Handwritten: How has time affected your opinions and thoughts?

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

If you don't see a difference between now and a few years back you're blind.

It's true Ryan... They're so much better now!

gaslightfan89 wrote:

Overall I think the same thing happened American Slang. At first 75% of the fans on here loved they ranked it ahead or just behind 59 sound (I was in that category). The other 25% maybe a little disappointed. As time went on I think people made their own opinions and had a better context for it. I think the same thing is happening with Handwritten people are putting it into context now that there is time. And for me personally unlike American Slang its stood right about were I pegged it when I first heard it last summer.

HW is far more polarizing than AS if you ask me. AS most everyone agreed "this is still a pretty awesome record" though there were people who enjoyed it more than T59S and there were people who thought it was somewhat of a step back. There were probably a small percentage of fans who still consider SoS their best album that were more disappointed, but not a whole lot.

Handwritten, even half the fans on the fansite are disappointed by and many of those would probably rank it as their worst album, no question, whereas there are also a bunch of fans who think its pretty much perfect.

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

If you don't see a difference between now and a few years back you're blind.

I see some differences any band in two years is going to change, but I just don't see it as a dramatic difference. I think some people who were fans for a longer time want to have their own era over fans who are just jumping on now or recently. Its way overblown, Gaslight is still Gaslight. Their shows feel like the way Gaslight shows always have to me. New songs, new fans, but its the same guys still doing their thing.

I live in Northern NJ so I always go see them when they play in Jersey or New York. And in this area they were always huge since 59 sound. They always sold out there shows quick and they always had tons of fans in the area. So maybe I don't see the disparity in their live shows because its different in other areas, but for me personally the Terminal 5 show from November was the same vibe as Radio City, The Stone Pony, The Asbury Park convention Center, and the Welmont from the past few tours.

Christophe wrote:

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

Agree to disagree Peace has been made....

Ps. Nothing is Real is an AWESOME song... Can't wait for the new GGD record... Have you heard Come to Me?

Haha cool. Hey that's great that you are a fellow GGD fan I really can't wait for Magnetic from what I've heard it's going to be great! Come To Me is pretty special, I think my favourite new song they have played live is When The World Breaks Your Heart. I really like the positive upbeat tone they have brought to the new album Just a pain that they have had to push the release date back again

Yes! More GGD fans. I don't come across many on here. I've been a bit diheartened by how many ballads they've been putting on records but Magnetic sounds like its going to be different and Im excited.

gaslightfan89 wrote:

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

If you don't see a difference between now and a few years back you're blind.

I see some differences any band in two years is going to change, but I just don't see it as a dramatic difference. I think some people who were fans for a longer time want to have their own era over fans who are just jumping on now or recently. Its way overblown, Gaslight is still Gaslight. Their shows feel like the way Gaslight shows always have to me. New songs, new fans, but its the same guys still doing their thing.

I live in Northern NJ so I always go see them when they play in Jersey or New York. And in this area they were always huge since 59 sound. They always sold out there shows quick and they always had tons of fans in the area. So maybe I don't see the disparity in their live shows because its different in other areas, but for me personally the Terminal 5 show from November was the same vibe as Radio City, The Stone Pony, The Asbury Park convention Center, and the Welmont from the past few tours.

They're still doing their thing, but the fans (and therefore the vibe) is COMPLETELY changed. The energy amongst the crowd has been down ever since the American Slang tour. The one time that magic has been recaptured was the 45 video shoot because it was jam-packed with diehard fans who were willing to wait hours and hours when there was no guarantee we were all going to get in. That was devotion and dedication and it showed. We weren't acting for the cameras, we were just all having the time of our lives. That's the way it was on The '59 Sound tour (and I'm sure even moreso before, but I only hopped on fall of 2008 so I can't comment on that) and no, it's definitely no longer the way it was back then. Brian still writes great songs, the guys still bring it live, but the overall package has been diluted, no question.

Jerseyrain wrote:

Christophe wrote:

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

Agree to disagree Peace has been made....

Ps. Nothing is Real is an AWESOME song... Can't wait for the new GGD record... Have you heard Come to Me?

Haha cool. Hey that's great that you are a fellow GGD fan I really can't wait for Magnetic from what I've heard it's going to be great! Come To Me is pretty special, I think my favourite new song they have played live is When The World Breaks Your Heart. I really like the positive upbeat tone they have brought to the new album Just a pain that they have had to push the release date back again

Yes! More GGD fans. I don't come across many on here. I've been a bit diheartened by how many ballads they've been putting on records but Magnetic sounds like its going to be different and Im excited.

Yeah it's going to be awesome!

As far as how time has effected my opinions on Handwritten, I kinda feel like it's an incredible rock 'n' roll jukebox more than it is an album. I love all the songs on it, but I end up listening to individual songs or certain groups of songs rather than the thing as a whole. Some common groupings for me would be:

1) 45, Handwritten, Blue Dahlia
2) Mulholland Drive, Keepsake, Too Much Blood
3) Howl, Biloxi Parish, Desire
4) HCMM, Mae, National Anthem

Sometimes Howl and Desire go in the first group and Biloxi goes in the second. Sometimes I listen to the "sweeter" songs on the record (Biloxi, Desire, Mae, Blue Dahlia) and then sometimes it's the angrier stuff. I don't know. It's a very schizophrenic record in general.

I have made a version without National Anthem on it.

Handwritten lacks Soul.... I listened to Diamond Church Street Choir today and realized that Brian's vocals on HW lack Soul/Passion, etc...

They spent so much time trying to reject the Bruce influence that they lost the sound that made them unique.... I loved the records before HW because they had soul, lyrics I connected with, guitar with fun noodly melodies over the rhythm....

On HW you hear grungey guitars, lead solos that don't follow the melody line, and STRONG vocals that hit notes but lack the expression in them...

It simply sounds less personal and less accessible than the previous records...

Listen to the vocals on DCSC and then listen to any song on HW and see how they stack up... I think the difference explains the hostility on here for HW

Diamond Church Street Choir, Go Tell Everybody, and the iTunes version of House of the Rising Sun (&Too Much Blood to a lesser extent) are the songs where, to me, Brian has really gone absolutely balls out on the vocal take. Like, my jaw dropped the first time I listened to those 3 songs. I agree with Ryan in that Handwritten doesn't have that Brian vocal "holy shit" moment like in the past few records, but I like the HW album more than he does.
 

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

Handwritten lacks Soul.... I listened to Diamond Church Street Choir today and realized that Brian's vocals on HW lack Soul/Passion, etc...

They spent so much time trying to reject the Bruce influence that they lost the sound that made them unique.... I loved the records before HW because they had soul, lyrics I connected with, guitar with fun noodly melodies over the rhythm....

On HW you hear grungey guitars, lead solos that don't follow the melody line, and STRONG vocals that hit notes but lack the expression in them...

It simply sounds less personal and less accessible than the previous records...

Listen to the vocals on DCSC and then listen to any song on HW and see how they stack up... I think the difference explains the hostility on here for HW

This, A thousand times this   HW just lacks the soul of the other albums

I loved Handwritten when it came out. But now...I think it's my favorite TGA album, or at least, tied with The '59 Sound. The stories are magnificent, the lyrics are beautiful. Plus, I'm a big fan of all the added instrumentation. The organ is my favorite instrument, so to hear it all over the album really excites me.

So obviously, I'm really surprised there's a negative reaction to it.

I still love this record a lot. There's lotsa energy and different feelings. It's an early Tom Petty kind of record. There's the one hit wonder that grabs you first, and then the records starts to reveal itself as much as you listen to it. They took a nice step further and it's way more mature than their previous efforts. I just wish the production was just a little more dirty and gritty and not that clean (but it's ok, it's not as loud as metallica's record. The ones that will give you a terrible headache after the first song). you don't really feel the textures from amps and guitars, and that's what I enjoy the most from this band. They are definitly a rock band, and I feel like Brendan O'Brien didn't captured that. I was never a fan of his production anyway. They can stick to Brendan, just hope they'll never go the Rick Rubin way. "Stay hungry, stay free" he said, it's a pretty good song, maybe you know the rest...

the intro of this song sounds a lot like desire jajaja

It's not like I DON'T like Handwritten, it's just...not the best. Every song there is special in its own way, and are still amazing, but compared to the likes of American Slang and the '59 Sound it's just not par. (This is another whole conversation I know) but I feel that Ted Hutt is better for the band. Everything Ted and Brian have done together is perfect. Handwritten just lacks that something. Maybe it's the grit in Brian's voice. Maybe the mix is off. It could also be it's just plain and simply not as good. '59 Sound and AS are CLASSICS now, and are jaw-dropping good at each listen. HW doesn't do that for me anymore. But live, the songs are amazing.

I think that it was just the transition to a new label. The new songs that have been coming are right back up there. This new album promises to be better than Handwritten, from how I see it.

zerb012345 wrote:

It's not like I DON'T like Handwritten, it's just...not the best. Every song there is special in its own way, and are still amazing, but compared to the likes of American Slang and the '59 Sound it's just not par. (This is another whole conversation I know) but I feel that Ted Hutt is better for the band. Everything Ted and Brian have done together is perfect. Handwritten just lacks that something. Maybe it's the grit in Brian's voice. Maybe the mix is off. It could also be it's just plain and simply not as good. '59 Sound and AS are CLASSICS now, and are jaw-dropping good at each listen. HW doesn't do that for me anymore. But live, the songs are amazing.

I think that it was just the transition to a new label. The new songs that have been coming are right back up there. This new album promises to be better than Handwritten, from how I see it.

 word

i think the reason i love american slang so much is the amount of backing vocals on it. bring back the backing vocals!

Handwritten probably has more backing vocals than any Gaslight album...other than Mulholland Drive, Too Much Blood, Mae, and National Anthem (and Blue Dahlia if you count it) they're all over the place.

Jack wrote:

Handwritten probably has more backing vocals than any Gaslight album...other than Mulholland Drive, Too Much Blood, Mae, and National Anthem (and Blue Dahlia if you count it) they're all over the place.

i guess i mean like actual other words. like, "in a dream i had oh in a dream i had," or "you don't know what's good for you..."
the whoa oh's and hey's are cool, but i really like when it's actual words and stuff. if that's a trend that will continue, then bring it on!

DeathoftheCool wrote:

Jack wrote:

Handwritten probably has more backing vocals than any Gaslight album...other than Mulholland Drive, Too Much Blood, Mae, and National Anthem (and Blue Dahlia if you count it) they're all over the place.

i guess i mean like actual other words. like, "in a dream i had oh in a dream i had," or "you don't know what's good for you..."
the whoa oh's and hey's are cool, but i really like when it's actual words and stuff. if that's a trend that will continue, then bring it on!

I completely agree with you, and  to your reference...

DeathoftheCool wrote:

i think the reason i love american slang so much is the amount of backing vocals on it. bring back the backing vocals!

I never thought about it but I agree. AS is still by far my favorite album lyrically (backing vocals and otherwise)

zerb012345 wrote:

DeathoftheCool wrote:

Jack wrote:

Handwritten probably has more backing vocals than any Gaslight album...other than Mulholland Drive, Too Much Blood, Mae, and National Anthem (and Blue Dahlia if you count it) they're all over the place.

i guess i mean like actual other words. like, "in a dream i had oh in a dream i had," or "you don't know what's good for you..."
the whoa oh's and hey's are cool, but i really like when it's actual words and stuff. if that's a trend that will continue, then bring it on!

I completely agree with you, and  to your reference...

haha i love saying Bring It On on here cuz everybody knows what's up
My #1 favorite song of all time

The_River wrote:

I still love this record a lot [edit]... the records starts to reveal itself as much as you listen to it. They took a nice step further and it's way more mature than their previous efforts. I just wish the production was just a little more dirty and gritty and not that clean ...

100% this. I have so much love for Handwritten (am determined to get them to play Teenage Rebellion live (off the deluxe ed), tied with Sink or Swim for me...and the dirty/gritty is what I (and probably most of us) love about SOS

DeathoftheCool wrote:

zerb012345 wrote:

DeathoftheCool wrote:

Jack wrote:

Handwritten probably has more backing vocals than any Gaslight album...other than Mulholland Drive, Too Much Blood, Mae, and National Anthem (and Blue Dahlia if you count it) they're all over the place.

i guess i mean like actual other words. like, "in a dream i had oh in a dream i had," or "you don't know what's good for you..."
the whoa oh's and hey's are cool, but i really like when it's actual words and stuff. if that's a trend that will continue, then bring it on!

I completely agree with you, and  to your reference...

haha i love saying Bring It On on here cuz everybody knows what's up
My #1 favorite song of all time

It was mine for a while. Right now it's fluctuating between Great Expectations and Blunderbuss by Jack White...don't hate.

I don't really listen to this album anymore, other than the occasional Blue Dahlia or Handwritten. Not that I'm listening to much Gaslight because of Devour. I don't know why but I find there's something missing with Handwritten. Every time I hear the other albums I get a 'holy shit I'd forgotten how incredible this was' feeling; it just doesn't happen with Handwritten.

I definitely prefer actual words as backing, (one of the reasons Bad Religion are so awesome). Many of the whoas etc seemed kind of unnecessary.

And like someone above put, I don't have National Anthem on my MP3 player. That song didn't happen in my world.