Album Review: The Horrible Crowes - Elsie
If you’ve ever talked to me or read anything I’ve ever written, it will be very easy for you to understand how passionate I am about the things I like. Lost, Bruce Springsteen, Big Fish, The Catcher In The Rye, and especially, The Gaslight Anthem. Most people know that I am a die-hard fan of The Gaslight Anthem; Who I consider to be the best band to be started in the past 20 years. When I found out frontman Brian Fallon would be teaming up with his guitar tech to release a new project, The Horrible Crowes, saying I was just excited would be almost insulting. I was ecstatic. I don’t think I had ever been this excited to hear a record.
What made this project so interesting was that Fallon said it would be nothing similar to The Gaslight Anthem, that it would be an album built on the moods that you only feel at night time, and also that they talked about it for about 3 months before a single clip of a song was released online. The thing that intrigued me the most was how a record could sound like night time. Then I continued to consider how different records sound better at different times of the year. Beirut, Sigur Ros, and Lydia sound much better in the fall when it’s a little colder. Artists like Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, and City & Colour sound better in December. And it’s not necessarily that they sound better; They capture the mood better when it’s cloudy and cold out.
When I played the first song, Last Rites, it was very apparent how this record would be better in the fall in the night time. Very atmospheric with a piano that sustains most of the song and shakers but very little percussion. The last line “My baby just ain’t no good.” sets the mood, lyrically, for most of the record. It then jumps into a song called Sugar. This song showcases the new sound very well; Dark, moody, and filled with soul. It almost has an early 90s adult contemporary vibe, as well. I would recommend showing this one to older people who might have trouble getting into The Horrible Crowes, as well as Gaslight.
My main concern for this record was that it might sound too much like The Gaslight Anthem. I mean, I wouldn’t mind that. But when you’re expecting to hear something different, you’re much more excited. Well, my concerns weren’t a problem as this record sounds nothing like a Gaslight record. The biggest crossover to The Gaslight Anthem that occurs would be track 3, Behold The Hurricane. It could easily have been on American Slang but it’s on this record and that’s really the only comparison you can make to any Gaslight record.
This record sounds much more soulful and classic rock than a Gaslight record (Which is saying a lot) and you can really hear it on songs like I Witnessed A Crime and Go Tell Everybody (Which I would say could very well be a song by The Police). This record is really time and genre bending. This record could’ve been released at any time period and I feel that it would be an instant classic. Ladykiller is a great example of this. It has a soul similar to that of Sugar; Very 90’s-esque about being young and in love with someone who can’t make up their mind.
A month ago, clips of all the songs were released online. My least anticipated song to hear was called Crush. This song sounded way too poppy and fun to be sang by Fallon. It seemed almost immature. ”I know a secret/Everybody tell/Who goes to heaven?/Who goes to hell?/I know one thing sure is true/I’ve never kept a secret/I’ve got a crush on you” This is a prime reason to never let a 30 second clip of a song fool you. This ends up being one of the coolest songs on the record with one of the best endings I’ve ever heard. It’s just a beautiful song about being young and the random crushes that come along with that. It also has very strong religious undertones: “Sometimes, I’m up Lord/Sometimes I’m down/God’s gonna trouble the waters/If you should go to heaven before I do/God’s gonna trouble the waters/I’ve got a crush on you”
The night time and autumn vibes are very strong on tracks like Cherry Blossoms, Black Betty and the Moon, Blood Loss and I Believe Jesus Brought Us Together. These songs capture the mood of this record best. Most are slower with a lot of dissonance and atmosphere. Most are also filled with strings, acoustic guitars and different types of pianos. This makes the most notable differences between The Horrible Crowes and The Gaslight Anthem. While TGA does write some beautiful songs, they don’t write these kind of beautiful songs.
I apologize that this might be poorly written but I just listened to the record for the first time and wanted to get a review up as soon as I could. Elsie is now streaming on RollingStone.com and I highly recommend you go listen to it. This generation is filled with horrible bands but people need to not lose faith in good music, especially rock and roll. Good music still exists and Brian Fallon, The Gaslight Anthem and The Horrible Crowes are the proof of that.
Also: Next week, I am going to be starting an online series of blogs which will be memoirs from my life from August 2009 to March 2010. This was the time in which I went on my last tour with The Summer Set. It’ll detail from my first trip to Las Vegas with the band, to being re-hired by them, to taking a train to Philadelphia for no reason, to going back to working a “real” job and what happens when you’ve been traveling non stop then going back to a routine life style.
