C/D : The Gaslight Anthem

listening to Gaslight Anthem and after one song ended before the next started my son went "more!" like he does when he wants another episode of Sesame Street

haha aw

have to say apart from a few highlights this isn't really knocking my socks off - i was hoping '45' hinted at a return to some of the raucous uptempo stuff from the 59 sound, but most of this is in the vein of the more midtempo joints off american slang, which initially underwhelmed (but which i eventually came around to)

if there was any change between the avg tempos or energy level from 59 Sound to American Slang i didn't notice it tbh -- looking forward to the new one

I am anticipating this album

I will ask about vicious female antagonists.

Both of the last two were great. '59 Sound's highs were a little higher for me than American Slang's. Splitting hairs though.

xpost Good question, said Fallon. He's put it to her before. She doesn't mind, apparently.

Ha! Awesome.

I got really excited after the first two songs but after that this is another boring album. Too much stodgy midpaced chunter and they're just not very good at it.

The cover of Sliver is completely redundant when Nirvana's exists, not that they try to do anything different to it.

This album sounds like ... the Gaslight Anthem. But it's less ambitious than the last one, musically, and at times almost comes off lazy in its pat chord progressions and lyrical themes/crutches.

xpost Matt - I interviewed the Vaccines the other day and put to them your contention, after their second single, that you preferred their early stuff. They thought that was uproarious. Yes, I take all my questions from ILX posts.

this is sort of where i figured they'd be musically by now

sorta their "stay positive," last hurrah of their established style and themes before they need to evolve or stagnate

they did howl at the show friday night and people lost their minds at it

'national anthem' is almost like 'devils n dust'-y bruce, kick in the chest even if "she screams i promised her more than this" is a hair over the line

i really like the production here, putting the vocals a little deeper in

makes them sound more idk

polished

sorta their "stay positive,"

i had this exact thought

ew don't bring up that band

haha i'm still waiting on your "this is why gaslight is better" essay

"keepsake" almost makes me think of nickelback, the atmospheric elements of their stuff that isn't as awful as their actual songs

yeah, shit, this record is gonna grow on me a lot.

I wish I liked these guys more. I respect what they are doing but it doesn't move me.

last hurrah of their established style and themes before they need to evolve or stagnate

See, I hear the first glimmers of stagnation, and in fact I even hear a little bit of retrenchment after the likes of "The Diamond Church Street Choir" and "The Queen of Lower Chelsea," but I do have to give the new album more time. For the first time ever, I'm not sure it was a good decision to bury the vocals a bit.

djp otm

haha i'm still waiting on your "this is why gaslight is better" essay

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, July 24, 2012 5:42 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

rock music with singing > rock music with monologues

well done

I wish I liked these guys more. I respect what they are doing but it doesn't move me.

― PITILESS LIVE SHOW (DJP), Tuesday, July 24, 2012 6:16 PM (5 hours ago)

this is weird to me because to me they're kind of conventional & therefore to me a "greater than the sum of their parts" band - i'd expect non-fans to not really get the big deal

i'm confused about what's going on in 'here comes my man'

tons of great lines on this thing. i remember on the last album that every time i listened to a song there was a new line that i noticed. on "handwritten": "and to ease the loss of youth"

his man is coming

the coda to "handwritten" is why i love this band

one problem i'm having is that a lot of the themes are less interesting to me than on the last album. unrelated, "handwritten" kinda gives me a "the river" vibe (tho much more hopeful in conclusion than the river), and it turns out i still really like emo-boss.

Here Comes My Man is written from the perspective of A Lady, apparently. It is not a harbinger of a heroin habit.

Themes on this album: he's given up pretending to write as the everyman, he says, because he knows he is no longer the everyman.

Not unlike on The River

That's not a theme of The River at all! Tunnel of Love, maybe.

"blue dahlia" (from the bonus traxx) sounds like it could have been on the "senor and the queen" EP - the chorus kind of clashes in a weird way with the verses but other than that it's a welcome return

Looking forward to listening to this this weekend when I have some free time. You guys have lowered my expectations which is a good thing.

Matt - I interviewed the Vaccines the other day and put to them your contention, after their second single, that you preferred their early stuff. They thought that was uproarious. Yes, I take all my questions from ILX posts.

Hah, I don't really remember saying that in the first place but good stuff.

http://www.spin.com/reviews/gaslight-anthem-handwritten-mercury

worst new music? a little harsh

smh, terrible

thought this reviewer at least tried to think a little http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16856-handwritten/

http://i.imgur.com/Nj59d.gif

hahahah

yeah sorry whines i prefer reviews that actually engage with the material and approach it with something resembling respect - that dude obviously saw the opportunity to get in some lazy zings and good for him if it's getting him spin paid but it's shitty writing

i haven't heard this album and i didn't have much of a problem w/ it but yeah it was obv more of a leveling of the band than the specific album

Yeah, I get the impression those last two reviewers were pretty set on panning it before they even heard it, based on the zings; which to be fair, if I was reviewing records on a consistent basis, I'd probably run across a few albums every year that I'd end up reviewing, knowing beforehand that it's not my thing, and writing a review signifying such.

tbh a band that stays so unfalteringly true to its formula from album to album kinda invites pre-written pans

Don't recall any pans of the last two, but I know the Horrible Crowes album rubbed some people the wrong way. And then comes an album that if anything upped the earnestness, which seems hard to do. Fork review otm in that it would be nice to hear a glimmer of humor in this endeavor.

I agree this band is becoming a bit formulaic, but I don't hear much of a qualitative difference among the three albums. Did this band ever have a sense of humor? I don't remember chuckling at any of their previous songs. Either way, that's not something that I care about at all (big Radiohead stan here).

i agree that the last 3 albums really very nearly equal -- i was just saying being consistent, while it can be enjoyable, can set a band up to get some pretty paint-by-numbers reviews

Finally bought this. I didn't love American Slang at first either, but this is seriously growing on me.

('59 Sound is easily my fave rock album of the last five years, btw.)