Album Review: "Handwritten" - The Gaslight Anthem

"Handwritten": B.  When my daughter Gina was planning her wedding two years ago, she asked me to put together a music mix to play during the reception dinner. Her instructions were to find the kind of music they play on Cities 97. I created three discs (Munching On The Mississippi, Volumes 1-3), each containing twenty songs by different artists, for her to choose from. All but one of the sixty artists was, and probably still is, on that radio station's playlist. The one exception was the Gaslight Anthem. I just had to put Here's Looking At You, Kid on one of the three discs. That was my favorite song from the band's 2008 album, The '59 Sound, and I was confident the guests would like it as well.

Except for that one song, I wasn't entirely crazy about The '59 Sound, so I passed on the band's next effort, American Slang from 2010. However, I decided on a whim to give Handwritten, released two Tuesdays ago, a try, hoping that maybe I'd find at least one song on there which I might enjoy to the same extent as Here's Looking At You, Kid. I am sorry to report, I did not. But, the good news is that, as a whole, I like Handwritten much more than The '59 Sound.

The Gaslight Anthem is a four man punk rock band out of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Paraphrasing the famous line written by former US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart about porn, I am not totally certain how to define punk rock, but I know it when I hear it. Although there are a few derivations and subsets of punk rock, the main ingredients are short, loud songs, sung with passionate urgency and featuring simple, frenetic and incessant drum beats with basic guitar accompaniment, albeit not uncommonly manufactured via a distortion pedal. You usually will not hear keyboards, acoustic instruments, percussion other than drums, guitar solos, long fade-outs, or any heavy production tricks which other forms of rock might employ. (It is commonly believed that punk rock evolved as a protest to the direction which the classic rock music of the seventies was heading.) Punk rock is not my favorite genre. I find it to be ill-suited for many themes, although it does work particularly nicely for songs which address romance gone wrong. There are several of that ilk on Handwritten. Because punk rock is generally not melodic, it is difficult to pick out great musicianship. But, having said all that, punk rock certainly has its moments.

Some of the buzz surrounding the release of Handwritten is that the songs evidence the band moving from punk rock to more traditional rock.  I am in that camp; that is my take as well. The eleven songs on the core album - - more on that below - - run the gamut from punk rock to traditional. It is almost as if Handwritten is comprised of two EPs, one for each style. I would place three of the songs in the punk rock category, with the best of that small bunch being the album opener, "45." The singer laments that the girl to whom he's singing is giving him the brush-off, while his friends are urging him to cut the cord. Using a 45 rpm record as a metaphor for the failing relationship, they recommend that he "turn the record over" and tell her that he'll see her "on the flip side." They urge him to "let somebody else lay at her feet." Another punk song worthy of praise, although to a lesser extent, is the title track, Handwritten. Once again we have the singer ready to throw up his hands at his inability to connect with his love interest. "I've been holding my breath," he sings, but he and his woman have "waited for sirens that never come." A fourth song (Desire) seems a hybrid, bridging the transition from punk to rock.

Among the seven more traditional rock songs, Here Comes My Man, Mulholland Drive and Mae are the cornerstones. On Mae lead singer Brian Fallon evokes fellow New Jersy native Bruce Springsteen's deep semi-grovely voice, with a touch of pain a la Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. Is it merely a coincidence that Handwritten was produced by Brendan O'Brien, who made his mark as a producer for Springsteen and Pearl Jam recordings? Mulholland Drive, my favorite track on the album, combines thought provoking lyrics and a solid rock arrangement. The singer is talking to a former love, wondering if she shares the same memories of their past, memories which haunt him. After repeated listenings I'm still not positive of the meaning of Here Comes My Man. The song makes the most sense if it's viewed as the expressions of a girl to a guy. This concept is complicated by the fact that the song is being sung by a guy, viz., Fallon. Whatever the meaning, this complex song has a great beat.

The core album closes with a beautiful folk ballad called National Anthem. As is the case with several tracks on this album, the singer is addressing a former girl friend. He tells her that he'll never forget her, but that "the place where you were in my heart is now closed."

I mentioned above that the first eleven songs constitute the core album. The Electric Fetus offered the core album for sale, but alternatively offered a deluxe edition containing three additional songs for an extra two bucks, a deal I could not refuse. My theory was, what if the best song on the CD is one of the bonus tracks? That theory did not exactly hold up here, but there is a dynamite cover of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' You Got Lucky as the grand finale.