'Get Hurt' album (general discussion) [Out Now]

have mercy rules. favorite track after first listen. who is the female back up vocals?

I do love 1000 years a lot for some reason...may be the vocals, may be the soaring intro

White Man In Hammersmith wrote:

Anyone else think Sweet Morphine and Mamas Boys could be tracks on a separate EP? Both have a nice country vibe with harmonica and slide guitar etc  Would love an EP in that style by Gaslight!

I think the four bonus tracks would have made a great EP on their own.

Boy From Little Eden wrote:

I personally am enjoying listening to these songs already, Some of them I loved instantly... Others I know will grow on me. For the people who are writing the band off because of this album, I am sorry.. but I wont miss you.. You can go cry in your room and listen to the 59 Sound until the needle on your record player breaks. The Gaslight anthem to me is like a family in the sense that I will always love them, no matter what... Good albums, Bad albums..Brian has done enough for me to realize that he is a very very talented songwriter and musician, and for that ill follow him for the rest of his career.

Have to disagree with your post, and I love the album so far.
Hardcore fans can be critical of new albums, they don't have to love them. Having differing opinions and being highly critical makes this place better and generates more discussion, which is kind of the point of this message board. Liking an album just because you love the artist and think they can do no wrong doesn't really add much to a conversation, but I still respect your opinion and do agree that Brian is incredibly talented. I too will also follow them for the rest of their career, but that does not mean that I'll automatically praise all their work. A good example for me is Blink 182 - grew up with the band and loved their earlier stuff, I still follow them based on the role they played on my life, but I am highly critical of their newest stuff because it just isn't as good IMO.

Agreed with Casey. I love Bruce's music, but I haven't got "high hopes" just because I heard a stream on NPR when it was originally released, and I did not like it-which is a first.

Love the album. Great combination of music and lyrics. I need more time with the record.

First Thoughts

1. Stay Vicious - Cool song because of the sha la la's. Still feels like Stone Temple Pilots in the heavy parts
2. 1,000 Years - Groovy song. I get that people feel a vibe of other bands in this song. I could see Brand New wishing they wrote this song years ago. I think this speaks to the bands skill to write music that doesn't all sound the same
3. Get Hurt - A masterpiece kinda song for this band. Ballady and passionate
4. Stray Paper - Very Gaslight pushy their boundaries. Like the addition of backing vocals
5. Helter Skeleton - Very in your face intro and slips into the sound of the record like Stray Paper
6. Under The Ground - Cool Chill vibe reminds me of Horrible Crowes at moments
7. Rollin' and Tumblin - Love this song. I think the track order flow is a bit awkward at times, but I love how heavy hitting this song is. Need this on the record
8. Re Violins - Feels like it's going to be a cover, then slips into that 'album sound mention in Stray and Helter, but I feel and American Slang undertone
9. Selected Poems - Kinda of a weird intro into a big song cool song
10. Ain't That A Shame - Picks up where Rollin' left off mixed with album sound
11. Break Your Heart - Beautiful song that lets you focus on the words. A touch of National Anthem. Would be a perfect closer but they let it be more of a set up like they did on '59 Sound
12. Dark Places - Initial guitar tone reminds me of Brand New. It's a big closer like Back Seat and carries on the album sound.
13. Sweet Morphine - Wonder if this was wrote for Molly and the Zombies
14. Mama's Boys - Molly and the Zombies again? They could have put these two on a bonus EP like Hold You Up. Country vibes all the way through.
15. Halloween - Glad they re recorded it. I like a combination of both the 45 RPM version and this
16. Have Mercy - Another Pretty song. Horrible Crowes vibe. Has a closer vibe. Just not Get Hurt as a 12 track album, but as a track 16.

Today was like (a weird, dark, amazing) Christmas came a week early.

No disappointments here (just joy), but I wasn't really reserving judgment. Sometimes you want to love something unconditionally.

I stand by what I said about the first half of this record being in utter shambles but I don't want to call it too early but Sweet Morphine may or may not be the greatest Gaslight song yet.

MKULTRA wrote:

i haven't listened closely for lyrics on every track, but i'm getting a very dark, depressed kind of vibe from what i've heard.


in the past, the characters were lonely but they had some hope and healing from music (Boxer, Handwritten, Angry Johnny, Woody, Came to Dance, any song with the radio in it) and that americana stuff (Elvis, Casanova, Lincoln). sometimes the pain even brought people together, like in Blue Dahlia.

pain isn't romanticized at all here.

I agree. I think the difference is all in the perspective. The old songs felt like they were stories about or memories of old pains where you've moved on and are in a better place. These songs on Get Hurt are all about fresh wounds where the emotion is current and it shows.

Listened to this record in the car today. I'm probably approaching 20 spins.

I gotta say, it's grown on me more and more. The sound is as big as Handwritten but more soulful and true to what made The 59 Sound and Elsie great.
Lyricism is fresh.
I actually like the upper register stuff, my one complaint with Brian is that he tends not to really take risks with his singing and I think there's a lot more of that on this album.

Benny's drumming is the best it's ever been. Lots of great leads and more noticeably a lot of great bass riffs.

Even songs I didn't like much before (Stay Vicious, Break Your Heart) are gradually becoming more comfortable listens.

The bonus tracks are all hits though man, I don't know why they insist on doing this every record. Have Mercy could be a top 10 Gaslight track for me.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this album as a whole but after listening to it all day - and especially in the car - I'm thinking it's gonna be above Handwritten and American Slang for me.

So, I'm not a fan of the album. I've generally been growing out of Gaslight for awhile, but unfortunately this and Handwritten put the nail in the coffin for me.

However, I love Elsie and MATZ.

From that, just a thought: (obviously all my opinion, if you like this album them disregard this.)

The Arcade Fire and Radiohead change their sound from album to album, and always seems to achieve great results. Maybe Brian should not be doing Horrible Crowes or MATZ separately. To me, he just refuses to let Gaslight be anything else than what we know it as. I don't think he needed to make Elsie or MATZ without the rest of the band, I think Gaslight could have done it easily. Brian is changing, and that's what HC and MATZ is. If he just let Gaslight be whatever it becomes (instead of forcing it to be rock'n'roll), well maybe we all would be a little more thrilled.

That said, there's still some great tracks here, but overall, the album is just not for me.

My shitty opinion continued:

This album, as well as Handwritten, lacks a consistency.
Both in quality of track, sound production, and ideas and concepts.
To me, it's just a collection of songs, and I hate that in an album. I prefer a strong overarching feel, The 59 Sound being a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

The songs where they DO try to mix it up have some interesting moments. The songs where they stay true to the classic Gaslight formula, just don't have the same feel, imagery, or heart that they used to have.

I HATE the production on the album, which is crazy cause I loved production on the 1975's debut.

It is insane that 'Have Mercy' is a bonus track. Blue Dahlia all over again.

The National influences are real.

I truly hope that lots of people enjoy it and that this gains them further success, they deserve it.

Yozzy wrote:

So, I'm not a fan of the album. I've generally been growing out of Gaslight for awhile, but unfortunately this and Handwritten put the nail in the coffin for me.

However, I love Elsie and MATZ.

From that, just a thought: (obviously all my opinion, if you like this album them disregard this.)

The Arcade Fire and Radiohead change their sound from album to album, and always seems to achieve great results. Maybe Brian should not be doing Horrible Crowes or MATZ separately. To me, he just refuses to let Gaslight be anything else than what we know it as. I don't think he needed to make Elsie or MATZ without the rest of the band, I think Gaslight could have done it easily. Brian is changing, and that's what HC and MATZ is. If he just let Gaslight be whatever it becomes (instead of forcing it to be rock'n'roll), well maybe we all would be a little more thrilled.

That said, there's still some great tracks here, but overall, the album is just not for me.

i dunno, i don't think the gaslight guys could do M&TZ easily. Molly has harmonies (which gaslight can't do) and organic guitar solos (which alex isn't great at) and can just play with a more laid back feel than i've ever heard from gaslight.

they definitely could've done HC, but who knows if it would have turned out the same if Brian had less control over it.

I do wish he'd leave "Halloween" alone...just leave it as the acoustic wonder it is, man! lol

Whilst Dark Places is my favorite song so far I must say there is no structure to it. I'm like "this is great but what the hell is going on!!? where am I!?" whether that is intentional or not it's kinda cool but does it a bit of a disservice as it could of maybe been a set closer. Gonna have a proper listen through again to all the songs later with a few beers. First impression was a love/hate/meh relationship. Still gonna buy the album but yeah I caved and had to listen   

There are some magnificent delay guitar moments on this record that are killing me.

I won't say much because I had the worst first listening a music fan can imagine. The streaming was constantly stopping and randomly skipped song for no reason. So I didn't get to listen to helter, underneath,dark and the bonus tracks. For what I heard I like the record and I feel it will grow and have longevity. I don't know if I missed the weirdest tracks but it didn't sound a drastically different style as they kept saying. I will listen again when the physical copy will be in my hands, I regret I didn't wait.

Dark places-WOW

I just think this keeps getting better and better.

The only song that hasn't clicked yet is Underneath the Ground but I don't hate it.

This last spin Selected Poems and Ain't that a Shame kicked my ass

Could it be that Brian wrote Sister Morphine and Mama's Boys for his solo folk record?

miked331 wrote:

The only song that hasn't clicked yet is Underneath the Ground but I don't hate it.

Same here, but this one has a really heavy Tom Petty vibe, imho.

Still letting the album sink in, i don't like it with the immediacy of the last two albums, but that could be a great thing as 59 Sound took time to grow on me. I would leave all the bonus tracks off the album apart from Have Mercy, that should have just been the second to last track i think.

Anyone get a shipping notification yet?

I'd say I've listened to Underneath The Ground twice as much as the other songs - I absolutely love that track.

Stray Paper, 1000 Years and Dark Places are also just fantastic.

I'm totally hyped by this album, more than I was with HW and AS

The spoken part of Underneath the Ground reminds me of Dead Man's Bones so much.