The Gaslight Anthem
GET HURT
The Gaslight Anthem Get Hurt.
(EME)
3 stars
Anyone who sings “Baby, I was born on the 4th of July, exploding like a firework,” as The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon on the New Jersey quartet’s fifth album, better be prepared to evoke the full rock'n' roll gospel to back up their Springsteen-like preaching. The problem with Get Hurt is that it’s messy and mismatched, from song to song and verse to verse; awkward moments and ungainly moods permeate the band’s once prominent punkish momentum and streetscape Americana. On the title track, suggestive of a languid 1980s power ballad, Fallon’s personal pain is reconfigured as anthemic pride, and that’s the album’s crucial flaw. The truth keeps getting in the way of a good song.