Hello Reader,
Welcome back.
Full disclosure: We were not compensated for our thoughts; all thoughts are entirely my own.
My personal history with The Gaslight Anthem runs 15 years deep. I was lucky enough to see The Gaslight Anthem open for Thrice, Alkaline Trio and Rise Against one November night, as they were touring The ’59 Sound (2008). I knew a handful of Gaslight songs before the show and each one mesmerized me, so I was most excited to see The Gaslight Anthem that night. Again, this was the time I had read Our Band Could Be Your Life and I was hungrily discovering new music. While all four bands put on an excellent show that night, the energy, the musicianship, and the songwriting of The Gaslight Anthem combined in a cloud nine experience for me. It cemented The Gaslight Anthem as a favorite band of mine. I bought a few albums amongst the bands performing that night, I went back in discography time and listened to the entire Sink or Swim (2007) album digitally. By the time Handwritten was released in 2012, I had all their albums on vinyl even the especially hard-to-find Sink or Swim. You bet I tracked that gem down. Take my money.
“At the end of the day it’s just rock-and-roll music, but I really do believe it can have a positive impact on people’s lives. I think there’s so much beauty and magic in that.” – Brian Fallon
Listening to that unmistakable Brian Fallon associated sound come out of your floor speakers and your quality stereo receiver from the record spinning at 33 (or 45) RPM is a must. If you haven’t, please take the time to do so.
Brian’s voice, the lead guitar and backing vocals from Alex Rosamilia, the bass guitar and backing vocals from Alex Levine and drums and percussion from Benny Horowitz is a sound that no other band can replicate. When they’re together, they just have it and I’m glad the band’s core lineup has never changed.
I also cherished listening to Brian’s non-Gaslight Anthem projects and owned physical copies of the albums and EPs. I loved the range in sound and variance in lyrics from album to album throughout the years amongst the various projects from American Slang (2010), to Painkillers (2016), Sleepwalkers (2018), Local Honey (2020) and Night Divine (2021) and everything in between including but not limited to, Elsie (2011).
Brian is among my favorite songwriters of his generation. To me, he’s a great storyteller lyrically and also a great storyteller verbally between songs. As my friends can attest, Josh included, I’ve hyped up how entertaining the between song parts of The Gaslight Anthem and Brian’s shows are, more than once. And Brian’s entertained them as well.
In 2015, after touring the album Get Hurt (2014), The Gaslight Anthem released the following statement: “We’d like to recharge and take a step back until we have something we feel excited about rather than going right back to making a record just for the sake of making the next record. We all feel this is the best decision we can make and it feels like the right one for us.”
On Today, Friday October 27th, Brian, Benny, Alex and Alex and a cast of contributing musicians are releasing a new album of music for the first time in nearly two handfuls of years for your listening pleasure. The Gaslight Anthem is fully back! History Books is available on any format you could want and can be found everywhere albums are sold. There is even colored vinyl!
Longtime-collaborator, and The Horrible Crowes guitarist, and Gaslight Anthem touring guitarist, backing vocalist, keyboardist, Ian Perkins returns to contribute some fabulous guitar on History Books. Peter Katis, The Grammy Award-winning (Sleep Well Beast by The National 2017) record producer, audio engineer, mixer and musician, played keys on History Books and also produced, mixed, engineered the album. Brian Haring played Piano. Kori Gardner, and Stefan Babcock contributed their voices, as backup vocals. Thomas Bartlett tickles the ivories. Bruce Springsteen joins Brian for the titular song.
Let’s share some album hype videos!
The song that kickstarted the band making a full new album of music, “Positive Charge”:
(All credits and rights to The Gaslight Anthem)
The song featuring “The Boss“:
(All credits and rights to The Gaslight Anthem)
The beautiful, cleansing “Autumn”:
(All credits and rights to The Gaslight Anthem)
and the lovely song with a tour clip montage:
(All credits and rights to The Gaslight Anthem)
History Books slides right into The Gaslight Anthem’s discography. The album, which is consistently reflective and sometimes bombastic and yet at other times slower paced. The album has something for everyone so to speak. Lyrics discuss mental health, frustration, distance and are seemingly cathartic. The album showcases Brian’s songwriting and the bands skilled instrumentation. Guitars, pianos, keys, additional vocalists really shine and add so much to the songs they appear on. The hooks, refrains, and choruses are catchy and memorable. The songs vary in pace and somewhat in style, but they flow so well when listening from one song to the next.
The first song, “Spider Bites” immediately sets the tone of the album. Sonically this song establishes a great melody, pace and rhythm and doesn’t let up. Lyrics in “Spider Bites,” are heavy on mental health, they question sanity and reality, and also are reflective and longing. As is common with Gaslight Anthem and Brian Fallon songs, there are catchy refrains.
The album’s titular song, “History Books” features the first vocal duet on a studio album of Brian Fallon’s with the legendary Bruce Springsteen. Comparisons have been made between music media and fans for over 15 years. There’s been a small amount of collaboration between them before in the form of a live performance but nothing like this. “History Books” is a beautifully penned song about not wanting to dwell in the recent or ancient past, and the result of Bruce and Brian’s voice pairing is complementary as their voice types are different.
Song three, “Autumn” drops in with a fantastic guitar intro, followed by a melody fleshed out with drums before Brian vocalizes. The lyrics again deal with mental health: anxiety and paranoia, but also specific and relative time and with all this reflection, longing. Great backup vocals that enhance the song in general but specifically the refrains.
Guitars and drums launch the listener into the song, “Positive Charge.” It’s a straightforward song about mental health, the desire to be better. This song has both great refrains from Fallon and an exceptional chorus from the backup vocalists, Kori Gardner and Stefan Babcock.
The fifth song on History Books, “Michigan, 1975” is a slow burner of a song in the best application of that phrase. The melody is a little softer, the lyrics are delivered a little more quietly. The lyrics are very inquisitive and reflective. Perfect instrumentation to compliment the vocals.
The guitars on song six, “Little Fires,” return the sonic mood to where it was two songs ago. The speed at which the vocal as delivered is in synch with the melody. The lyrics speak of frustration but also a less obvious gratefulness due to the physical distance they are apart.
“The Weatherman” is an extremely introspective song. Reflecting on a past partnership that doesn’t currently exist. Great instrumentation that matches the vocal delivery. The repetition of stanzas truly strengthens the song and adds to the listening experience.
Song eight on History Books, “Empires,” stripped drum sound, tremendous backup vocals joining on the refrain. The lyrics show regret and remorse. The most straightforward religious references on the album. The next song, “I Live In The Room Above Her,” suggests that there’s more going on that it seems with a neighbor. Maybe with both parties.
The tenth and final song on the album, “A History of Preludes” again is reflective. To me it is spoken through a ghost, looking at memories. Sonically it is a quieter song in volume and the arrangement fits with a more minimal musical instrumentation.
History Books gets a 4.5 of 5 Scum Drops from me. The Gaslight Anthem is back in outstanding form! There are so many earworms. Overall, this is an excellent album, one that is worth adding to your collection. The sonic quality is fabulous, the instrumentation is top notch. The lyrics are up to par relative to other Gaslight/Fallon projects. Worth listening to once, then again. And again. And owning your own copy. I recommend this!
History Books tracklist (song time)
- Spider Bites (4:19)
- History Books (3:53)
- Autumn (4:01)
- Positive Charge (4:06)
- Michigan, 1975 (4:15)
- Little Fires (3:25)
- The Weatherman (4:27)
- Empires (4:23)
- I Live In The Room Above Her (4:17)
- A Lifetime Of Preludes (3:18)
total run time 40:23
Get all the merch, the record and tour dates here: https://www.thegaslightanthem.com/
Thanks for reading and supporting good music.
Until the next review,
Alex
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site: scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions!
Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
