Bad Copy

Brian Fallon’s newest album… Well, it might not be bad for New Jersey but it is kind of bad for you. Don’t listen to this album if you already have suicidal thoughts. That’s a tip from your uncle Steve. I’m here to help you, folks. Just don’t do it. I’ve done the work for you; just trust me.

I have heard all of Brian Fallon’s solo material, all of his Gaslight Anthem material, and some of his stuff with The Horrible Crowes. It is all good and he is one hell of a songwriter but I have to say that this is probably the most personal, self reflecting, and goddamn depressing batch of material that he has written. It’s easily his best work to date.

The timing on the release of this album is… it is something else. Serendipitous? Coincidental? Whatever the case, this album is absolutely not convenient for my current mental stability at all.

I listened to this album all the way through once and then about half of it again. That’s when I had to leave the house and go for a drive. However, I started listening to it from the beginning once I started driving. Legitimately, I was sobbing uncontrollably while listening to this album in the car, sobbing like a damn child. I have to admit that this album sent me into a spiral this morning. I am, if you don’t already know this, mentally unstable. I have major depressive disorder and I have been terribly emotional over the events of the past two years. Some of those events include lost loves so… yeah, anyway…

This is Brian’s fourth solo album, following up his 2021 album Night Divine, Not Bad for New Jersey is easily is best solo outing. It is a collection of songs about love, loss, depression, mental health, drug dependency… just fucking life.

The album opens with the title track. It is essentially a love letter celebrating his hometown and, quite frankly, the only song on the album that doesn’t make you want to slit your wrists. It is a rocking song and a great way to prepare you for the emotional ball punching fucking rollercoaster that you are about to experience.

It then moves on to one hell of an emotional, gut wrenching tune. One of many songs about failed relationships.

“Hello, hello, is there someone I could talk to? Hello, hello, I don’t want to be alone
I don’t want to say, but if I had to tell the truth. I was better before the night I met you
I was better before the night I met you.”

This one could very well be my favorite song from the album. Give me a call in about a week after I’ve listened to this album a couple more dozen times and I’ll let you know if my thoughts have changed.

A couple of songs later he hits us with “The Big Sleep,” a song about a guy with chronic insomnia. He can’t sleep because he can’t get his mind of his past relationship.

“Don’t get so lost about it. Just learn to let it bleed. I don’t even have the faith to doubt it. I keep dreaming ’bout the big sleep….”

Right after that, Brian bring us the song “On Good Terms.” This one features vocals by Lori McKenna. Lori is a folk/country singer-songwriter. Do you remember a song called “Girl Crush?” It was performed by the country band Little Big Town. She wrote that one. She has won Grammy Awards and has been nominated for others. But Jesus Brian! What a hell of a pick for a guest vocalist on this one! These two intertwine their vocals to create a seamless and haunting melody that just kicks your ass.

“Like you did, on the night, the night where I told you….
That even if I crawled to the ends of the earth, and if I held your heart in my hands as it burned. And even if I loved you, in deed and in word. Where you’re living now is none of my concern. We were never gonna end on good terms.”

“Love at the End of the World” is another song where Mr. Fallon enlists the talents of a guest vocalist. On this one he is joined by Brandon Flowers, the singer for The Killers. This one is about looking at life and remembering that we don’t live forever and to take nothing for granted.

“Somewhere You Shouldn’t Be” highlights another guest, not a singer on this one though. The guitar on this song is played by Def Leppard guitarist Phil Colleen and goddamn if he doesn’t rip on this fucking tune, a song about how obsessed a person can be about romantic attachments.

“Fading On Me” is another “love” song song about the erosion of a relationship.

“…but that’s such a long time, bad scenes play in my mind. While I dream of how you once held on to me……Stop fading, stop fading on me. Either cure me, or kill me, but don’t leave me here to bleed, baby….”

The album closes the door with the incredibly dark “Wolf by the River.” It is a… well, it IS a love song but it has an incredibly grim and tragic ending. It is about a woman that has betrayed her man and how he…um… takes care of this betrayal.

“After all, you knew how much I loved you. And he replied, with a smile, I am a wolf, after all, my darling. Shut your mouth, baby, don’t say a word. You are young and beautiful, and you are too good for this world. Shut your mouth, baby, I’m coming to set you free. With a thistle, and a whistle, and a grave I need to dig.”

Jesus Brian. This one is fucking bleak.

Brian – what the hell was going on with you mentally when you wrote this album? Are you okay? Are you all right? Do you need a hug? Do you need someone to talk to? Fuck, after listening to this album I needed someone to talk to and my therapist wasn’t available. This album is going to put me back into the mental hospital to try and get stable again. Fuck.

Lyrically speaking this is a perfect album. Just perfect. There isn’t a bad song on this album. There isn’t a song on it that makes you question your own mental health and question your life decisions. And when I say that they are perfect, obviously, they are deep with emotion and heavy on the oh god, I fucking feel this song in my soul but that is part of the magic of them. It’s like he wrote this with some of us that have experienced loss in our lives in mind.

Oh yeah, and there is the music too. It certainly deserves recognition and attention too. While the lyrics obviously grab your attention, the music delivers in a big way and is every bit as compelling. It is damn good. Sonically, it reminds me of somewhere between Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. There’s roots of Americana, twangs of nostalgic classic rock, mixed with blues and folk. It fucking kills. Once you get past all the wanting to put a bullet in your head over the lyrics, the music really does wonders for your psyche. The melodies are emotional and raw. The songwriting has a very distinct purpose and, together with the words, feels almost cinematic. This album is a full-on throttle from beginning to end that begs to be listened to.

Just don’t do it until you get a permission slip from your therapist.