The Gaslight Anthem
History Books


3.8
excellent

Review

by Sunnyvale STAFF
October 23rd, 2023 | 65 replies


Release Date: 10/27/2023 | Tracklist

Review Summary: My, how the years and our youth pass on

As I sat on my couch and prepared to press play for the first time on my promotional copy of History Books, The Gaslight Anthem’s return after a nine year absence, my dominant emotion was trepidation. That might not be the most fitting feeling, given I’m a longtime fan, but it’s what I felt in my gut.

This wariness lay heavily on me despite the fact that even if I don’t return to The Gaslight Anthem’s music as much these days, The ‘59 Sound continues to sound like a genuine classic when I do revisit it, and the less-renowned portions of the group’s discography still feel rock-solid to me as well. Additionally, frontman/songwriter Brian Fallon’s solo output in the last decade has consistently ranged somewhere between good and excellent. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that the band’s comeback wasn’t going to yield good results, primarily based on two factors. First, The Gaslight Anthem’s last album, 2014’s Get Hurt, released shortly before their announcement of a hiatus, was deeply unsatisfactory, even if ultimately salvageable. Not only was the band’s bread-and-butter growing stale on that record (despite some notable highlights), but their attempts to stay fresh (primarily via the introduction of grunge influences) also faltered and ultimately felt ill-advised. My takeaways were that the band could basically only do one thing (albeit very well, in their heyday), but that the font was running dry, and that I wasn’t confident nine years apart would replenish the spark. Second, and perhaps more important, The Gaslight Anthem’s basic shtick was always backwards-looking, wistfully eyeing the music of romanticized, grizzled, old musicians and, more broadly, some mythic age of America past. That all sounds pretty corny, but something about the musicians’ evident sincerity and talent made everything work out. And back in their prime, this music proved the perfect companion to wilder younger days for me and my friends - looking back, it seems we intuitively understood that the times we were soundtracking would be moments we’d look back on fondly but bittersweetly. But here’s the thing, bands that get back together tend to rely heavily on audience nostalgia - “hey, it’s not their best work, but it’s just good to have them back”. The Gaslight Anthem, though, have always leaned on nostalgia, of a wider and more generalized kind, and if they are now only capable of generating a watered-down version of the aching songs of loss they once played, then, well, that’s just kinda depressing.

Forgive the rambling, let’s get back to that first sentence. I hit play on this album for the first time (having managed to avoid hearing any of the singles previously), and opener “Spider Bites” immediately reinforced all my misgivings. There’s no way around it, it’s a clunky song - a blaring guitar intro, a kinda bland verse structure, a repetitive chorus (albeit quite catchy). It may have plenty of redeeming features, but the tune just never quite fits together right, and those issues are accentuated by a production job which seems designed solely to muffle the music’s strengths (a problem throughout this record). Needless to say, I kept sitting on the couch, girding myself for more disappointment.

And then…

History Books turns out to be a pretty great album, just one with a weak opener and regrettable production. The title track emerges as quite a jam, warm but melancholic, and featuring a tastefully-delivered guest verse from (who else?) Bruce Springsteen. Then there’s “Autumn”, a yearning track which combines some decently heavy riffage with some of the band’s most touching lyricism. From there, it’s a satisfying mix of more upbeat tracks with tenuous punk influence - notably “Positive Charge” (quite good) and “Little Fires” (perhaps the most energetic number here), balancing against gentle and delicate ballads like “Michigan, 1975”, the lonesome “The Weatherman”, and the stately “Empires”. The album’s last two tracks stand apart from this dichotomy in different ways - “I Live In The Room Above” dips into the grunginess which blighted Get Hurt, but pulls it off nicely, while closer “A Lifetime Of Preludes” is a melodic and vocal-driven piece which feels like it could’ve been pulled from a Brian Fallon solo offering.

From the last paragraph’s assessment of this tracklist, you can probably gather that History Books is NOT the second coming of The Gaslight Anthem’s early punk era. There are hints of that style here and there in some of the faster-paced tracks, but this record feels most similar to the finest representation of the band’s later period, 2012’s Handwritten, comparably best-described as relatively mellow alt-rock with a contemplative mood. If the intervening decade or so has shifted anything, it’s that the band has settled even more into a sedate style, punctuated by occasional bursts of vigor. That approach sorts this crew well and allows them to avoid the pitfalls which I grimly spelled out earlier in this review. History Books might be a “safe” release, but it’s an impressively competent one which can mingle comfortably amid the band’s prior output (questionable production aside). If there’s one significant miss (I’ve already griped enough about “Spider Bites”) and most of the songs don’t measure up to the group’s best, History Books feels like a coherent return to form complete with some highlight tunes (I’d single out the title track, “Autumn”, “The Weatherman”, and “I Live In The Room Above”, specifically). This isn’t an album to convert the naysayers, but for the already initiated, prepare yourself to once more sing with your heroes, 33 rounds per minute.



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Comments:Add a Comment 
Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
October 23rd 2023


6186 Comments

Album Rating: 3.8

Album is out this Friday, Oct 27th.



The Gaslight Anthem was a formative band for me, so in theory I could write a sprawling piece about this, but it's a surprisingly challenging record to write about, chiefly because it basically feels like a "default middle-aged TGA record". That sounds flippant, but it's well-executed and does what sets out to in a way I think most fans will enjoy.



Anyways, nice to have the boys back.

JWT155
October 23rd 2023


14973 Comments


Very interested in this, loved everything they did before Get Hurt, although Handwritten seemed to show signs of them on cruise control, ‘59 Sound still holds a special place in my heart.

zakalwe
October 23rd 2023


40242 Comments


I thought Get Hurt was underrated, everything before overrated.
Loved the album Fallon did with whatshisface.
Will definitely give this a go.

onionbubs
October 23rd 2023


22217 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

get hurt is very underrated and doesnt deserve the reputation it gets at all



hyped for this

ShadowRemains
October 23rd 2023


28060 Comments


> From there, it’s a satisfying mix of more upbeat tracks with tenuous punk influence

i'm intrigued

Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
October 23rd 2023


6186 Comments

Album Rating: 3.8

I have Get Hurt at a 3.5, so I don't hate it, but it's easily their weakest in my book.



@ShadowRemains, none of the songs here are really punk in a meaningful sense, but there's at least some throwback hints to their earlier days.

Slex
October 23rd 2023


17280 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Handwritten is their best album so I see this as an absolute win



Had no idea this was coming so soon

tinathefatlard
October 23rd 2023


2063 Comments


For some reason I can’t seem to get into their non ‘59 Sound albums. But that one is an absolute classic.

Rawrz
October 26th 2023


226 Comments


The opener on this is great to me.

onionbubs
October 26th 2023


22217 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

yeah i really like spider bites lol

Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
October 26th 2023


6186 Comments

Album Rating: 3.8

Maybe my ears are leading me astray, LOL. That track has grown on me but it still doesn't quite hit right for me - hard to describe exactly why but something just feels off.

Voltimand
October 26th 2023


1670 Comments


How does this compare to the new Menzingers album?

onionbubs
October 26th 2023


22217 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

i am only on michigan 1975 but so far every single song on his has blown the new menzos out of the water. its pretty slow and subdued tho michigan 1975 could be a horrible crowes song (elsie is brian's best album so this is a very good thing imo). the first two singles have definitely been the most uptempo so far



the production is pretty bad tho. little fires just came on and its kind of a hard song to listen to lol

Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
October 26th 2023


6186 Comments

Album Rating: 3.8

Yeah, as a big fan of both bands in their heyday, this album is far superior to The Menzingers' new one, for the sake of comparison.

onionbubs
October 26th 2023


22217 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

think this is a little lopsided and that most of my favorites were on side a, but i still really liked it

Blahblehbluh
October 27th 2023


2 Comments


Vocals are ok and the production is acceptable but certainly not good. Maybe it’s good to fans of The National though idk.

Blahblehbluh
October 27th 2023


2 Comments


Oh and I think the issue with the opener might be the first 21 seconds where it sounds so much like the opener from Get Hurt inducing Vietnam style flashbacks of where it all started to go wrong. After that though it’s all good and if nothing else you have to applaud the balls on that as a strategic play.

GhostShelter
October 27th 2023


1153 Comments


Sounding good but im only on track 2. i liked spider bites.

OverSlyZed91
October 27th 2023


369 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

"I Live In The Room Above Her" is a fucking banger.



The rest is mehh.

onionbubs
October 27th 2023


22217 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

probably my least favorite here ngl



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