The Gaslight Anthem - History Books (October 27th 2023) Album • Page 90

I think this is their third best record behind 59 Sound and Handwritten but I've come to appreciate everything they do in a new light since they got back together.

 

Seeing this in context with the remix and remaster last week, I think they wanted to bring it more in line with how the album (supposedly) sounds on wax

 

Agreed

 

this, american slang, handwritten are 1A-C for me

loving this remixed digital version. way way back in rotation

 

I could see this being ranked maybe 4th for me in the end behind 59’ Sound, Handwritten, and American Slang.

The production upgrade doesn’t drastically change my rankings on the album, but it certainly has inspired me to listen to this album a whole lot more than originally desired

 

I assume your gif was for me Jason.

I don't believe anyone can make a straight-faced case that the writing (music or lyrics), the arrangement, production, or overall elements of History Books (fixed edition) contends seriously with any modern TGA work, lets say Handwritten onward. Even Get Hurt (which is still unfinished in both mine and apparently Brian's opinion as I recall) tops it on all fronts.

On the other hand, trying to stack this latest release against their first couple of albums probably wouldn't be a fair comparison. I think they'd win for me on the nostalgia factor and rough-charm alone. I think the best anyone could get me to agree to in overall scope, is depending on personal tastes you could rank History Books higher than American Slang, but that's as far as I could give.

What I can give charitably is I can see the moments the band was going for at times where they swung and missed on this one. Parts that are just not as tight or well executed as the thought behind it seemed to be. The non-fixed production work on the original release was another symptom of that lack of good execution.

Maybe someone can refresh my memory but wasn't there a particular producer Brian had wanted to work with prior to making the record that the rest of the band declined to work with? I'm wondering what we would've ended up with had that been the road traveled.

 

I say this respectfully and lovingly but whoa lol

 

I will say this. I agree with your overall thought (least favorite gaslight album) I think.
But this post seems way more negative than what I think the album was. i love the album.

 

Thanks for actual engagement rather than a meme post.

I agree I have a rather negative take on the album on-the-whole, and I could be coming off too harsh. I don't think in its improved form its bad or trash, its just the least-good of all TGA releases to date. And I love the band so even as their worst release, it's still not terrible. Just marred by some poor execution, and I think less ambitious decisions than other releases they've done.

On a more macro level, as bands I like continue to break up, go quiet, or release less often, when a release isn't good it stings all the more because there is less good music overall to enjoy. Its extremely difficult for me to find new bands I actually like, and so when a band I like comes back after a hiatus, and then proceeds to step back or down so many levels on a release like what happened here, its a bigger let down for me than it would be otherwise. So that colors how I see and respond to it as well.

 

Brian has mentioned in interviews being open to working with Brendan O'Brien (Handwritten) again (if that opportunity presented itself), but said he doesn't think the rest of the band would be as into it.

 

I don't really mind the "it's a lesser TGA album" because to me '59 and American slang are 10/10 and Handwritten is a solid 9/10 as well. So like, fine. But I find it far more interesting musically, and lyrically than Get Hurt and am really stuck on things like "it's bad." "It's poorly executed."

 

Thanks for the refresher.

Thanks for explaining your thoughts a bit more in depth. I'll do the same.

The reason I say that Get Hurt was more interesting is because of things like the lyrical content and musical choices, both of which I think are head and shoulders above History Books, and I could back with examples on a track-by-track if we wanna go that far. And that's on an arguably unfinished album that still needs some touching up, let alone other TGA releases.

I can also cite the poor executions fairly easily.
Spider Bites has an exciting intro as a first track, the way you'd want an intro to be, and transitions at the verse to something completely different. I listen to plenty of prog and varied types of music but there's no cohesion at all. It sounds like two different ideas mixed together, and poorly at that.

History Books (track) struggles the same way other tracks of the album do where the construction and execution of the chorus seems loose/lazy, things don't line up and hit the way they should. Listen to the chorus on 45 and tell me this measures up with a straight face. That lack of cohesion stretches to other tracks, almost like everything was written and played separately, where one person couldn't hear what the other was doing / had no idea what the actual idea behind the track was, which is my major indictment of much of the album.

Autumn has the makings of a good track, starting off very solid, like everyone knows what they're doing. Unfortunately our chorus in this case ends up being too soft and simple, and is a misstep to what the track could be otherwise. It's almost what should be a pre-chorus to something much stronger that should exist in the song as the actual chorus, but doesn't. I think this mistake fragments the track rather than binding it into what could've been something special. By the 2nd verse Brian's making some weird choices in his phrasing, I assume to make lyrics and melody suit each other. While I enjoy the instrumental bridge in the last third, the lack of a proper chorus setup makes it a bridge to nowhere.

Positive Charge is another coulda-been-a-contender track in terms of potential. Its got some good writing on both the musical and lyrical ends. Not their strongest but certainly serviceable. The problem again comes in how that's executed. Listen to a chorus and tell me it lines up properly. Tell me why Brian is singing softer, lighter, and further back than he would on something akin to Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, which is what would've served this better. Were there not this strange focus on lightness and we had better cohesion in our drums, bass, and vocal delivery this would be a great TGA track. Instead we get half of the good stuff mixed with lukewarm water, a lukewarm track.


I can go through the rest of the album but I think these serve to illustrate what I am talking about in the bigger picture of this album. As much as the fixed mix helped with being able to listen to it, the actual material is not up to par in how it is written or executed. I can't answer you as to why, if this was a miss on production, mixing, or mastering, some of it surely was conscious choices by the band, ones that I only wish I could understand better.

 

Better to just go "hey this album ain't for me" and move on. I don't think anyone that likes, or even loves, the album has any real interest in arguing about opinions presented as facts. I'm not going to convince you you're dead wrong about "Autumn" not being a great track. You don't like the direction they took, that's fine, it's how you're presenting that opinion that is rubbing people the wrong way imo.

"unlistenable"
"passable, containing maybe 3-4 worthwhile tracks"
"lukewarm"
"the actual material is not up to par in how it is written"

 

Was shocked to discover this was remixed and agreed with others that it sounds so much better.

Someone get these folks to do the same to Manchester Orchestra’s “Cope”!

 

You can’t tell me a track is bad that has the lyric “I know love goes longer than this lifetime.” Both heartbreaking and soothing at the same time.

 

Posts like that are at least passable when 'in my opinion' is added, rather than presenting your opinion as absolute facts.

 

What are song writing choices aren't necessarily swings that didn't land. History Books and Autumn, along with a lot of the songs on the album have a loose, bar/ garage band vibe to them which I love. They're decisions the band made. The choruses aren't mistakes.

 

Get Hurt just out here catching strays

 

I feel like if History Books was the first album I ever heard by these guys, it would be my favorite from them. As it stands it's easily a top 3.

 

Even with the remix, I don’t think this will ever touch anything from Fallon’s 2008-2012 hot streak for me, but it’s a pretty easy fourth, IMO. I find the way it reckons with aging and mortality just extremely moving, especially when set against the premature “guess we’re old now” themes of American Slang. I think those two albums are companions in a lot of ways, because one is really fretting about not being young anymore while the other is accepting it. If American Slang is a eulogy for youth, History Books for me is a clear-eyed pledge to not take anything for granted. I didn’t get anything nearly as meaty or resonant out of Get Hurt, which has moments of brilliance but really FEELS like a burnout album to me. I think this album is head and shoulders above that one. I like it a lot more thank Sink or Swim, too, but I’m in the minority of the fanbase in that I don’t particularly care for that record.

 

The remix of the album was welcome & I enjoy it, but it was still a good record before that. I know that there are some records where the production is a detriment to the overall listening experience, but I never felt like this was one of them.

The songs were always there.

 

Idk these are some of my favorite lyrics Brian has ever written

 

Same. Some, because they hit pretty close to home personally, and some because they're just beautiful lol.

 

Autumn has a soft chorus? Da fuq kinda criticism is that? Song is gorgeous.