The Gaslight Anthem - History Books (October 27th 2023) Album • Page 12

I know a good portion of chorus has issues with Neighbourhoods production.

 

Heart’s All Gone being the worst offender

 

This might sound weird, but no band makes me wanna take up smoking again like this one. Not even sure why.

 

The Blackest Beautiful is the only record that I get angry about it. Everything else I’ve been able to deal with.

 

Kinda hoping we get the live debut of History Books today.

 

Gaslight set at Over the James on Saturday was short but good - only 9 songs because of a lightning delay. They apparently had to cut I Coulda' Been A Contender and The Patient Ferris Wheel according to setlist.fm which annoys the shit out of me...especially the latter since that's my favorite Sink or Swim song. They also didn't play History Books. On the bright side, the band sounded great and they all looked like they were having a great time.

Side note - Avail fucking ruled.

 

Yeahhhhhh

 

After jamming both of the new songs a ton they finally hit me. The production is jarring at first compared to recent Gaslight tunes, but these songs are just too good to let that affect me. After dozens of listens I get used to it and it doesn’t really both me. I also love a lot of demos/lower quality production stuff the band and Brian have done over the year this isn’t that crazy of a shift to me. My only fear is the production turns a lot of fans off from this reason and the band becomes jaded again. The entitled overreaction to Get Hurt is a big reason they took time off and I don’t want that to happen again.

 

Agree - Brian is VERY sensitive

 

I don’t really think Brian is that sensitive. I think the band just was burnt out and people shitting on their experimentation on Get Hurt definitely added to that. I feel like the band was being pigeonholed into what fans wanted them to be and there was backlash from fans when Get Hurt didn’t exactly fit with those unrealistic expectations. As an artist that has to suck and combined with being burnt out it just made things not fun anymore. It was so nice to see them having a blast when I saw one of the first shows on the reunion last year.

 

Was get hurt really that different? I remember Brian saying how it was going to be so different during the roll and to me it felt like more of the same.

 

It was definitely different in that they let their love of Pearl Jam shine through loud and clear, but the overreaction to that album was absurd. People treated it like it was a 0/10 vs. a 6/10 after three straight 10/10s.

 

A good band letting their love of Pearl Jam shine through can’t ever be a bad thing.

 

Get hurt just needed trimmed down and have mercy should have been the opener

 

6/10?? Wtf dave

 

What? Too harsh? Too generous? I like Get Hurt! I just wish they had an extra two weeks in the studio and maybe paired down a bit lol

 

Brian is definitely sensitive and not just about this

Get Hurt is like an 8.5 or 9 for me

And it was not THAT big a detour. Just 2-3 songs that were really a different style. In my opinion

 

Takes the biggest, stupidest breath imaginable…

“The ‘59 Sound Sessions” are the superior recording of each of those songs. The band sounds crackling and alive and Brian sounds raw as hell.

 

I’d probably be sensitive too if strangers on the internet were calling me sensitive for not liking “Get Hurt is completely different than anything the Gaslight Anthem has ever done, in large part because it is inherently funny. They just seem to be the only ones not in on the joke.”

 

I have no idea what Ian Cohen’s problem was the day he wrote this Get Hurt review but yikes. I really don’t blame Brian for taking it personally.

 

guys we’ve reached peak hot take shut it down forever.

 

too harsh, it’s probably my least favorite album of theirs but it’s still great.

 

Cohen's always been a piece of shit, this isn't new

 

Ah yes, The ‘59 Sound, that famously dead and cold sounding album . . .

 

eh dave nailed it