Painkillers was awesome. I got over Sleepwalkers very quickly but revisited it last week and it was far better than I remembered. I've never listened to the Horrible Crows album - is this a big mistake by me?
absolutely. i recommend waiting until you get dumped on a chilly November evening and are a little wine drunk to listen to it, but listening to it at all is the priority here
I sometimes think of his catalog in terms of their Bruce counterparts, but I also feel like it's kind of TGA=Bruce, solo=Petty, Crowes=Waits. Now I think we need his Brian Wilson.
Some of the songs on Horrible Crowe’s Elsie is top notch Brian. Just different enough from other projects.
There was a period where I felt like Elsie was the best thing Brian Fallon had ever done. I don't necessarily think that now, but I still do put it way up there in regards to his output - which, granted, very much becomes a cream of the cream type situation with Brian Fallon - but I feel like anyone who considers themself a fan of him and his music is doing themselves a huge disservice by not listening to it.
I'm excited to hear what comes next. Agree with most of the comments above - ridiculously good run over the last 12 years, just remarkably consistent, every album is great. I don't really care what he does next. I have faith it will be terrific. The Jeff Lynne comment was inspired, by the way. That would be cool. While I get the Bruce comments, I've always thought Brian's songwriting had just as much in common with Petty as it does Bruce. Out of curiosity, are the Bruce comments he gets more based on the music, the lyrics, or the delivery/voice? I hear it more in the lyrics/voice than I do in the music - the Gaslight stuff especially, the music doesn't sound much like Bruce at all to me. Certainly something like Open All Night is more Bruce-y.
It’s entirely possible Elsie is my favorite album of all time. Not just Fallon; period. It feels like a person who likes Brian Fallon should carve out the time to listen to Elsie, is what I’m trying to say.
Regional and personal connections after the fact are why people have so heavily linked him and Bruce. Brian obviously has a lot of influencers. I remember reading from some interview that before each album they practiced a Tom Petty song together as a band. I think this was around the time of Handwritten. They recorded a cover of You Got Lucky which is awesome and I’ve seen videos of them performing American Girl live on YouTube
It was a bold move to do that record at that time in my mind. Gaslight was going strong. It was Brian, just in a different light for most fans. It created a new opportunity for Ian, which can sometimes create tensions in a band. Also think it was great for Side One to put this out and support their artists creativity. Also, showed off a different sound for Ted/Brian and now Ian.
And also impressive when you look at the timeline: June 2010 - American Slang September 2011 - Elsie July 2012 - Handwritten Three very different GREAT albums pumped out in consecutive years. I am in “Handwritten is right there with 59’ Sound” club. So that being the third output is even more remarkable.
For some reason, I don't think I even listened to this last year. Is it good? I really liked Painkillers.