Maybe I'm being extremely thick, but what does he mean when he says "Now Etta James, hit that symphony...cuz she drips through my blood like a remedy"?
It's "drifts through my blood like a remedy"....In one interview he said that the Etta James reference was basically him calling on Etta James to express what he's going through, because only her voice can do the feeling justice. So I take that line as him saying he feels the "soul" of Etta James as he's singing about his own hardships.
"Etta James" is soul crushingly, heart explodingly beautiful. Just when you think Brian Fallon can't top his previous material, he kills it once again. Should never underestimate this man.
Damn. Early thoughts; this could be Fallon's best effort yet (incl. Gaslight)! Going to be spinning this alot over the weekend and i can't wait.
It’s put perfectly in the track list to slow the album down for a moment, only to kick it back into high gear. Plus it feels like a Side A closer. Great song. It always feels like people need to complain about one track on a Brian related project and rave about b sides.
First of all, holy shit this album. Second, all y'all can argue all day about song rankings, but in my book, Brian Fallon has never written a bad song. And to anyone who thinks he has or wants to cut songs from albums, how dare you? Third, I'm definitely a strange Gaslight/Fallon fan, because I never gave them even a cursory listen until 'Handwritten,' when I read one of the best reviews for any album ever over at AP and decided I needed to check it out. After my first listen of that, I immediately said, 'this is my new favorite band,' and bought it, AS and '59. I consumed/processed all three of those albums together, and they never had any chance to really become anything special to me individually, so the '59 Sound never became 'the definitive' Gaslight album for me - I fell in love with them all at once. Anyway... thanks to Jason and whoever wrote that review, because no one has been better than Fallon/Gaslight since. So anyway, my ranking is weird but I have FOMO about not putting it here: Painkillers Elsie Handwritten American Slang '59 Sound Get Hurt Sink or Swim SOS would legitimately be the peak of most bands' discographies. Sweet Jesus do I love this man's songwriting - I don't think anyone's better. There are a couple who might - *might* - be as good in my mind (Adkins, Baker), but he's at the top of the heap. This was long. Brian Fallon threads deserve it.
Agree with all of this post for me too. My rankings always change depending on mood. I used to long for the punk vibes of SOS again. My current rankings (based on how regularly i return) would probably be Amercan slang Handwritten Elsie Get hurt Painkillers 59 sound Sink or swim To some it may be sacrilege to have 59 sound that low down but i think that is more of a testament to how good Brian Fallon is. For me hes never written a bad album. Get hurt really grew on me as time went by. I barely paid attention to it when it dropped. For me its like my Folie A Deux (based on how higly that record it now regarded on here in retrospect) On another day these rankings can be completely different.
Okay, this turned out to be way better than I even expected. I was lukewarm on Forget Me Not when he released it last year, and hadn't heard the other singles he released from the album, but god damn he did it again.
Had high expectations for this. After the first listen I feel kind of "meh." It seems like every verse vocal melody is recycled from previous songs of his and it's bothering me quite a bit. I'll give it more time. Painkillers grew a lot on me over a few months or so when it released.
That's one of my few gripes with this. There were a few times during my first listen when I was able to predict exactly where he was going with the song. Other than that, I like it quite a bit more than Painkillers. Besides a few songs, there's nothing on PKs that keeps me wanting to come back to it. Feels kind of half-assed imo.
I still haven't heard this and I'm itching to but I think it'll have to wait for the journey home as I doubt it'll be appropriate to put on in my office (which consists this afternoon of only me, a metalhead, a 30 year old mum who likes pop, and a dude who only likes obscure indie and accuses anything more normal of being like watching paint dry).
OK, one listen in. My thoughts: 1) YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!! 2) Vastly prefer the back half of the album on first listen. Much like Get Hurt in that way (for me) - the back half really cooks 3) Way to early to name favorite songs but Color Me Black and especially NEPTUNE stood out 4) I think people are really sleeping on See You On The Other Side. Perfect closer and I can totally see him coming back out solo with an acoustic guitar after a big rock number closes the show to finish us off with this one.........with the fans doing the hand claps. Great way to end an album or show. 5) Favorite initial lyric: And I don’t mind, the empty hours, I’m learning to sit with my demons Been itching to write up this book again, but it’s so hard explaining the fevers I’m workin’ to live with the livin’, ma, cause I spent too many years running And I just want to find somebody designed with the same old electricity humming 6) Lots of organs and keys on this thing, love the addition. Totally sounds like a Brian Fallon album should sound. 7) YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!
Just finished my first listen, and for as long as some of the songs are, it went by pretty quick. That stretch between Come Wander With Me and Sleepwalkers is gold. It's kind of a mash-up of American Slang, Elsie and Painkillers, with the addition of horns and a New Orleans swagger. Also, Ted Hutt produced the shit out of this album, and everything flows together so well. I need some more time with it to see where it officially ranks in his catalogue for me, but I'm definitely putting it above Painkillers right now, and I loved that album.