The Gaslight Anthem -- American Slang

This music pushes all the right buttons for me, but I have to say that the buttons have begun to stick a bit, and are only semi-operational, because they've been pushed so many times. In the Great Springsteen Imitators Sweepstakes, these guys are considerably better than John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, but not as good as, say, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes or The Iron City Houserockers. American Slang is just fine as an E Street Band homage, but as hard as lead singer/songwriter Brian Fallon tries to capture the mythic grandeur of The Boss's finest work, he still reminds me of the hacks I knew in Creative Writing classes who thought they could write like Hemingway. Just by writing short sentences. You know the type.

For a more creative and original take on blue-collar New Jersey desperation, stick with Titus Andronicus's The Monitor. For the unvarnished original deal, stick with Born to Run.