The Gaslight Anthem Band • Page 28

Really? In a totally non confrontational way haha I'd love to know why.

 

I never understood the Desire hate. Handwritten was the first Gaslight album I discovered and Desire is one of my favorites off it.

 

I always look at this thread as a bunch of die-hard fans arguing over which Gaslight songs they love they least hahaha.

 

Really, the only song I can do without on Handwritten is Too Much Blood.

 

Yeah Dark Places is one of those songs that doesn't just make the whole album better, it also gives you a whole new appreciation for Backseats (and by extension, the rest of T59S) because of the contrast between the songs. Absolutely belongs in the discussion of best gaslight songs.

 

I find him incredibly vanilla. Painkillers worked cause it was Walker's comfort zone but even then I feel like another producer could've done better.

 

I mentioned earlier how "I don't feel those kind of things" is a really heavy line due to the context of their past work. Well, the opening line of Dark Places is probably the heaviest line he's ever written in that regard. If I thought it would help I'd drive until there's nowhere left to go is such a strong sentiment for a band that changed and grew but held onto the concept of driving as a means of therapy.

 

1) I love Get Hurt, I think the majority of it stands up with all their other material (especially if you include the mostly stellar B-sides), it's just slightly weaker on the bottom end. Meaning, it has some of TGA's worst overall songs (not bad songs per se). Stray Paper, Stay Vicious, Ain't That A Shame may all be in my bottom 5 TGA songs. That's the ONLY reason I rate it as their worst album. Just my personal opinion. I think Selected Poems and Red Violins are ridiculously underrated and Dark Places is a top 10 TGA song.

2) I think the songwriting on SOS is honestly not that far south of 59 Sound, but I do think the production hurts that first album. Certainly 59 Sound is much more polished, but SOS has some BANGERS.

 

I like every one of those songs you listed more than Stray Paper. Even including Desire and Ain't That A Shame.

Stray Paper has just always felt lazy to me, it goes nowhere.

(quote not working, was referring to this post below).




Angry Johnny
Red in the Morning
Keepsake
Too Much Blood
Desire
Red Violins
Ain't That a Shame
Mojo Hand
Ladykiller

Those are his worst songs. He doesn't have enough to do a bottom ten and, all things being subjective, genuinely cannot fathom how Stray Paper is a bad song, certainly not when compared to those nine tracks or hell, even most of the album. It's not even close to his worst. At worst you can say it's just like everything else but in that regard I don't see what could make you hate that track and love the others that sound like it.

 

Love both of those. Halloween is the forgettable one for me, of those 4.

 

The "another producer could have done better" complaint is common, but I think it's a weird one for this particular album. Butch was extremely hands on for that record, and did a lot to shape how it sounded. He and Brian essentially WERE the band for it, and he co-wrote a handful of the songs. It's impossible to say if another producer could have done it better when the album with any other producer would have been so fundamentally different.

 

It's 100% Gaslight by numbers. Not in a good way.

 

Don't get the hate for Mojo Hand either. Great great song.

 

The bridge of "Mojo Hand" is next level great. That song was so fun live.

 

The whole album was great live, I thought. Can't wait to see him again.

 

The Stray Paper slander and Mojo Hand praise is confusing.

 

I prefer Stray Paper to a song like Desire, which to me sounds like a big bland imitation of a Gaslight song. Kind of my issue with the songwriting on Handwritten overall -- it felt like Gaslight-lite, in terms of lyrics (with a few exceptions). Like all the normal themes and Fallon-isms were there, but devoid of interesting details. The best songs -- 45, Howl, Mae, National Anthem -- beat the best songs on Get Hurt but I think I like Get Hurt more overall.

Also the "who came to wipe your tears away, who came to bring back your dignity, baby?" line in Mulholland Drive makes me cringe. I hate that line.

 

Handwritten has some of their best but most of their worst as well. Of the nine weakest Gaslight songs, it has three by itself.

 

"Desire" is kind of a throwaway, but it's a fun track. I'd still take it over all but like five songs from Get Hurt.

 

WOAT Gaslight opinion

 

I really liked Get Hurt for a while after it came out. It had virtually no staying power for me, with the exceptions of 1,000 Years, Helter Skeleton, Dark Places, Halloween and Have Mercy. Have Mercy is one of my favorite songs of all time.

 

Get Hurt is the best Gaslight record including all of the b sides

 

"If I thought it would help I would drive this car into the sea."

 

Get Hurt helped me a lot when it came out. It may be the weakest album over all but it still has some great songs.

 

Worst part of Handwritten is still them removing the third verse from Biloxi.