Collection of "Handwritten" Reviews

njguy99 wrote:

Great review - very well thought out and constructed. But is it a little too effusive?

It's amazing the range of reviews we've seen so far. Everything from perfect 10s to 2s...

But none of them are the all-important review, what each of us thinks ourselves

Klown wrote:

njguy99 wrote:

Great review - very well thought out and constructed. But is it a little too effusive?

It's amazing the range of reviews we've seen so far. Everything from perfect 10s to 2s...

But none of them are the all-important review, what each of us thinks ourselves

exactly...

Klown wrote:

njguy99 wrote:

Great review - very well thought out and constructed. But is it a little too effusive?

It's amazing the range of reviews we've seen so far. Everything from perfect 10s to 2s...

But none of them are the all-important review, what each of us thinks ourselves

That review was incredible, but you're absolutely right, Gordon. All that really matters is how each of us feels about the album personally.

RockSound Issue 163# 8/10

Spoiler:

Alter The Press 5/5

http://t.co/cW4HnOVk

If this thing is the lyrical masterclass it's set up to be, other bad reviews will fade. Waiting for Rolling Stone!

One of the things I've noticed (that has gotten me even more excited then I thought possible) was how almost every review cites a different song as the "highlight" or "centerpiece" of the album. I'm pretty sure I've read this distinction given to Too Much Blood, Mae, National Anthem, Handwritten, Mulholland Drive, and probably others.

Any album that has that many songs that can be considered the best song on the album has to be a masterpiece in my book!

Does anybody know when the Rolling Stone review will be coming out? I can't remember if it was announced.

Don Carlo wrote:

One of the things I've noticed (that has gotten me even more excited then I thought possible) was how almost every review cites a different song as the "highlight" or "centerpiece" of the album.

This is definitely a good sign, sounds like it's going to be a well-balanced album with hopefully no "filler"

BBC Review


New Jersey quartet continues to impress with their self-styled ‘soul punk’.
Alistair Lawrence 2012-07-09

The times have certainly changed for The Gaslight Anthem.
Four years and two silver-certified albums since their leap over the
top in this country, they’ve established themselves with an evocative
brand of wistful, blue-collar rock. Hearteningly for their old-school
fans, it never seems to forget the rites of passage that brought them
here.

Handwritten is the band’s fourth album and represents an attempt to
avoid repeating themselves. The main upshot of this decisive step out of
their comfort zone is the warm embrace of big, bold anthems. It’s a
natural but impressive transition that takes to another level the
intravenous hooks present since their comparatively raw Sink or Swim
debut of 2007.

These room-filling rock songs are still guided by frontman Brian
Fallon’s husky croon. It’s emboldened by the fact that Benny Horowitz is
still one of the most underrated drummers around, while bassist Alex
Levine and guitarist Alex Rosamilia continue to be fine foils for
Fallon’s bewitching turns of phrase.

Frequently, things that turn existence ugly – change, doubt, love –
are gutted and filled with life-affirming vitality. It must be enough to
make some of their peers, whose material merely wallows in comparison,
sink even further into the dumps.

“I can’t move on and I can’t stay the same,” Fallon cries on “45”,
before neatly turning it into a jubilant rallying cry. It’s a lead-off
single so bright it deserves to rule the radio this summer. On the title
track, the observation that “there’s nothing like another soul that’s
been cut up the same” is made to sound like something to cherish.

Keepsake and Too Much Blood are two nods to the grunge era, the
latter a bristling journey through the problems of confiding in both a
loved one and a lyrics sheet. The almost choral climax of Biloxi Parish
just might be the shimmering highlight of the whole shebang.

The criticisms are minor – a couple of tracks slide back into
familiar Americana, but even then there’s no sense of the band coasting.
Instead they’ve come of age by striving for brilliance. Enthralling
stuff.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/gvm5

Man, there have been like 2 "bad" reviews. Every other one seems to praise Handwritten.

Man, I love Thomas Nassiff's reviews. My hype level just jumped up a whole level.

Good to see a positive review from the BBC after their fairly negative review of American Slang a couple of years ago

Christophe wrote:

Good to see a positive review from the BBC after their fairly negative review of American Slang a couple of years ago

Liked the BBC review. But are they really writing about only four songs?

BTW: I know this is off-topic, but they call Benny one of the most "underrated drummers" out there. Do you think that is true? I mean, I am no drummer (because of that I'm not the one who's really able to rate that) but everything I remember Benny playing looked good to me..

thomas94 wrote:

Christophe wrote:

Good to see a positive review from the BBC after their fairly negative review of American Slang a couple of years ago

Liked the BBC review. But are they really writing about only four songs?

BTW: I know this is off-topic, but they call Benny one of the most "underrated drummers" out there. Do you think that is true? I mean, I am no drummer (because of that I'm not the one who's really able to rate that) but everything I remember Benny playing looked good to me..

Yeah I dunno really I mean Benny has always been a great drummer but drummers in bands don't tend to get that much credit usually anyway. Unless your crazy like Keith Moon was!

Positive but pretty generic. Dig the term "music gold" though
http://themusic.com.au
"Reports of rock’n’roll’s demise have been circling the music biz for years but instead of listening to all the speculation and throwing in the towel, bands like The Gaslight Anthem just keep making good music. And the slow and steady build of a fanbase around the world for these New Jersey working class heroes, suggests that Handwritten might just be the album to catapult them into the big league.
With frontman Brian Fallon leading the charge with his heart-on-sleeve industrial town poetry, this band have spun a pretty simple rock’n’roll formula into music gold; soaring guitars, an anthemic build to songs and the kind of steady slow-dance beat that’s occupied jukeboxes for nearly 70 years. At this point in their career (with three previous albums and an EP behind them), it’s no longer a question of whether this album is any good. That’s a given. It’s a matter of how good.
The Gaslight Anthem have never been particularly subtle but the first track on this album, the thrilling first single 45, closely followed by the opening lines of second track, “Pull it out, turn it up, what’s your favourite song?/That’s mine. I’ve been crying to it since I was young,” make it clear that this album isn’t just a love letter to the people that populate all Gaslight Anthem’s albums, the hard-working romantics falling in and out of love at the diner at 3am, but also the music that gets them through.
With acclaimed rock producer Brendan O’Brien at the helm, Gaslight Anthem have made the kind of album that got them through the shitty jobs in their younger days – they were the hard working romantics. Now they’re the jukebox heroes."

Don't know if this review from Rolling Stone Australia has been posted , but yet another perfect score!

4 stars is perfect ?

Crosby Stan wrote:

4 stars is perfect ?

I think so. Movies are usually out of 4 stars.

RS is out of 4

saltandburn1967 wrote:

Crosby Stan wrote:

4 stars is perfect ?

I think so. Movies are usually out of 4 stars.

Music is usually out of 5 though. Regardless, the reviews have been pretty positive for the most part.

Crosby Stan wrote:

saltandburn1967 wrote:

Crosby Stan wrote:

4 stars is perfect ?

I think so. Movies are usually out of 4 stars.

Music is usually out of 5 though. Regardless, the reviews have been pretty positive for the most part.

Yeah, I think I have only seen 2 bad reviews and the other 9 or 10 were perfect or near perfect.

Is this the Rolling Stone review that the guys were excited about?

Because I'm clearly bored at midnight on a Sat. night (morning), I've decided to determine the average review of Handwritten. Based on the 9 reviews that provided a rating/score, Handwritten averages in at 86%. Unfortunately, the 40% and 60% reviews from Q Music and Mojo brings it down quite a bit, considering they are the only two negative reviews and without them, the other 7 reviews (with ratings/scores) average out to be a 96% Also, both the 86% and 96% would be even higher considering the fact that there are two other reviews (from Common Revolt and BBC) that are both positive, but fail to give a score.

Ultimately, it is the individual listener's review that really matters, but it appears that overall, Handwritten is being well recieved, which is great for the band, considering how important this album is to them! But just to put Handwritten's 86% avg. into perspective, as a comparison I've gathered average reviews for both American Slang and The 59 Sound according to metacritic. It states that the average review score for American Slang (out of 29 critic reviews) is 80% and The 59 Sound (out of 9 critic reviews) is 77%.

Okay I'll stop now!

AP1989 wrote:

Don't know if this review from Rolling Stone Australia has been posted , but yet another perfect score!

is RS Australia different from the US version?

"tales of sex"? aww yea