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01-23 New The Bouncing Souls EP
07-28 The Bouncing Souls stream LP
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Asbury Park, NJ is Bruce Springsteen’s town. There’s no two ways about it. So when The Bouncing Souls moved there to write what wouldbecomeTheGold Record, Bruce’s old ghosts, spirits which permeate the area, were almost sure to appear. It happens to anyone who’s everbeen to a rockshow at TheStone Pony, Asbury’s most famous jaunt. I’ve seen it time and time again. Shit, I’ve even seen the Souls coverSpringsteen at the Pony.Anyway, in 1999Springsteen made it into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame for the songwriting abilities he honed on theJersey Shore. In 2006 it’s fittingthat the S ...read more
Asbury Park, NJ is Bruce Springsteen’s town. There’s no two ways about it. So when The Bouncing Souls moved there to write what wouldbecomeTheGold Record, Bruce’s old ghosts, spirits which permeate the area, were almost sure to appear. It happens to anyone who’s everbeen to a rockshow at TheStone Pony, Asbury’s most famous jaunt. I’ve seen it time and time again. Shit, I’ve even seen the Souls coverSpringsteen at the Pony.Anyway, in 1999Springsteen made it into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame for the songwriting abilities he honed on theJersey Shore. In 2006 it’s fittingthat the Souls createtheir latest album on the same hallowed streets. The result is undoubtedly the BouncingSouls greatest achievement insongwriting and what will be one ofthe best albums of the year.Sure, the Bouncing Souls have written some great tunes, but never have so many been put onto one cohesive disc. All the energy of theirfirst fewalbumsare evident as well as the youthful melody of their latter ones. The difference here is an obvious maturity in their ability tocraft a multi-layeredsong thatisn’t overly complicated and still accessible to old school fans.The first track, “The Gold Song” serves as a proper introduction. You can picture it as a fist-pumping, show-opener for years to come. Whenthechoruscomes around and singer Greg Attonito boasts “I heard someone say that nothing gold can stay, but there’s a love in all our soulsand it shineslike gold,”you realize the Bouncing Souls wear their souls on their sleeves and yes… you can feel the love.The second track is where I mostly draw the Springsteen parallel. It’s called, oddly enough, “So Jersey” and it’s a love song about risking itall,growing upand the music that provides the soundtrack of hope. The ever-so faint backdrop of piano provides a touch of straight up rock nroll, rightout of “Born toRun.” It works beautifully and takes the song to a whole new level, a level only a punk band with the integrity of theBouncing Soulscould pull off withoutsounding manufactured. The E-Street Band would be proud.While most of the songs are about love, life, music, and the unspoken for, the lyrics to one of the most heartfelt songs weren’t even writtenby theband.They were written by a soldier with the U.S. military. “Letters From Iraq” stems from a page on bouncingsouls.com featuring soulbaring insightinto thethoughts and feelings of soldiers overseas. To hear the words from the pen of someone living in a warzone can bedownright chilling.“Underneath thepalms, there’s improvised bombs. Because, Jihad Johnny knows Yankee is a liar.” Back that up with athumping beat and you’ve gotyourself the protestsong Anti-Flag wish they wrote.There’s been plenty of positive words written about the Bouncing Souls over the years. I asked a friend not too long ago if he liked them andhisresponsewas ‘who doesn’t like the Bouncing Souls?’ They’ve cemented themselves as a group a lot of bands want to be and you knowsomething?They just getbetter as time goes on. To hear them do what they do is pure love and when you’re that passionate about something,the love doesindeed shine like gold. « hide |
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