Finally listened to the 59 Sound demos album. Couple comments/questions: 1) Placeholder is cool, I'm glad it saw the light of day, but it sounds a little unfinished - certainly not a good enough song to have made the album 2) Was God's Gonna Cut You Down actually in consideration to be on the '59 Sound? I had no idea that cover was originally done in those sessions. 3) The rest of the demos were cool to hear once but I don't see going back to them much, if at all - none are different enough to have staying power for me. 4) I love me some Our Fathers' Sons. Great little song. 5) Brian sounds really, really young (and unpolished) on these.
I think We Did When We Were Young is a great transition into The Horrible Crowes record. It’d almost fit on Elsie no problem, like Mama’s Boys and Sweet Morphine would fit on Painkillers. As for She Loves You, it’s a fantastic very Gaslight song, and could have been slotted in as the second last track. Kinda like Mae wrapped up the feel of Handwritten, but still left room for a different sounding closer in National Anthem:
I agree that “She Loves You” would’ve made a great penultimate track. The pairing of “Mae” and “National Anthem” was almost too good. Also, I will die on the “Mama’s Boys” hill because that song was one of my favorite parts of Get Hurt.
Blue Dahlia, Handwritten, 59’ Sound, Meet Me By the Rivers Edge, and The Backseat are my top 5. Please @ me.
The 59 Sound The Backseat Here Comes My Man Mae Dark Places My top five, in chronological order. I feel bad for not including anything from American Slang.
Absolutely respect the hell out of Dark Places making your list. Dark Places and a Rollin’ & Tumblin’ are very high up for me too.
I just think Mama’s boys could’ve been on Painkillers instead of Get Hurt b-side. I don’t think Brian can write a bad song, and as long as the music ends up in my ears I don’t really care which album or project is released under. Just my impression based on what surrounds it.
This is really hard to do, but here's a go at it for this moment right now - Top 5 Gaslight Anthem songs, in chronological order: 1930 Say I Won’t (Recognize) Meet Me By The River’s Edge Old Haunts Mae Have Mercy But also "Drive" and "We're Getting A Divorce, You Keep The Diner" and "Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts" and "Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?" and "Old White Lincoln" and "Here's Lookin At You, Kid" and "The Backseat" and "Stay Lucky" and "Bring It On" and "The Spirit of Jazz" and "She Loves You" and "Biloxi Parish" and "Blue Dahlia" and "Get Hurt" and "Underneath The Ground" and "Sweet Morphine".