Kevin Bronson on July 14th, 2010

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The title track from the Gaslight Anthem’s new album “American Slang” makes me wish I still had that Chevy Malibu from my teenage years. Like a lot of material on the New Jersey rockers’ follow-up to “The ’59 Sound,” it’s a pedal-to-the-metal anthem, with frontman Brian Fallon blaring his blue-collar sensibilities like the Boss – and legions of punk-rockers with more a stripped-down sound – did. That Fallon and his mates are celebrated, and not vilified, for their obvious Springsteen influences are testament to their songs’ honesty.

||| Live: The Gaslight Anthem play the Wiltern Theatre on July 21.