record reviews

July 29, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM

Album: “Handwritten”

Grade: A

The Gaslight Anthem live in a limited world of “Hey! Hey!” and “oh-sha-la-la” — a world where Bruce Springsteen is boss, The Clash are kings and everything is filtered through The Replacements. In other words, a pretty great place.

The Jersey band’s fourth album “Handwritten” (Mercury), its first for a major label, reflects that familiar world while still offering a few surprises.

The Gaslight Anthem takes a lot of knocks for that familiarity, with Brian Fallon’s Springsteenian phrasing and Alex Rosamilia’s slashing guitar work, making the songs (and their influences) instantly recognizable.

However, the band does use those building blocks to create some extra ordinary things. On “Mulholland Drive,” Fallon attacks the verses like Joe Strummer before settling into a less confrontational rock stance in the chorus, used to set off Rosamilia’s stunning solo and a triumphant bridge that hinges on the questions “Who came to wipe your tears away? Who came to bring back your dignity, baby?”

The strutting “Biloxi Parish” offers more searing guitar solos and more promises of faithfulness, while the hard-hitting first single, “45,” promises a Replacements-fueled ride of a relationship told through a 7-inch slice of vinyl.

And the Gaslight Anthem does slip outside its comfort zone occasionally, as “Here Comes My Man” shows, using ’60s-pop backing vocals and harmonies from Rosamilia and bassist Alex Levine.

“Handwritten” shows Fallon and friends can stretch without shifting their artistic visions.

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

MAYBACH MUSIC GROUP

Album: “Self Made Vol. 2” (Maybach Music Group/ Warner Bros.)

Grade: B

Rick Ross is as audacious a businessman as he is a rapper.

Not only because the Maybach Music label owner has been giving sacks of cash to exotic dancers in strip clubs across America to promote this compilation’s bouncing first single, “Bag of Money.” Ross understands how to showcase his label’s roster without fearing they’ll best the boss. He’s looking to sell records by Maybach signees such as Meek Mill, the controversial Philadelphia MC who, when not busy fighting Drake’s battles with Chris Brown or arguing with preachers over risqui lyrics, is releasing his MMG debut in August.

While Ross saves the ego for his forthcoming album, “God Forgives, I Don’t” (on the rival Def Jam label), he’s got plenty of boastful brio to go around on “Bury Me a G,” his crackling duet with T.I., and guest bits littered throughout SMV2 like the crunching “Black Magic,” with Philly’s Mill.

Some of the album’s best moments focus on singsongy rapper/crooner Omarion and Washington MC Wale. Their sweet-and-sour pairing on “M.I.A.” is a surefire soul-hop hit if ever there was one.

—A.D. Amorosi, Philadelpia Inquirer

THE BLASTERS

Album: “Fun On Saturday Night” (Rip Cat)

Grade: B

The 1985 departure of guitarist Dave Alvin may have left the Blasters without a distinctive songwriting voice, but they remain one of the great roots-rock bands (and still one of our all-time favorites).

On “Fun on Saturday Night,” the four musicians - original members Phil Alvin, Bill Bateman and John Bazz, joined by red-hot guitarist Keith Wyatt - again show their impressive range. They tear through blues chestnuts by Tiny Bradshaw, Magic Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Gatemouth Brown, and tackle both Johnny Cash and James Brown while also venturing south of the border.

The two originals here, one by Phil Alvin and one credited to all four Blasters, may not match the extremely high standards set by Dave Alvin. But as a singer, his older brother remains a marvel. Phil Alvin’s piercing tenor turns raspy in some spots, but it remains as strong and rangy as ever. He belts the blues with authority, duets with Exene Cervenka on a scorching version of the Cash-June Carter hit “Jackson,” and pleads like the Godfather of Soul on “Please Please Please.” He even proves a nimble yodeler.

Dave Alvin’s voice is not missing entirely. The set closes with “Maria Maria,” which is the classic Blasters rave-up “Marie Marie” transformed into a lovely acoustic waltz, and sung in Spanish.

—Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer

PASSION PIT

Album: “Gossamer”

Grade: A

Considering how upbeat and carefree Passion Pit’s gorgeous new album “Gossamer” (Columbia) sounds, the recent news that the band’s singer and songwriter, Michael Angelakos, had to cancel the early part of the band’s tour to improve his “mental health” was a bit surprising. Maybe re-entry from the heady, aggressively happy anthem “I’ll Be Alright” with its swirling synths, and the defiant, rock-ish “It’s Not My Fault, I’m Happy,” became too much. Even the sleek synth-soul of “Constant Conservations,” with Angelakos’ falsetto drifting over a downbeat, feels like a pretty great time. Lucky for Angelakos, “Gossamer” is enough to chase away anyone’s blues.

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

CHRIS SMITHER

Album: “Hundred Dollar Valentine” (Signature Sounds)

Grade: A

Nobody philosophizes to the blues quite like Chris Smither. On his 12th album, the singer and guitarist continues to be a spellbinding blend of the elemental and the erudite, with a deft touch and often droll undertone that allows him to go deep without getting ponderous or pretentious.

Smither still grounds himself in acoustic blues, this time spicing things up with the likes of cello, fiddle, and female backup vocals. The title song is a jaunty little number about romantic frustration, but mostly Smither likes to delve into the big questions. When he does, he has a knack for making even his wordiest songs flow as fluidly as his fingerpicking and insistent rhythms.

But he can also be gut-wrenchingly concise, as he is on “What It Might Have Been” (“It ain’t what I knew that made me blue/ It’s what I thought I knew”) and on two of his better known older songs reprised here: “I Feel the Same” (covered by Bonnie Raitt and others) and “Every Mother’s Son.”

—Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer