I'm really digging these guys and their latest, "The '59 Sound." They're a "Jersey sound" throwback band with Springsteen lyrics and bar band arrangements. (Although there's some Replacements and Bouncing Souls in there, too.) They wear their influences on their sleeve, namechecking Petty and the Boss throughout the album, and there are a couple of songs where they approach parody, but songs like 'Great Expectations', 'High Lonesome,' and 'The '59 Sound' more than make up for it.
It's wistful fist-pumping blue collar small town rock that's more of an awareness and acknowledgement of the towns they come from than a celebration pf its depression and values. That might not be your kind of thing, but I have a soft spot for this kind of music, so there you go.
In short, not as good as the Hold Steady but better than the last Killers album and Jesse Malin's solo stuff in the "borrowing heavily from early to mid0 Springsteen" sweepstakes.
It's wistful fist-pumping blue collar small town rock that's more of an awareness and acknowledgement of the towns they come from than a celebration pf its depression and values. That might not be your kind of thing, but I have a soft spot for this kind of music, so there you go.
In short, not as good as the Hold Steady but better than the last Killers album and Jesse Malin's solo stuff in the "borrowing heavily from early to mid0 Springsteen" sweepstakes.
