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Jesse Malin & the St. Marks Social - Love It to Life

Rating

RIYL

Conor Oberst
The Gaslight Anthem
Leader Cheetah

Release Date

04/27/2010

Label

SideOneDummy

Tracklist

Burning the Bowery
All the Way from Moscow
The Archer
St. Mark’s Sunset
Lowlife in a High Rise
Disco Ghetto
Burn the Bridge
Revelations
Black Boombox
Lonely at Heart

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I feel a bit incongruous in reviewing this album, as I have had previously no contact with Jesse Malin, and it seems he is a bit of an institution in American rock. According to the bios littered across Wikipedia and Myspace he’s shared stages in his career with heavyweights of the likes of Jack White and Bruce Springsteen, and he got his start fronting a ‘seminal hardcore trio’ named Heart Attack. However, all this still means nothing to me and although the Jesse Malin & St Mark’s Social Myspace lists them as a Rock/Punk/Folk act, Love it to Life just comes across as fairly bland pop-country Americana.

Starting from the top with "Burning the Bowery," an ode to lower class New York City, it becomes clear Malin is a fairly patriotic fella. Howling, "Come on down I’ve been burning / all that’s left inside of me / come on down the generations / exalted by the history," complete with all the "wuh-oh oh oh, wuh-oh oh oh’s" you'd expect. Musically the song holds its own, with a great hook of a lead guitar riff and a hugely anthemic drum beat provided by the St Mark’s Social, but from the first lyric Malin’s voice just sounds like it was processed and packaged for a republican rally.

This feeling is held strong as "All the Way from Moscow" kicks in, with Malin proclaiming over the speed snare riff, "And she said the Twin Tower’s / was an inside job / the boys went to the desert / and parted with a wartime farm / and the gypsy kept on playing / his nylon string guitar / all the way from Moscow to New York." It might just be me but it seems we’re getting a bit repetitive, and certainly straying from the "fast, loose and raw" record discussed with producer Ted Hutt prior to recording. The music of The St Mark’s Social is tight drumming and explicit guitar tones that might’ve been ripped from Bryan Adam’s Reckless or Rick Springfield’s Working Class Dog.

Love it to Life hits a few low points and fewer high points, maintaining a constant of rehashed stars and stripes anthems, but there are parts where it just gets weird. "Disco Ghetto" leaves no wanting of explanation, but when "Black Boombox" kicks in to high gear with Malin singing, "Lost my wife / Thursday night… we all got together / in a rock and roll sweater," it just feels off the mark. He might look and sound like Bob Dylan and Neil Young’s New York lovechild, but to me any man who says, "Rock ‘n’ roll is an exorcism that begins every night when the sun goes down," isn’t going to have my interest for very long.

--Sandy Powell