HANDWRITTEN: your impressions, comments, and declarations of love

Red In The Morning Posts : 1 Join date : 2012-07-18

RE: Mae

Love the line:
"In my faded jeans and far away eyes
And salt carnival kiss
That all my former loves say
Was once magnificent"

Anyone else feel this is an homage to Bon Iver ala the "In the Deep" lyric in "45" that may be an homage to Adele.

Seems like Brian was watching the grammy's this year intently.

A Contender Posts : 109 Join date : 2012-04-29

Chesser19 wrote:: After giving it a few listens I've really come to love this album. At first, like many people I found 'Too Much Blood' to be a tad too long, but now that I've become familiar with it more, I find it's perfect the way it is.

With that said, the rest of the album is pure gold to me and this might be one of my top favorite albums ever.

I may have to give Too Much Blood another shot. I've been skipping it because at least to me it just drags on. Plus I get to Howl quicker Smile

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A Contender Posts : 222 Join date : 2010-02-01

I'm not sold on the order on the album, flow is off at times and I think it's a bit top heavy in terms of the great songs. I probably would've put "too much blood" second to last, if not last.

Maybe:

45
Handwritten
Mulholland Drive
Keepsake
Biloxi Parish
Mae
Desire
Howl
Here Comes My Man
Too Much Blood
National Anthem

Ghost wrote:: I think I must be the only person waiting for release day to hear the album! So excited though, mostly positive comments from you guys, and I heard Handwritten (song) for the first time yesterday and it sounds like an instant classic!

You're not alone! I even refused to listen to Handwritten yesterday... I figured: I've waited this long already, a few extra days won't do any harm. But please God, make it friday very fast, because I'm getting a little bit impatient!

snakester wrote:

Chesser19 wrote:: After giving it a few listens I've really come to love this album. At first, like many people I found 'Too Much Blood' to be a tad too long, but now that I've become familiar with it more, I find it's perfect the way it is.

With that said, the rest of the album is pure gold to me and this might be one of my top favorite albums ever.

I may have to give Too Much Blood another shot. I've been skipping it because at least to me it just drags on. Plus I get to Howl quicker Smile

.

I found it dragged on at the start, but after awhile I become familiar with it and now it doesn't bother me. Give it another chance or two and maybe it will grow on you as well.

The song actually JUST finished and it seemed like it was only 4 minutes to me.

A Contender Posts : 107 Join date : 2010-05-31

Favourite song is Handwritten and then Mae. Really moving songs.

Not to hot on Keepsake and Too Much Blood. Slows the album down alot.

National anthem is the perfect ending.

One of the members of one of my other favourite bands just tweeted about how good National Anthem was! Very Happy

I'm just kinda taking it all in right now. 4 listens in, it feels a little overwhelming.

Which band?

A band called The Heartbreaks. Just a small British indie band, doubt anybody on here has heard of them. Nevertheless, thought it was pretty sweet.

Quote :: deaks ‏@heartbreakdeaks
Listen to 'National Anthem' by Gaslight Anthem at all costs.

steady now steady now wrote:: - The one song that does nothing for me (yet) is 'Howl', which sounds like generic US pop punk; almost as if it was put on there by the label to sell the album to a new, bigger crowd, but then wasn't used as the single.

Pleased someone out there has the same feelings towards Howl as me. Honestly thought I was going to be thrown to the wolves when I even uttered the phrase "pop-punk."

The lyrics to Howl are awesome.

Boxer is pop-punk, this is less

Also pop-punk is awesome

long live the ergs!

Harbortown wrote:

JJW319 wrote:: Um not to be a Johnny-Come-Lately, but the Am F C G and C G Am F are actually the same progression - just starting and ending on a different chord. Fun with theory! yay!

It's been a while since I studied music theory but I'll contend you on that.

From my perspective, they're different chord progressions as they progress differently. Then again I took theory classes in Sweden and learned this word on the internet so I'm not sure.

i suppose if you start with C, you're in the key of C. if you start with Am, you're in the key of Am. i know A is C's relative minor but if a song's verse starts with C and it's chorus with Am then technically the chorus counts as a key change.... as i understand it.

in other news i think they can still write pants droppin rock with more chords. thunder road has 3 different minor chords in it, just sayin!

It doesn't matter what note you start on. If you play Am, F, C, G, you could be in C or its relative minor, Am. Neither key has sharps or flats (e.g. only white keys on the piano).

Labhras is incorrect about the key change in the chorus. The song is completely in C or Am, likely C.

Red In The Morning Posts : 1 Join date : 2012-07-18

I've never posted here before but I thought I'd just offer my opinion.
I've been listening to this on NPR all day (15-20 times, I'd guess) and, frankly, it gets better with each listen. For my money, it is at least on a par with The '59 Sound, a good collection of individual songs, and American Slang, a more cohesive album. I think it manages to combine those two elements to create the ultimate Gaslight album (to date).
The only niggle I have are that the album doesn't end with the usual epic sweep (Backstreets/ WDIWWWY) - not that I think National Anthem is a bad song, far from it, but perhaps it should've been the bonus track for the deluxe edition. The songs I initially thought of as 'filler' - Howl and Desire - are growers.
One interesting thing I noticed is that Too Much Blood ended on a fade-out. Is this the first Gaslight Anthem track to do so? If so, is it in order to make a point? Perhaps the story he's telling in the song - putting everything into his lyrics and having nothing left to give to his everyday relationships - will never end; it'll just go on and on. Like this post!
I hope everybody gets as much out of this album as I have.

still think i'm right about the pants droppin rock bit though Very Happy

A_Regular wrote:: The lyrics to Howl are awesome.

Boxer is pop-punk, this is less

Also pop-punk is awesome

long live the ergs!

Thank you, I am tired of people throwing around the term "pop punk" like it is a bad thing.

Also just interesting but I think Alexander described a song off the new Sharks record similarly and it turned out to be one of the ones I liked best. And Howl is one of my favorites too. But everyone likes different things I guess.

YorkDan wrote:: One interesting thing I noticed is that Too Much Blood ended on a fade-out. Is this the first Gaslight Anthem track to do so? If so, is it in order to make a point? Perhaps the story he's telling in the song - putting everything into his lyrics and having nothing left to give to his everyday relationships - will never end; it'll just go on and on. Like this post!

I was wondering the same thing. Also I don't have the record yet but is it the end of the A side?

simo wrote:

YorkDan wrote:: One interesting thing I noticed is that Too Much Blood ended on a fade-out. Is this the first Gaslight Anthem track to do so? If so, is it in order to make a point? Perhaps the story he's telling in the song - putting everything into his lyrics and having nothing left to give to his everyday relationships - will never end; it'll just go on and on. Like this post!

I was wondering the same thing. Also I don't have the record yet but is it the end of the A side?

It's roughly half way so would be safe to assume that. And then side B kicking off with Howl also makes sense.

A Contender Posts : 109 Join date : 2012-04-29

Howl to me is the fun song on this record, even if its lyrically darker than the other ones. Every gaslight record has had one. For me it was either Ida called you woody Joe of contender on sink or swim, say I won't on señor, old white Lincoln on 59 sound, and boxer on American slang.

Because of this, I'm kind of confused by all the negative reaction it's been getting.

snakester wrote:: Howl to me is the fun song on this record, even if its lyrically darker than the other ones. Every gaslight record has had one. For me it was either Ida called you woody Joe of contender on sink or swim, say I won't on señor, old white Lincoln on 59 sound, and boxer on American slang.

Because of this, I'm kind of confused by all the negative reaction it's been getting.

Where has everybody got copies of this? I only heard it because I work in HMV and we got our orders early this week.. Is it just a stream/download online or have people got the actual CDs in their hands?

A Contender Posts : 109 Join date : 2012-04-29

danny4690 wrote:: Where has everybody got copies of this? I only heard it because I work in HMV and we got our orders early this week.. Is it just a stream/download online or have people got the actual CDs in their hands?

NPR did a first listen stream a day or two ago.

am i the only one who finds the "i just want to love someone with the same blood" line a bit wrong? scratch

Labhras wrote:: am i the only one who finds the "i just want to love someone with the same blood" line a bit wrong?

Lol I feel the same way (not that I want to love someone with my own blood, but that it's a bit odd)

haha yeah when i first heard the line i though he was gonna say "same heart". and then i was like "oh 'blood', well that's a good strong word too. wait a minute..."

we know what he means though so i guess we can let go Very Happy

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