Ted Hutt (Flogging Molly, The Gaslight Anthem, Bouncing Souls) once again works his magic on Jesse Malin’s latest album, “Love It To Life”. Malin’s previous claim to fame was his 2007 single “Broken Radio” on which Springsteen contributed guest vocals. It came from the album “Glitter In The Gutter” that was pretty solid in its own right. After that though things got kinda quiet around Mr. Malin. Up until now that is. He’s back back in a big way with both Side One Dummy and his band The St. Marks Social backing him up.
Opener “Burning The Bowery” immediately demands your attention with a great guitar lick and Malin’s worn vocals before exploding in a bigass chorus. After that this album is just one big love letter to the power of rock ‘n roll. Most of the songs sound like The Gaslight Anthem, others breathe Springsteen (“St. Mark’s Sunset”) and with “All The Way From Moscow” Malin shows he hasn’t yet forgotten his punkrock past. And with both “Burning The Bowery” and “Burning The Bridge” there is evident proof that there is still a lot of fire hidden inside Malin.
It might not be all that original and sure, not all of the songs are worth listening to on repeat but I’ll be damned if this isn’t a fine rock ‘n roll album.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
http://www.sideonedummy.com
http://www.jessemalin.com
No comments:
Post a Comment