The Gaslight Anthem

Here's a little record review:

The '59 Sound was one of the best records of 2008. It had one of the best combinations of punk and classic rock in modern music without it sounding contrived. But, that being said...

I had only had it downloaded until buying the LP just the other day. And let me preface this by saying that I'm the type that takes in an entire record. The music is about 70% of the experience, but I put a lot of weight into the lyrics and presentation. Maybe that's why I still buy vinyl - I have to take the whole thing in. The music, the paper the jacket is printed on, vinyl color, the vinyl weight, and especially the cover art.

This album contains 11 pictures of the band including the one on the cover. 11. I know they're going for the whole old school record cover thing, but they could have applied a little more creativity visually to what is a great record audibly. What's worse is the pictures are so contrived looking. Its an obvious situation where an underground band has "made it" and the label sent them out with a photographer to take candid shots of them, but they're not used to that, so it ends up being unnatural pictures of guys trying to look natural.

Plus...11 pictures? C'mon. Put in a pic of an old house, or your practice space, or something equally as unoriginal but still making it so you're not looking at the same awkward faces over and over.

The hand written lyric sheet is nice though.

But, the worst part of the record is my pet peeve. They printed the name on the spine upside down. The biggest faux pas in vinyl in my opinion. Did your accountant sister-in-law do the layout for free? This mistake should not be happening. Ever.

And then I found out in an interview that the singer/song writer is super Christian. I'm sorry, but that's a bummer. Fuckin'sue me.