirror of glass, hard and cold
But the clothes I wore
Just don't fit my soul anymore
No the clothes I wore
Just don't fit my soul anymore
And the lonesome all understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons of these songs
When we were young
We were diamond Sinatras
Like something I saw in a dream
We kept our secrets in rooms
locked up tight like a tomb
Where the ballerinas lay
07 Boxer (02:47)
Got your pride and your prose
Tucked just like a Tommy gun
Somewhere in the smoke
Just in case you need it
I know you got your pride and your prose
Tucked just like a Tommy gun
Somewhere in the smoke
Just in case you needed
Some of her to spin around
Rougher than the last one
Oh, what'd you used to say
The harder they come
But he just swears he's praying for a good time
He, he said he just doesn't miss her
And I have heard you never really lose it
Do you, do you
He took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
He found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something, baby, holding you down
And there were whispers that were driving you crazy
And now you hunt the heart of this town
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
And you tied two knuckles up
How they grind down
Tried to be a man
Tough just like your father
Try to settle down
Boy, I could calm down
Remember them songs
And the reasons we were singing
But he said he just doesn't miss her
He, he said it's somewhere in his framework
And I have heard you never really lose it
Do you, do you
He took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
He found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something, baby, holding you down
And there were reasons that were driving you crazy
Until you hunt the heart of this town
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
And you can wait all night long
Until it all goes wrong
And you waste away your soul
And you can wait, wait, wait, wait
You took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
You found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something, baby, holding you down
And there were whispers that were driving you crazy
Until you hunt the heart of this town
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
10 We Did It When We Were Young (04:16)
Don't write me no more letters
My mailbox is full of bombs
Between you and the kooks on my block
I don't remember the good times
I wasn't there and you were kind
And my wife has some dogs in our yard
And I cannot hold a candle for every pretty girl
We were strangers many hours
And I missed you for so long
When we were lions, lovers in combat
Faded like your name on those jeans that I burned
But I am older now
And we did it when we were young
I am older now
And we did it when we were young
There are no reasons to believe
I buried my faith on the block
With your heart and your clothes
When I find
I don't feel you or recall
I'll put your bones out in the yard
Someone else to be called and called by
And I cannot hold a candle for every pretty girl
We were strangers many hours
And I missed you for so long
When we were lions, lovers in combat
Faded like your name on those jeans that I burned
But I am older now
And we did it when we were young
I am older now
And we did it when we were young
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