At a time when most punk bands have long since packed it up, The Bouncing Souls released The Gold Record, another amazing album from start to finish. Full of incredibly catchy tunes featuring punk and pop/rock styles, the release saw the band venturing slightly away from its punk origins.In interviews, the band often lamented the idea of labeling styles of music and The Gold Record is hard to define. Is it a punk rock album? Classic rock? Pop? It’s actually a little of all of those things. Amazingly, the band pulls off each style with ease and radio-friendly hits. The title is a bit ironic when one thinks that despite 20 years of great music, gold records have alluded the band.
Somewhere around the middle of the decade, The Bouncing Souls moved from New Brunswick to Asbury Park where they became a regular within the local clubs. The song “So Jersey” pays tribute to their new hometown and its musical legacy.
Stepping out of Asbury Lanes
In a midnight snow
The skeleton of this old town
Feels like it’s coming alive
Riots and corruption, beaches and Bruce
These songs were the keys to the engines
Of our growing up
And we wanna say thanks
To the music in our lives
Forgive ourselves for all those lies
Send some love to all the lonely
Don’t forget we’re all one family
Thanks to the music in our lives
For helping us to survive
Lost in one lonely dream,
Born to run and live free
-- “So Jersey”
Highlights include “The Gold Song,” “So Jersey,” “Sound Of The City,” “Sarah Saturday,” and “Lean On Sheena.”
From the book
Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists by Gary Wien
Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of
Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and
Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station
Asbury Music. He can be contacted at
gary@newjerseystage.com.
