Handwritten: How has time affected your opinions and thoughts?

I was just wondering, its been a while now since Handwritten was released and i was intrigued as to how the album has grown on people since then. Now we've all digested the album and lost that "AHHH NEW GASLIGHT, ITS AWESOME" mindset, i wondered whether the album has grown on people or if they've changed their minds about anything?

I still don't like it all that much.... 6.5/10

Too many watered down lyrics that just come off cheesy. Definitely did not live up to all the hype.

Well, I LOVE it!

Much the same as i did 6 months ago (can't believe it's been that long already!).

I still think Here Comes My Man is the best track on it, and that the first 4, Biloxi and Howl are the best of the lot. Mae and National Anthem have grown on me, Mae particularly. I still think Keepsake, Desire and Too Much Blood are the weaker tracks, but "weaker" TGA tracks are still better than most of what's around these days.

Someone said in a thread a short while after it was released that it didn't have the same joy as the other albums, that it didn't contain that same feeling of being glad to be alive. I think this is right. It's altogether more serious.

The Last Jukebox Romeo wrote:

I was just wondering, its been a while now since Handwritten was released and i was intrigued as to how the album has grown on people since then. Now we've all digested the album and lost that "AHHH NEW GASLIGHT, ITS AWESOME" mindset, i wondered whether the album has grown on people or if they've changed their minds about anything?

I still listen to it sometimes. My feelings/opinion on the record haven't really changed. It's sonically perfect but the material didn't really grab my attention. Alex R. once said in an interview, something that I completely agree with, that the music and sound of a record is what gets a person interested, like the infatuation period when falling in love, but the material and the lyrics are what forms the bond. Handwritten and I dated for a couple months, and it was fun, we just decided it wasn't going to work out. We're still friends though...I mean I can listen to it without it getting awkward between us, so that's nice. Sometimes I think it gives the stink eye to the Hold Steady though, a little jealous about how much time I've been spending with Separation Sunday lately. It called me up the other night drunk and was like "Oh you think that Hallelujah chick is just so fucking hot, but she's not, she's a tramp," and I was like "Handwritten, come on, we said we wouldn't do this to each other...Yes, I still think Mae is beautiful...no, I...please stop cutting me off...she's nice....no, she...oh, c'mon, she went back to church at the end!!" Other than that one isolated incident, we're cool.

jzancan wrote:

...Handwritten and I dated for a couple months, and it was fun, we just decided it wasn't going to work out. We're still friends though...I mean I can listen to it without it getting awkward between us, so that's nice. Sometimes I think it gives the stink eye to the Hold Steady though, a little jealous about how much time I've been spending with Separation Sunday lately. It called me up the other night drunk and was like "Oh you think that Hallelujah chick is just so fucking hot, but she's not, she's a tramp," and I was like "Handwritten, come on, we said we wouldn't do this to each other...Yes, I still think Mae is beautiful...no, I...please stop cutting me off...she's nice....no, she...oh, c'mon, she went back to church at the end!!" Other than that one isolated incident, we're cool.

haha reading this has made my day, quite literally.

Keepsake has grown on me. Now one of my favorite songs on the album. But listening the album as a whole is still a little depressing. The first half (sans 45 and Keepsake) is just so incredibly weak and while the second half gets much better, Desire and National Anthem slow it down too. But like, the rest of the album is still completely brilliant and contains some of their very best stuff. So I can't ignore the album. But also whenever I listen to it I just get sad over how good the album *could* have been.

good memories. mulholland drive is my favorite

jzancan you're hilarious. that was great, haha.

I still love it but the "newness" has finally worn off so it's now in with the rest of the albums. I'm very fond of it as an "album" and will occasionally just listen to it straight through totally undistracted by anything else. But it's kinda like Elsie is for me. It moves me on an emotional level more than the other three, but SOS, 59 and AS are more likely to distract me from what I'm doing and force me to sing along. I guess both types have their benefit?

I'm a bit gaslighted-out right now though so that could affect my thoughts.

Still in love with: Mae, 45, Handwritten, and Blue Dahlia.
Still like: Desire, Biloxi, Keepsake, Teenage Rebellion.
Like better than before: National Anthem, Howl
Less than before: TMB, Mulholland (we just need a break)
Still don't like: HCMM

I still like it a lot and listen to it a lot but I think it's definitely my least favorite of the albums and makes me a little nervous about Brian's songwriting. Like the lyrics just come off as kinda one-note and not poetic in a lot of places.

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

jzancan you're hilarious. that was great, haha.

I still love it but the "newness" has finally worn off so it's now in with the rest of the albums. I'm very fond of it as an "album" and will occasionally just listen to it straight through totally undistracted by anything else. But it's kinda like Elsie is for me. It moves me on an emotional level more than the other three, but SOS, 59 and AS are more likely to distract me from what I'm doing and force me to sing along. I guess both types have their benefit?

I'm a bit gaslighted-out right now though so that could affect my thoughts.

Still in love with: Mae, 45, Handwritten, and Blue Dahlia.
Still like: Desire, Biloxi, Keepsake, Teenage Rebellion.
Like better than before: National Anthem, Howl
Less than before: TMB, Mulholland (we just need a break)
Still don't like: HCMM

Yeah - Gaslighted-out is how I feel as well. I do feel Handwritten was over-hyped in the end and never really got the slight negativity it generated towards American Slang.

Stealing Shelby's format!

Still in love with:
45, Handwritten, Mae, National Anthem, Blue Dahlia

Like better than before:
Biloxi Parish (though I really miss the Asbury version), Mulholland Drive, Here Comes My Man

Less than before:
Too Much Blood, Keepsake

Like, but still not hugely into :
Desire & Howl



When I first heard the album it was my 2nd favorite to SOS and I still feel that way. Probably just because I love hearing new stuff after playing all the others so much. After more time I'll see where it fits in once and for all. Really each album can be my favorite depending on the day, but SOS will probably always win out over all over them for me.

I love this album, and I think it is just a progression for them. But in saying that, I have enjoyed everything they have released.

It is better than American Slang for me, but only because I smashed that album so hard, I got sick of it for a while. At the moment it is the album I listen to most, afteer I listen to Our Fathers Sons from the iTunes sessions first.

Overall, I think it's their best album musically, worst album lyrically, and the least unique of their albums. But by far the most accessible. It is a progression, but in doing so it becomes more mainstream and less what defines The Gaslight Anthem.

It has some cracking songs on it, some of the best they've done (Handwritten, Blue Dahlia for instance) but after some listens the majoriry of the album get's old, and samey. There's a lot of unecessary 'whoooaaa's and 'la la la's'.

As a casual fan, I can see people saying it's their best yet- but for me, and I suspect a lot of the 'hardcore' (not all, we all have our opinions) it's just missing the ol' magic.

It's funny to compare sound of Handwritten and Sink or Swim. Two different galaxies. Even though, album is most compressed and produced, it's less obvious of all of them.
Lyrically, he writes about himself. Not only fabulous stories written with fabulous metaphors. Now it's honesty.
As a musician, I personally enjoy dilemma behind "Too much blood", but currently I'm mostly on "Biloxi Parish" (especially bridge part), "Keepsake" and "National Anthem". Never been to enthusiastic about singles, though "HCMM" had some charm.
Generally, still dunno what to think about that album.

Good thread

Over time, Handwritten has slowly sunk lower in my collection, and save for a few highlights (45, Handwritten, Howl, TMB and Mae) it just doesn't tempt me to listen.

Musically, it's lacking the old school swagger of the previous records, definitely can't hear much of the punk influence, bar 45 and Howl.

And the cover is so dull and uninspiring. Seriously, whoever thought that was a good album cover needs a slap

i wasn't a huge fan when it came out but i kept HCMM and mullohand on loop for a while. blue dahlia (bonus track or not, part of the album imo) is great as is handwritten but past that it's like a crappy attempt by another artist trying to be horrible crowes if that makes sense. it reminds me of the new killers album that was like brandon flowers trying to be a pop gaslight album.

never listen to it anymore, sad to say

all told, Gaslight for me was about redemption, and I just don't get that redemption vibe from that album

I actually find myself coming back to this one the most often since it's come out.
Soundwise, it's mega lush and I love that thick sound. It kinda pales in comparison to the other albums in that sense. Ian's third guitar is probably a big reason for that.
Then again, Magic by Bruce is also one of my favorite albums, and O'Brien produced that one as well. That's just me. I don't have a problem with Handwritten's lyrics, I honestly think if they were less direct and more like the other albums we would have had a bigger problem with them.

o'brien did well with magic but sucked on WOAD and Pearl Jam records and so on and so forth, his style definitely comes through here as like polished energy if that makes sense. almost something holding back. brian's lyrics are also much more vague (sans drive and HCMM) in a way, i get less of an image and emotion

I think it's a great album. As far as ranking it amongst the others, I really can't say. That's a constantly shifting ranking for me anyway. I certainly think it has held up for me, 6 months out.

"45": Amazing, one of gaslight's best tracks.
Handwritten: excellent
HCMM: I'm up and down with this one, currently up though. Not in love with it live though, I must say.
Mulholland: great imagery, great song
Keepsake: the first song I really started to like when the album came out. I still love it, you can feel the pain in the song, I love that.
Too Much Blood: Maybe my least favorite gaslight track.
Howl: Fun!
Biloxi: Strong track.
Desire: pretty good.
Mae: I've been in love with this song since they opened with it at webster hall last year.
National Anthem: Decent closing track, it works after Mae.

Blue Dahlia: Top shelf Gaslight, just amazing.

That's my unsolicited track by track breakdown.

fatbench wrote:

I think it's a great album. As far as ranking it amongst the others, I really can't say. That's a constantly shifting ranking for me anyway. I certainly think it has held up for me, 6 months out.

"45": Amazing, one of gaslight's best tracks.
Handwritten: excellent
HCMM: I'm up and down with this one, currently up though. Not in love with it live though, I must say.
Mulholland: great imagery, great song
Keepsake: the first song I really started to like when the album came out. I still love it, you can feel the pain in the song, I love that.
Too Much Blood: Maybe my least favorite gaslight track.
Howl: Fun!
Biloxi: Strong track.
Desire: pretty good.
Mae: I've been in love with this song since they opened with it at webster hall last year.
National Anthem: Decent closing track, it works after Mae.

Blue Dahlia: Top shelf Gaslight, just amazing.

That's my unsolicited track by track breakdown.

Agree 100%.

I'm still a fan of the album. It's not my top album ever released anymore, but I still love it. Waiting on that Handwritten movie, though.

handwritten movie?