C/D : The Gaslight Anthem

I was up late watching M2 one night a couple months ago and amazingly they actually played a video. It was by a band I'd never heard of before, the Gaslight Anthem. At first I thought it was just another generic pop-rock band, but as I listened to this song "Great Expectations," they began to remind me of the Replacements. Apparently, their record has gotten good press from both mainstream and more indie publications. I haven't really heard the record, but I like the song. Any thoughts on them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Leo9HSaGQ

Oh, also they've gotten a lot of Bruce Springsteen comparisons. This song does have that trademark epic quality.

i repped for them on the year-end ILM poll a few months ago (although they didn't place and for all i know nobody else voted for them), although i dunno how much people have really followed them here. if you like the singles you'll like the album, it's all a bit samey and surface level but they're definitely good at what they do. saw them live a few weeks ago and it was a fun show. they even covered the Replacements!

yeah word this has grown on me like crazy, '59 Sound is a very good album. "great expectations" is my favorite song. it's also nice to have an album i can recommend to/have in common with my lame-o pop-punk/emo friends

-liking friends

haha unrelated to my prev post but jordan s would like this

I really really love this band. Their latest album The 59 sound was olne of the highlights of 2008 for me. Saw them play a great show at a sold out Vera three months ago. They also did their coverversion of Left Of The Dial, and they played State Of Love And Trust as a second cover.

Strangely enough last year they were still touring with hardcore-bands, like Annihilation Time.

-liking friends

on an unrelated tangent, i'm curious how you perceive this addition changes the meaning of the previous statement.

ha idk i mean my 19/20 y.o. friends don't dress like
http://trickledown.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/emo-kid.jpg
but listen to "emo" music

I kind of missed out on The 59 Sound last year but picked it up after people repped for it in the end of year poll thread. Utter classic, anyway. They make me want to go and drink beer and have ridiculous adventures. Is the first album as good?

Also I was listening to it heavily while reading The Savage Detectives and the two feel completely intertwined in my head now.

I got into the title track of 59 Sound last fall after Breihan repped hard for the album on his blog, but I sorta felt like the record was real samey as a whole and let it fall by the wayside as I got really into The Hold Steady again. In the last month, though, I've totally fallen in love with it whole hog (and got Sarge into it too iirc). I know all the words and am learning to play most of it.

If Hold Steady are the wizened older brothers who've made all the mistakes and spend their time telling half-grinning cautionary tales, these guys are the younger brothers who're gonna hear all the stories and ignore the advice and go and make the same mistakes. They sound like the decision to stay young and reckless when you maybe ought to know better.

I fuckin love this band.

good post dude

Great record, but too many pick slides at the same point in the arrangement. Minor quibble? Perhaps. But it bugs me as much as a scratch in an LP.

I can see how that would be irritating. Of course, a similar charge could be leveled against the entire Verse-Chorus-Verse format.

by the way, is there a reason why the word "repped" appears so much in this thread?

Paid cash money for it. After more than enough listening, thought this about it on Rolling Country last year, posted for its Americana vibe:

=========
The Gaslight Anthem The '59 Sound Don't know where to put this and it's Americana, so here by default.

Heavily influenced by late period Replacements and some Hold Steady, I think. Which makes it sound hand-wringingly sincere and Bruce Springsteen as filtered through indie types. Lots of ringing guitars but not in the classic rock sense ala Tom Petty. Ringing guitars in the sense that everything sounds the same and indie after fifteen minutes and all the guitar solos are octave riffs and nothing ever sounds like Chuck Berry or Little Richard.

Guys singing about standing in the pounding Jersey rain. Forget this dead man's town! O-ooo-oo-oh-o---ooh! Yo-ho! Eesh. Fuck me, why do I get sucked in by stuff like this? Just ain't my style. When I think of the '59 Fullerton Fender guitar sound, I don't think Jersey/Long Island bar band as reinterpreted by dudes doing the indie thing. Why doesn't this stuff ever sound like the Norman Nardini's or Joe Gruschecky's of the real genre. Makes the Mudcrutch album earlier this year sound inspired.

Can you believe they've actually entitled songs "The Patient Ferris Wheel" and "Here's Looking at You, Kid"?

― Gorge, Friday, 19 December 2008 22:06 (5 months ago) Permalink
=======

Is the first album as good?

― Matt DC, Monday, June 8, 2009 5:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no, but it's not far off, it's pretty impressive how fully formed they were from the jump. the EP released in between, Senor And The Queen, is good too.

i would get into why these guys are good and Hold Steady sucks but let's not and say we did

are you one of those dudes who loved lifter puller but doesnt like hold steady?

i'm one of those dudes who has no love for any of the above

just some dude

i really really fucked up by not listening to these dudes till like last week

these guys were fun live

i sort of actively avoided bands that sounded like these guys when i was in HS in north jersey (lots of my friends were into the new brunswick uh "scene" but i was too busy being lol indie) and now i'm like "damn, i probably missed out on some stuff"

Haha the first album is almost exactly the same as the first one except shorter and not quite as good.

They're playing Glastonbury in a couple of weeks, which I'm psyched about.

Someone's gotta say it: DUD DUD DUD. Third-hand nostalgia for shit that wasn't that good in the first place. I mean, if you like Night Ranger, maybe these guys come off as an OK update on that. But does every fucking song have to have the word "tonight" in it?

Yeah, what I've heard has been pretty uninspiring and rote.

Third-hand nostalgia for shit that wasn't that good in the first place.

I'm not gonna argue with this, dudes quote fucking Counting Crows in their lyrics, but i still like it.

I've tried listening to the rest of the album, but it's not quite gelling for me yet; I like "Great Expectations" though. It has a great vibe, and the lyrics are so forlorn.

Also, I had a thought; this may be an album that requires a particular context to work best. I'm thinking that it would work a lot better in a bar.

^^^ this is so true, a bar is where I first heard this band and it sounded pretty great in that context.

But yeah, staggerlee is also OTM, and objectively theres no reason why I should like this. But I do. Just spun the record again this morning and enjoyed 90% of it.

holy fuck these tickets are more money than i expected them to be

I just got a copy of The '59 Sound. Am I gonna love it?

idk. i hope so. i've been continuously surprised by people's reactions to it.

Turning it on... I'll let you know how it goes.

continually is i think the word i wanted there

I like this a lot more than Hold Steady so far.

Their album The 59 Sound is one of those albums I can't stop playing, even though other band have basically done the same before. I really like Brian Fallon's voice.

The end of 2009 saw The Gaslight Anthem entering the studio once again with producer Ted Hutt, to begin recording their second album for SideOneDummy Records, due out in the first half of 2010.

goddamn this can't come soon enough, i want to give a shit about a rock record

just listening to that EP for the first time now, "blue jeans and white t-shirts" is slaying me

wtf dud

sb

new lucero album goes well with this btw

i always kinda sorta wish i'm someone else

let's do this

http://www.myspace.com/thegaslightanthem

<333 this band

Nice new song.

ayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

played great expectations while downing my second double whiskey & coke at the bar yest and i was in...well, heaven isn't the word.

yeah "great expectations" is just

the gasface anthem

sb

suggest bantham

suggest you read jeremy bentham

have and do son!! have and do.

:)

lol

I'm watching you right now tbh

weird.

sub-the Killers

The Emo Street Band.

you all suck fyi

the HOOSlight anthem

<3 <3 incomprehensible hoarse vocals in the background of the chorus <3 <3 <3

i still listen to the 59 sound like once every two weeks, i'm sure this new one is going to own but it has a tough act to follow

Heavily influenced by late period Replacements and some Hold Steady, I think.

I would have said mid-Period Replacements.

I can't let HOOS ride on this alone, loved the last alum lots. Excited for a new one, but yeah, will be hard to top The '59 Sound.

ok i have now listened to 'american slang' 20 times tonight and am beginning to want more songs like it to listen to so this album needs to hurry

they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
in a dream i had ohhhh in a dream i had
i had your name tattooed inside of my arm
in a dream i had ohhhh in a dream i had

^^^ dope

didnt even notice til tonight that dude actually does a full throated non-background-vocal glory note at the end and its kinda thrilling

oh here's the youtube btw if you want that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSBhrinnwVs

*digs new album*

*feels bad for band that album leaked 2 months early, am probably going to wait for release date*

*digs new album*

― my two percent's worth (k3vin k.), Wednesday, April 21, 2010 6:41 AM (Yesterday)

This.

Yeah it's good, maybe not 59 Sound good on first listen, but it's early days.

Also, the sun's just coming out, there's a whole summer of adventures and possibility ahead, it's exactly the right time for music like this.

Their Facebook page has a stream of "American Slang" (just the title track, mind you) with noticeably better sound quality than the Youtube and Myspace feeds.

Didn't discover "'59 Sound" until this year (!!! late to the party again), loved it, so, totally looking forward to a new record.

"Bring It On" is a killer track.

I think this album is just about every bit as good as the last one.

BTW, why can't bands (labels) be more careful with their albums? Leaks this early are pretty inexcusable/inexplicable.

i know it's early, but they have made another classic album imo

and you're slow like motown souuuul

Between this and the new Against Me! it's a great year for post-warped tour rock.

my favorites are "american slang", "orphans", and "the spirit of jazz" but i'm feeling this whole thing. not sure about that retarded mayer affect he's putting on for "the diamond church street choir" but the song picks up eventually.

really? people who like some music i like seem to like this band. i just find them so grim.

Grim? Grim is about the furthest adjective that comes to mind when I think of these guys, I actually find most of their stuff to be uplifting.

maybe i need to give them another chance. they seem like "blue-collar springsteen rock" without his sharp lyrics and insight -- but again, maybe i judged too quick/harshly.

I think this one is certainly, well, grimmer than the last, at least. Lots of bittersweet, getting older, rearview mirror stuff. Don't know how much "insight" I'd cite in them, but they do capture the same sort of innocently myopic desperation that Springsteen did. "We have to get out of this dead-end town to make a record!" sort of stuff. Lots of riffs on the healing/escapist power of listening music, too, when you're living in said podunk. Mean streets of New Brunswick?

Okay, I haven't heard anything off the new one yet, so maybe I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss "grim".

the music itself is anything but grim

No, the music is exultant. The lyrics are a tad grim. But barely.

and you're slow like motown souuuul

― my two percent's worth (k3vin k.), Sunday, April 25, 2010 5:10 PM (5 days ago)

Was listening to this tonight and the second track, "Stay Lucky" is freaking fantastic. They've got amazing narratives, and I love the very end when he whispers something like, "if you're in new york over the next eight days, let me know," like their protagonist has been waiting inside, dreaming about when he was younger, but when Gaslight Anthem is in town, let them know and they'll reignite his youth. (At least that's what I got from it.) I love this Rock + Roll redemptive stuff, esp whispered at the end like it's a guilty secret that Rock n Roll will save you.

The Spirit of Jazz is my favourite so far. I don't think this one quite has the rush and momentum you get from the first few tracks on The 59 Sound but it's still so so great.

"Queen of Lower Chelsea" is their "Straight to Hell."

just listening to that EP for the first time now, "blue jeans and white t-shirts" is slaying me

― k3vin k., Saturday, October 31, 2009 6:10 PM (6 months ago)

this is such an incredible song...it's not 'stripped down' as much it's like, a monday practice in the NFL. no pads, half-speed

Loved 59' Sound. Didn't know there is a new one coming out soon. I'm Stoked!

Gaslight (the flick) is on PBS atm. Probably unrelated, but there's no Gaslight thread.

keep thinking this thread is about the gaslamp killer

rip gaslamps

this new not-even-out-yet album is great in the car, unsurprisingly

can see as how 59 sounds would be catchy, rousing and affecting as hell, if you listened often enough to get the hooks planted in your brain. problem is there's nothing that makes me want to listen more than once, if that. it's not a bad record. in fact it's pretty damn good for what it is. but i don't like being told i'm supposed to feel ecstatically wistful unless there's something in the sound & lyrics to separate it from the post-soul-asylum pack. and i don't like the feel of emo americana (or whatever this kind of thing is called) unless it's hitched to a version of cheap retro pop i can relate to.

Emo Americana!

Btw, I felt the same way about 59 Sounds. American Slang distinguishes its hooks much earlier and much quicker. They've become, imo, much more deft songwriters since 59 sound.

contenderizer instead of wondering what you would feel like if you listened more than once, try listening more than once. i think i felt similarly after the first time i heard it, and now it's easily one of my ten favorite records of the past 3 years

yeah, after grumping about it, i noticed that i still had bits of it bouncing around not unpleasantly in my head. and i suspect that part of my reticence is simple jadedness. i'm a replacements fan from way back when and even dug the early soul asylum records, esp made to be broken, so maybe it's just hard listen w/out prejudice. still, i think i would like it more if it had angry banjos and drunk yelling into a single room mic.

Can't believe there is still over a month until this comes out and I hear the whole thing.

xp which songs were your favorites, if you remember?

mine was "great expectations" for the longest time but i think i like "high lonesome" the best now

great expectations and meet my by the river's edge are the ones i remember best now. plus a line about "high-top sneakers and sailor tattoos" from what song i don't know, but it stuck in my craw in the sense that it seemed to draw too clear a box around the whole thing.

why does the dude go from the line about "southern accents on the radio" directly to the i'm on fire reference? seems confused. i'm resistant to the lyrical angle as a whole, the pileup of outlaw-country-classic-cars-sailor-jerry-runawaywithmebaby WE COOL ROCK BAND signifiers. still, i get that he's not just kissing yesterday's ass. in part he's talking about the desire to adopt a tougher/cooler alternate identity of some kind, an internal escape vehicle that parallels springsteen's muscle cars. which is cool, but i dunno. though he confronts it, he's still wrapping himself in and never really moving outside those colors. love when he lets his voice howl a little though, like towards the end of the miles davis song. wish they'd let the music get a little weirder, wilder, rawer on occasion, but maybe that'd kill the vibe. seriously torn here cuz I dig almost every song here on a gut level, but i'm also almost constantly cheezed out. monroe hips and all. i'm on fire in the jersey rain...

okay, i'm giving up and just deciding to like this. i blame the slower stuff like "even cowgirls get the blues" and "here's looking at you kid", which on this second pass stick out as the most endearing & affecting tunes. like "here comes a regular" and "skyway" on those replacements albums.

yeah "here's looking at you, kid" is great, probably their second best slower song after "blue jeans and white t-shirts"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cunR6Jz0ARQ

I think the new album is better than The '59 Sound. Much less samey sounding. From reading the reviews I thought I was going to hate the "reggae" song "The Queen of Lower Chelsea," but no the song is great. Smart lift of "Straight To Hell." Everything about this band is so corny and bombastic but I love it.

"Bring It On" is a killer track.

― Mordy, Friday, April 23, 2010 10:32 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark

it's definitely not on the same level as the '59 sound, but it's a very good follow-up. still haven't gotten into a couple songs fully and the highs aren't quite as high (though the title track, "orphans", and "the spirit of jazz" are all incredible). too short, too!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/arts/music/20gaslight.html?ref=arts

yeah that was sweet, also cool to see my two favorite artists on the same page (in the print edition - the-dream and gaslight) when i hardly read the NYT music section

jordan have you even listened to this? where u been?

yeah i listened to this -- probably top 10 of the year -- incredibly solid and often thrilling -- prob will get better as the year wears on

Yeah, J0rdan likes it a lot, from what I know.

This grew on me so much from the initial spins. It went from a "this is nice, albeit derivative, i guess" to HOLY SHIT I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM.

Surprising, because two listens in, I still haven't totally fallen for the '59 sound.

i still love the '59 sound more and more every time i listen to it - it will be v high on my 05-09 ballot

Other way 'round for me. Two listens in and I'm still not head over heels for the new one the way I was with the last, but then that one was a bit of a grower for me as well. Still think the new Against Me! is a little better than this.

Seeing these guys tonight and am kinda psyched. Still listening to 'American Slang' at least once a week. I picked up the first album and can echo what's upthread: kind of a dud, but what an amazing jump in songwriting ability from the first album to '59 Sound.'

i've been listening to the senor and the queen EP more recently and it's really a nice warm-up for the '59 sound

I have that one as well but haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet.

first three songs are nice and show the direction they're about to go in, songwriting-wise, but are a bit stripped-down compared to the 59 sound. the fourth song I consider to be among their best

Wow. This show was pretty fucking terrible. Kind of shocked but not really surprised I suppose. If you think the albums sound corny and bombastic (which I mentioned upthread), the cheese factor is just amped up by 10 for the live show. While they did not play some tiny club, it wasn't a stadium so why put reverb on the singer's vocals? I think he might have even stolen some of Springsteen's onstage banter. Basically all they were missing was Clarence Clemons on sax and pulling a girl up on stage to dance with -- which actually could have happened because my wife and I left with probably about 30 minutes left in the show. I just couldn't let the show ruin my enjoyment of the albums. So disappointed.

Reverb on vocals is a pretty common thing ime?

let's do this

http://www.myspace.com/thegaslightanthem

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, March 23, 2010 7:17 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

<333 this band

― k3vin k., Tuesday, March 23, 2010 7:58 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:52 AM (6 months ago) Bookmark

go team btw

anyway i mainy just bumped this to say that "boxer" has slowly become one of my favorites even tho i hated it at first

and it's still kinda opaque to me, lyrically

they're playing here next week, trying to get on the guest list for it. liked them live when i saw them a year or two back, and lately i've been playing "The Diamond Street Church Choir" constantly.

Reverb on vocals is a pretty common thing ime?

Not that often live and generally not that noticeable. Listening to American Slang recently and while there is reverb on the vox, it isn't as pronounced.

damn missed this revive! sup hoos

i'm still digging the new album fine but "the 59 sound" just becomes one of my favorite records ever more and more each time i listen to it. my recent favorite has been "casanova, baby!" - love those jangly guitar sounds in the chorus so much, and how they kind of mimic the vocal melody but except they're like one phrase ahead (lol does anyone know what i mean?). plus the the delivery of "i'm still these nervous feet and heart of stone" gets to me, esp in the second chorus, fuckin killer line. and "if i could put down this old hammer / i'd take you somewhere new". god i'm such a fanboy for this shit

adding to what i mentioned in my NEGLECTED, CRIMINALLY UNDERPOSTED-IN '59 sound poll (the gaslight anthem - the '59 sound POLL) about how incredible the bridges in these songs are (NOW I DRIIIIIIIIIIVE THE 101) and how they add to the songs' shelf lives - they way fallon switches up phrasing or little melodies here and there in choruses makes it really hard for them to get stale, think about the line i quoted above in "casanova, baby!" or the tune to "i always kinda sorta wish i looked like elvis" from "high lonesome" and how they get tweaked in each iteration of the chorus. i mean this obviously nothing that's unique to this band or anything but i just feel like it's done with great care and thought with these dudes.

looks like they either already came through the northeast this go-round or aren't coming :( i'm a pretty laid back dude but for these guys i would totally go crazy and scream the words to every song the whole set. i can't imagine not totally loving them live

I fuckin love this band.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, June 8, 2009 6:43 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

good post dude

― and why?!? (k3vin k.), Monday, June 8, 2009 6:44 PM (1 year ago)

(the 'good post' was directed at the one you made right above this one but lol

al what do you think about this drummer?

their drummer's pretty good and dependable, nothing to write home about but at the show the other night he got in some sweet fills.

Have you guys heard this AM Taxi band that is such a blatant ripoff of these guys?

no but will check out!

btw no idea if anybody else has heard this or loves it like i do, predicting hatred from obvious quarters, but this fuckin kills me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUgZXTttUTk&feature=related

i'm real serious about this shit

:D

On Jools Holland show at the moment, they have an FC St Pauli flag hung over their bass drum, so kudos for that. Sadly to me the singer sounds 30 years older than he actually is.

in a good way or

sadly in a good way

we like our choruses sung together
lock our arms in our brothers' arms

call every girl we ever met maria
only love virginia's heart

Saw this in my updated bookmarks and excitedly thought I had a new end of summer album. :(

sorry :/

any day now, i hope

they're about to put out a new one?

hoos i sing that to myself all the time in my own little faux-raspy voice

i'll luuuuuv you forever if i ever love at all

otm

more and more i think 'senor and the queen' is their best single statement

'say i won't recognize' in particular could fit on any of their records, plays at their 59 sound 50s tropes while also dropping replacements refs and having the wheedly lead lines and having the fast punk parts of sink or swim and the fat anthem bridge/chorus build of the american slang stuff, 'don't make me dance all night alone' just kills me every time

anyone listen to Fallon's Horrible Crowes side project yet?

I just learned there even was a Horrible Crowes side project yesterday. S'OK.

http://www.spin.com/articles/gaslight-anthem-get-grungy-nashville

According to Fallon, the songs to which the band did get attached sound "huge." "It's really big, like Tom Petty songs played by Pearl Jam or the Foo Fighters," he says proudly. A less sonically obvious Gaslight fave also influenced the upcoming music. After Fallon saw Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell play a solo acoustic concert, he left gobsmacked. In a good way. "I was like, maybe this is going to be awful and it turned out to be mind blowing," he says about going to see Cornell. "I left the show and ran home to write a song because it struck me how Soundgarden wrote about their dads or moms or lives."

That subject-matter spur inspired Fallon to write more personal lyrics this time around, as opposed to the familiar Americana-soaked storytelling of albums past. "In the beginning it was hard," he says of the new approach, "because you get in the habit of doing something and you feel like you can put a name here or I can put a little story to throw the people off so they don't know I'm talking about me." Fallon was able to rid himself of this routine when he came to a simple realization. "You only have your stories. You don't have anyone else's."

:/

gaslight anthem spoke in class today

sounds awesome, am much more looking forward to the prospect of this album than i was just assuming it'd be more of the same

"It's really big, like Tom Petty songs played by Pearl Jam or the Foo Fighters,"

i mean this is just not a description of a record i would buy unless it said 'gaslight anthem' on it

their 'the river' obv

kind of pissed they skipped nebraska

god, i cannot wait for this

btw after only liking "blue jeans and white t-shirts" from it i've completely fallen for all of that EP, esp "say i won't (recognize)". still can't get into the first album tho

it took me some time to get into it but i p much like all 3 albums equally now

1st album is a little rough imo, but yeah that EP is great

how was that side project btw?

horrible

horrible something was the name of it, can't remember. never heard it.

Some Kind of Horrible

Given that The '59 Sound sounded like Tom Petty or Springsteen as performed by Green Day, I'd say this is a pretty good sign. The last album went wrong partly because they took the adolescent rock component out of the equation so the whole thing felt a bit chuntering and mid-paced and Mojo-friendly.

a bit chuntering and mid-paced and Mojo-friendly

how i'd characterize pearl jam & latter day foo fighters tbh

no arguing it was midtempo though

Yeah I'm kind of thinking of Foo Fighters pre-1997 or therabouts really.

matt dc otm

Side project basically sounds like Gaslight Anthem.

gaslight anthem spoke in class today
--Mordy

Gaslight Anthem = Jeremy

i just think it's hilarious that HOOS is worried about a band that quoted Counting Crows on one of its best songs being tainted by '90s mersh rock

honestly its just that i hate pearl jam tbh

i had a roommate who owned a shelf's worth of pearl jam bootlegs

and who, on hearing The 'Mats cover of "Black Diamond" coming from my room, said "oh who's covering this pearl jam song"

Pearl Jam would do a great version of "Black Diamond."

Oh, of course they did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ERfV7x2ctI

Huh, apparently I even saw them do it once. Way to go, memory.

Last time I saw Gaslight Anthem, they covered Lucero.

oh man, was it 'the war'? i kinda hated the version i saw on youtube.

Yeah, it was "The War."

did you enjoy it or

To be fair the worst thing about Pearl Jam is the Vedder voice and unless they're getting him to sing on the record I doubt that'll be an issue really.

Also given how much Pearl Jam veers close to mid-period Springsteen anyway I'm surprised this is even something the Gaslight Anthem felt the need to bring up.

somehow i totally missed that the band finally gave into the inevitable and signed to a major last year, so this is coming out on Mercury Records -- would kind of like to see them get huge, frankly. Tom Petty it up, fellas!

nice!

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/song-exclusive-the-gaslight-anthem-45-20120430

i was sold 30 seconds in before they even got to the harmonies in the chorus

love the vocals mixed a liiiiiittle lower in the mix

i can hear where one might say 'tom petty' with this but my first association is bouncing souls

love it! this is gonna get a lot of play from me this summer

the record's out in mid july! whole thing'll be on my summer playlist, i suspect

sounds dope, "American Slang" was a really uninspiring lead single for a good album imo but this hits the spot

you guys are getting me excited

whoa, this sounds perfect. there's a tone to his voice i haven't heard before from him - there's this emotional urgency that's implicit in all his songs but never really released like this

I have a hunch what you hear in his voice is him in the hands of a capitol P producer, but hopefully Brendan O'Brien will be pretty sympathetic throughout.

is ted hutt not a capital P producer

i mean i know brendan o'brien is big shit poppin and all i'm just not sure i understand the distinction

Well, Hutt has stuck pretty much within the same range - blue collar punk/pop-ish stuff, with the occasional horns in Lucero or I guess the Bosstones (right?). But Brendan O'Brien has produced several huge, arena-filling bands with a much bigger, wider musical range. He seems like a go-to guy when a band wants to make a step up. Hutt seems like the Side One Dummy in-house guy.

anyone have an mp3 of this btw? can't find one right now

oh man do i fuck w this song

NEED MP3 HALP

http://t.co/hLudePya

tybg

WHOA. The single's out! I am a sucker for this.

this song is ridic

I'm sayin

a-aayyyyyyyyyyyyy

this leak?

i wish. i mean idk, but i just bumped because '45' is dope

THE TICK, TICKING OF HOURS

^best part of song

sounds great on the radio

i'm invested in this band like i haven't been since like, of montreal's peak
/corny

ahem

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156551726/first-listen-the-gaslight-anthem-handwritten#playlist

oh shit thanks for the heads up

attn: sarge, hoos, ships, mords

xp np!

i'm no devil / but i've got things on my mind

Flying out to Boston to interview this lot later today. Anything anyone wants asking?

"What does Brian Fallon's wife think about the fact that there is always a vicious female antagonist in each of his songs?"

Cheers.

"What does Brian Fallon's wife think about the fact that there is always a vicious female antagonist in each of his songs?"

Cheers.
--sam b

He's said before that he "almost got married" at a really young age and I've sorta taken that figure as "the wife of my youth," character that causes so much heart trouble in song, but yeah that dynamic has to be interesting.

Saw them last night btw. Mix of stuff from Sink Or Swim on up to a couple off handwritten. Great show.

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.)

but this is seriously growing on me

^ this

I would more or less describe all three albums the same way, but I think the quality of the songs on "59 Sound" and "American Slang" are superior. I haven't made it through a listen of the new one yet that didn't make me wish I was listening to one of the other ones instead. Does not make the new one bad, per se, but I definitely think it inferior, and not just because it is more of the same.

Don't think the idea is that the band was ever funny, just that a glimmer of humor or wit could be a nice way to shake things up without really changing much, sonically. On its face Gaslight Anthem does not seem any more conservative than, say, Lucero, but Lucero seems a little less beholden to a specific template. But it's not like I'm writing off Gaslight Anthem at all. I'm curious to hear if the group ever grows beyond the sum of its (wonderful, exciting, anthemic, etc.) cliches.

Right, I feel like where Lucero asks the girl to dance cause they're downtown and drunk and it's Friday, Gaslight asks the girl to dance ~for redemption~. that's part of what I like about them, but 4 records without much of a wink gets kinda staid.

"here comes my man" is becoming my favorite on this. i think taking a different voice - something, as we alluded to upthread, that fallon does infrequently - really opens him up on this song. lines like "and i'll never let you drop another tear in my eye" and "don't you think i knew about all your pretty girlfriends" affect partly because of just how unusual they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoW3Pgv-gng

seeing these guys in philly in november @ electric factory. pretty excited actually - especially if they play older stuff and not just new material

when i saw them a lil while ago they played stuff from all four records, it was p rad

yeah i think one benefit of them having figured out their sound from the get-go is that they seem to mix the old and the new pretty seamlessly. plus i think they know no matter how big they get The 59 Sound is gonna be the record that they need to give people a certain amount of songs from every night.

show was excellent!

i noticed that a lot of their lyrics include some variation of the words "sad songs"

i was also sad bc no "lucky" or "american slang." lots of other great songs tho including 'blood bank' and 'just like heaven' covers. 'too much blood' and 'handwritten' were huge too -> over capacity electric factory crowd, philly seems to be huge gaslight anthem fans

oh yeah, and astro zombies cover!

i was sort of shocked at how many frat types appeared at their last show

have they always been a fratty band and i just didn't notice with my headphones at home

i had tickets to monday night in boston but couldn't go :(

'handwritten' would probably be epic live

i was sort of shocked at how many frat types appeared at their last show

rly

DEFINITELY a fratty band.

just not my thing, I guess. i'm not big on the Americana sound

i mean on thought their presence made a lot of sense and i'm not really sure what sort of crowd i expected--*a room full of haunted-eye moleskine clutchers* or whatever--but it struck me as incongruous somehow

can't really finger why

"45" crossed over to hard rock radio a little bit, they are on a major label now, etc. the whole reason indie's been running from anthemic guitar bands the last x years is "man i didn't know there were gonna be baseball caps at this show"

i think maybe it's bcz the bruce influence codes as 'blue collar' to me--though obv that's a whole thing to unpack as like obv not every dad fist pumping at the staples center to darkness on the edge of town is a dust farmer by day--and hollister definitely does not code as blue collar to me

shit collar

sure

the album "handwritten" is a tragedy, the first three songs are so amazing

new one is streaming.

i had no use for it but RIP

http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/08/stream-the-gaslight-anthems-new-album-get-hurt/

"45" crossed over to hard rock radio a little bit, they are on a major label now, etc. the whole reason indie's been running from anthemic guitar bands the last x years is "man i didn't know there were gonna be baseball caps at this show"

― trinidad jokes (some dude), Friday, November 30, 2012 12:11 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a+ post

i'm never going to love a gaslight album as much as i love american slang, am i? the new one is okay.

i am sort of too down on those first three singles to even listen to it man. i'll always love those first three records, all sort of perfect even in their flaws, but yeah--barring some unexpected breakthrough i think i may be out of steam for these guys.

man get hurt is just not great

i really tried to like it but i got nothing

with the benefit of a few years, i think american slang has actually become my favorite record of theirs--59 sound, in retrospect, is too weighed down by fallon straining to fit into The Boss's leather jacket.

love the solo album

btw h00s otm american slang is the best album. the new solo reminds me a lot of it.

already got teary once at "i don't want to survive / i want a wonderful life"

I like to think that Fallon runs his albums by Springsteen first, the way Weird Al makes sure his marks are cool with his parodies.

But yeah, this is good. I was afraid to listen to the last GA, since someone said it was more Bon Jovi than Bruce. But this is good.

it's much better than the last GA which i haven't gone back to once. it's how i wanted things to go after american slang + get hurt in terms of GA sound.

Fallon gets more unabashed mileage out of the C-G-Am-F change than every other pop-punk act combined.

love the solo album

― Mordy, Saturday, March 12, 2016 9:47 AM (4 months ago)

whoa what there is a solo album?

btw is there a better band to listen to drunk by yourself? i say no

btw h00s otm american slang is the best album. the new solo reminds me a lot of it.

― Mordy, Saturday, March 12, 2016 9:47 AM (4 months ago)

this is a little crazy imo. "59 sound" is one of my favorite albums ever

tw no idea if anybody else has heard this or loves it like i do, predicting hatred from obvious quarters, but this fuckin kills me

http://www.youtube.com/v/HUgZXTttUTk&feature=related&fs=1&hl=en

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, October 8, 2010 8:19 PM (5 years ago)

btw hoos you were on point with this post because this is a sick cover

tdlr this band fucking rules and no one cares

i listened to their whole catalog again just the other day. the new solo album is not as good as the band work but it has its moments

i'm listening to the "b-sides" on spottily and yes i am drunk

EVERY WORD HANDWRITTEN

i miss 2009-2010 ILX where are the bros posting about this band

they mostly rep for carly rae now

k3vin my man i am feeling u 4 all time

first 3 songs on HANDWRITTEN (‘45’ -> ‘handwritten’ -> ‘here comes my man’) are still 10/10 classic and worthy follow ups to the 59 sound

Agreed, but it's all downhill from there, sadly. Although Fallon's solo album is pretty great IMHO

“The Blue Dahlia”, from the deluxe edition of ‘Handwritten’, is pretty good too.

Loved the Horrible Crowes album when it came out but haven’t listened to it much lately.

I like the title track from Get Hurt very much tbh

I keep meaning to go back to Get Hurt and wrestle something likeable out of it but I flashback to the visceral dislike I had at first listen and don't do it. Maybe I'll try again tonight.

The solo album was as best as I can remember about as good as a good Gaslight Anthem album.

yeah the solo album is good

Huh, I guess Fallon has a new solo album out. Sounds like you'd expect/want it to sound.

I like this one too. he's in fine voice.

plus i think they know no matter how big they get The 59 Sound is gonna be the record that they need to give people a certain amount of songs from every night.

― flaming goon pie included (some dude), Monday, October 15, 2012 1:07 AM (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://thepunksite.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Gaslight-Anthem-July-18-Tour.jpg

some headlines have it as "gaslight reunion" bcz they haven't played live together since 2015

Tbf, after 5 albums in 7 years, three years of indefinite hiatus might as well be 30.

I adore how shamelessly, earnestly corny/cliched this album is. Great tunes, though. Probably his best batch since "'59," or at least "American Slang."

I guess he says not to expect another Gaslight album, but really, this is close enough.

huh, i suppose i'll have to take a listen

i'd sorta been figuring they'd revive in 5-6 years going Back to Basics

halfway through and this is solid

Is there any songwriter who references other songs (and songwriters) as much as Brian Fallon? I've been listening to "Sleepwalkers" a lot lately, and from song titles to song lyrics, even names of other artists, this guy is just constantly breaking the fourth wall.

i hate this guy/band so much that i can't even really explain it

if he really loved NJ/bruce/the working man he'd tattoo his face about it

wah oh oh

absolutely exhausted by craig finn but his every bathtub fart remains better than this

whoa oh ah oh

When did "gaslighting" -- as deception -- enter the common lexicon?

Past few years, so several decades after James Redd saw both film versions of Gaslight.

quite the the thread revive.

love this band, mookieproof is now my mortal enemy sorry