The Gaslight Anthem - History Books (October 27th 2023) Album • Page 23

Autumn is so good fuck

 

The ending was so weird haha

 

Yeah I hate that type of roll out.

 

It’s cool!

 

Good lineup too but odd to see them in an all seated environment.

 

Oooo there we go. Was mixed to lightly positive on the first three but Autumn is top-shelf Gaslight. Reminds me of Fallon’s song Georgia and I’ve always wanted them to explore that blend of Petty and southern rock

 

I would like to hear more about the album, from those who have heard the whole thing

 

gutted i can't make it to the show tonight in denver. but my brother lives closer and he's attending.

 

Pretty sure Jason said a while back it’s more closer to Local Honey than anything else they’ve done.

 

So glad two of my favourite bands in Gaslight and Menzingers seem to be lending into some Petty with their new albums.

 

Speaking of Petty, I just put Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on shuffle on my son’s Google Home for him to sleep to.

 

Tom Petty has like 400 great songs.

 

Expectations. Is there a better word in the English language to use when it comes to The Gaslight Anthem? It’s part of one of their best and most well-known songs, and that expectation has been at the core of every album they’ve released since. A probably unfair weight was put upon the band after they were knighted as one of the possible saviors of rock and roll music by critics and fans. And, as I’ve argued before, they have largely lived up to that pressure by writing some of my favorite albums of all time. Handwritten may be my favorite lyrical outing by a band ever. It’s on my Mount Rushmore, at least. And The ’59 Sound is on the shortlist for my favorite album of all time. Hell, Brian Fallon adorns the biggest wall of my house. So when we learned that The Gaslight Anthem was returning and would be releasing a new album, I found myself once again ruminating on that word: expectations. What did I expect? What did I want? What did the band have to say in 2023? And how would this monumental expectation translate once I had heard what they created? After five listens of the new album, I have my answer. The Gaslight Anthem is a band by which I have watched my musical tastes shift and change with over the years. A band that continues to push me to discover something new about my music fandom, to explore not just the person I was with their catalog and the memories with those songs, but what about me has changed since the last time we shared time together. And now we’re on the edge of September, looking toward another fall. It is fitting for an album titled History Books that this time of year always gets me thinking about renewal, rebirth, and the reflection of time. My first impression is that, in many ways, The Gaslight Anthem has shaken off the weight of expectation and put together a collection of songs that best represent where the band is today, far removed from the tension of speculation on whether they can be the Next Big Thing. It’s a slower album than I anticipated. It’s closer in feel to Brian Fallon’s Local Honey than I anticipated. An album that paints pictures of late autumn listens on a back porch as the sun sets. And while it has a track that harkens back to the early punk days of the band (“Little Fires”), as a whole, I found it a far more somber listen. From early standout “Autumn” to a melody that reminds me of “Honey Magnolia” in “Michigan, 1975,” to the lyrical gem that is “The Weatherman,” it’s a fascinating album that has continued an interesting trend in rock music this year. We’ve now seen Spanish Love Songs, The Menzingers, and The Gaslight Anthem all put together albums exploring more of their sound’s mid-tempo parts. And it’s worked for all three of them by wandering through this dynamic realm and culminating in some of the best work of their careers. For a band like The Gaslight Anthem, a band that has multiple classics under their belt, they’re adding an album to their legacy that can proudly sit amongst the others. It is an album that not only lives up to my lofty expectations but confidently resets them. I hope it’s the first of many to come.

Already climbing the list:


Great fall album.

 

Shit, this song is so good

 

Fit a tour around this and I'm going

 

New song is excellent.

 

My favorite of the singles

 

Called it months ago but very stoked they’re headlining Trees, also coming to Sheffield is absolutely ridiculous, what an incredible tour

 

Casual fan of theirs (I should really go back and listen to their non-59 sound albums some more) but I love the singles from this

 

I think @Jason Tate's read that it's Local Honey put through a Gaslight filter is accurate. The way Brian writes songs has definitely changed since the Gaslight days, and he's (mostly) not reverting to the old style here. "Little Fires" feels the closest to a classic Gaslight song. But it also doesn't just feel like a solo album. There's a heaviness to something like "Live in the Room Above Her" that he Brian never has without the band.

 

The start of this song sounds like a nod to Yellow Ledbetter.

 

Autumn: wow

 

Yeah, 5/5 (including Michigan) on the songs released so far. Absolutely wild they went from being gone for almost a decade to dropping what’s shaping up to be one of their best records.

 

Wow, Dublin the week after Enter Shikari, March is already looking fantastic