Gareth - 8/28/2012

The Horrible crows first and maybe only album, who knows, is this to be a long running, or a one off side project of the lead singer/guitarist Brian Fallon, of the growing in popularity Sprinsteenesque, The Gas Light Anthem. His partner in crime on this occasion is guitar tech Ian Perkins.

From the packaging, front and back cover, to the title of the album; this could so and all too easily be a Springsteen album, a Tom Waits album or a Counting Crows album. From the images used to the colour and style of the fonts used. This is in no way of course a bad thing and if you are going to be influenced why not be influenced from the people that have all had long term global success in the field. Fallon said that '"as much as I have this fantasy in the Gaslight Anthem of being Bruce Springsteen, I also have this fantasy of being Tom Waits or Greg Dulli.

To be honest thee first time I listened to this album I was pretty unimpressed, gave it one listen and cast it aside. It was only recently when seeing an acoustic performance by Brian Fallon, that it made me pick this album back up and give it another spin, and I am so grateful I did, if you stick with it, it does grow and become a more pleasurable experience with every listen.

There are a mixture of sparse acoustic offerings with minimal drums and backing and there are a few numbers what build up in the chorus and pull you in. Much of the vocals from Fallon are low key and softer with the odd big chorus where he picks up, the vocals crack and the passion pours out.

'Sugar' has the simplistic chorus of "you said no no no no no no no no, that's not the way it goes" so simple but sang so true. 'Black Betty and the Moon' seems to express the disappointment of someone in "You did the very thing, baby that I asked you not to do". 'Ladykiller' has a powerful catchy chorus "and you must've met a man, tall and handsome, at that, who must've of put a spell on you baby, must've kept on coming back". Another key song and chorus comes in the form of 'Go Tell Everybody' which goes "So go tell everybody that you drove your poor lover crazy, take a good look at just what the night did. There ain't nothing left of your dearly departed. And I just fell to pieces on the night, that you said you were leaving. On tracks 'Cherry Blossoms' and 'Mary Ann' in places Fallon appears to completely morph into Mr Waits with shouting distorted vocals.

Any fan of Springsteen, Tom Waits and The Counting Crows that just want more and as much as they can get of that genre of music then 'Elsie' this is definitely something for you. There are some straight up rock n roll numbers but offers more low key, hollow, haunting, dark numbers. A good album, but maybe a mood dependent album, rather than one that you could play at any time for any mood.