THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
History Books (Rich Mahogany)
After nearly a decade since their last album, The Gaslight Anthem return with a collection of new songs for their eager fanbase. Frontman Brian Fallon has put out plenty of solo material in the last nine years and, except for some occasional live work, it has looked like the New Jersey rockers might have finished their recording career. So it’s a little disappointing to report that History Books is quite an underwhelming offering.
With a duet with their biggest influence, the Boss himself, on the title track The Gaslight Anthem manage to turn the usual Springsteen-wannabe criticism on its head. But even Bruce can’t lift up a track which is emblematic of the album as a whole – an intro full of promise, followed by a song that comes to very little. The exception is the penultimate track, I Live In The Room Above, that tells the believable story of a man obsessed with the lady in the flat below him; its Stone Temple Pilots-style riff and brooding verse rise to a genuinely anthemic chorus.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES