Let the 2008 Mix Tape remind you why the last 365 days weren't the worst of your life
Here it is boys and girls, the big one…I wanted more dramatics to go along with the First Mix Tape Of The Year, but with the last two weeks sneaking by at an astonishing speed, I’m lucky to have been able to find enough time to get to a computer and put this mother together.
Down around my neck of the woods there’s a blizzard on its way…while you’re snowed in tomorrow, there might be no better way to pass the time than buy opening up your itunes and making a few new year purchases.
Ladies and gentlemen, please settle in – History Happens At Night is pleased to present, The Mix Tape Of The Year – 2008
1. Constructive Summer – The Hold Steady
2. The ‘59 Sound – The Gaslight Anthem
3. Rock and Roll Train – AC/DC
4. Seaside – Kestrels
5. Dawn of the Dead – Does It Offend You, Yeah?
6 Losing Touch – The Killers
7. Paranoid – Kanye West
8. Three Dimes Down – The Drive By Truckers
9. Head Rolls Off – Frightened Rabbit
10. Last Day Of Magic – The Kills
11. (I Used To Couldn’t Dance) Tight Pants – Eagles of Death Metal
12. Sex On Fire – Kings Of Leon
13. The Glory Of Love (Single Version) – Primal Scream
14. Building a Boat – Matt Mays & El Torpedo
15. Better – Guns n’ Roses
16. Everything is Borrowed – The Streets
17. L.E.S. Artistes – Santogold
18. Detroit ‘67 – Sam Roberts
19. Love Is Noise – The Verve
20. The Wrestler – Bruce Springsteen
And there it is…the History Happens At Night Mix Tape of the Year – 2008. Please join us next year where my resolution is to be better organized!
Happy New Year kids!
Filed under: Best Of, Features, Music, Year End | Tags: Album of the year, Alkaline Trio, Amanda Palmer, Atmosphere, Dresden Dolls, Gaslight Anthem, Motley Crue, The '59 Sound
Before we hit number one, I would like to give mentions to a few honorables. This year saw a lot of good music from a lot of different genres, which was, you know…pretty awesome. Had I decided to chronicle the top 22 albums of the year (keeping in mind the tie for fifth), you would have seen the following albums…
Who Killed Amanda Palmer – Amanda Palmer
In a Nut Shell – Dresden Doll breaks out on her own to deliver a solid Dresden Dolls album…
When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold – Atmosphere
In A Nut Shell – Hip Hop for kids who hate Hip Hop
Agony And Irony – The Alkaline Trio
In A Nut Shell – Obama ain’t the only good thing coming out of Chicago…
The Saints Of Los Angeles – Motley Crue
In A Nut Shell – The hardest album to leave off the list, Saints is a great triumph, proving the naysayers wrong. Everything about this album makes in the best Crue record Since Dr. Feelgood.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s see about this number one album…
Drum Roll
The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
The Vitals
Album – The ‘59 Sound
Artist – The Gaslight Anthem
Release Date – August 19th, 2008
In A Nut Shell – Jersey punks sacrifice at the alter of the Saint of Asbury Park and are rewarded with the record of the year…
‘I always dreamed of classic cars and movie screens, and trying to find some way to be redeemed.’
I remember the first night I heard the Gaslight Anthem; it was August, it was warm and I was ready for something new to fill my recently vacated apartment, but I wasn’t looking for it. I didn’t sit down and say, “I need a new band, a new record, now,” it was an absolute fluke.
I was doing research on the Lords Of The New Church (verdict – meh) and I came across this web site that had a few reviews posted on the main page along with a post on this band that was being called the second coming of Springsteen. I scoffed, as you usually would when somebody makes a claim that huge, but my defenses were low, so I clicked on the youtube link.
The conversation I had with myself in the following seconds went something like this:
Nice Telecaster…
Hey, this sounds pr…
oh shit
*silence*
The song was The ‘59 Sound, and I spent the next few hours listening to it, singing it, learning it, playing along with it, falling in love with it…
It’s been a while since that has happened.
Raised on a steady diet of Springsteen, Strummer and Soul - The Gaslight Anthem
The ‘59 Sound
is, in a lot of ways (some subtle, some worthy of a court case) the album that Bruce Springsteen stopped making around 1982. It’s full of back alleys, old cars, switchblades, cigarettes, last chances, lost love, redemption, boardwalks, Ferris wheels, tragedy, romance, the summer, the heat…Imagine Bruce growing up listening to the Bouncing Souls. The music is fast and full of imagery that pops and characters that live and die by the epic stories singer Brian Fallon weaves around them.
It’s all dramatic, it’s all over the top. The album borrows the best parts from the best playbooks and still manages to be a completely unique experience.
It’s exhilarating and wonderful, honest and fabricated for dramatic effect. It’s the best part of your favorite movies…
Young Boys, Young Girls, Ain’t supposed to die on a Saturday… it’s true, in a perfect world, they’re making history and listening to the ‘59 Sound .
This is music the way it’s meant to sound, this is History Happens At Night’s best album of 2008.
Filed under: Best Of, Features, Music, Year End | Tags: Almost Killed Me, Constructive Summer, Craig Finn, Rock And Roll Means Well, Stay Positive, The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
The Vitals
Album – Stay Positive
Artist – The Hold Steady
Release Date – July 15th, 2008
In A Nut Shell – With love and trust and friends and hammers, the Hold Steady build one hell of an album…
It was supposed to be so easy. Stay Positive was supposed to be the best album of the year. Craig Finn and company had built the perfect beast. Talk Box’s, double neck guitar solos, a horn section, lyrics that roll like the best film you’ve ever seen. Anthems, ballads, rallying cries…all delivered with power.
Stay Positive was the soundtrack to my summer, late nights and long drives, night swimming and big cities. The Hold Steady didn’t Almost Kill Me (as their debut album suggested) , no, the Hold Steady almost saved me.
I was lucky enough to see The Hold Steady in November with my friend Luke and it was everything I hoped it would be, singing and clapping and dancing and one over excited kid pumping his fist like a mad man. The Hold Steady are everything I want my rock and roll to be…and were second, only to the Boss, for my favorite concert of the year.
One of my favorite photos I've ever snapped just happens to be of one of my favorite bands. Craig Finn and The Hold Steady
As I get older, I can only assume I will look back to the summer of ‘08 as one of the most memorable of my life…and ups and downs aside, this album was never far from my ears. It’s always going to be attached to Heart breaks, road trips and the most ridiculous whirlwind summer romance I’ve ever experienced.
Yes, this was to be the album. It was supposed to be so easy…
…and then four boys from Jersey rolled up in a ‘55 Chevy and changed all that…
Final Thought – One day after the 6 year anniversary of the Death of Joe Strummer, the lyrics to Constructive Summer are enough to practically move me to tears. R.I.P. Joe, Long Live The Hold Steady…
