The Gaslight Anthem Band • Page 26

You know what, I'm not gonna say shit cause that's not that out there, actually haha.

Have Mercy and Blue Dahlia are certainly up there.

 

1000 Years, Undernearh the Ground, and Dark Places are all top tier Fallon songs. I also personally love Stray Paper, Helter Skeleton, and Rollin' and Tumblin'. That's enough for me to rank Get Hurt pretty highly.

 

The only song from Get Hurt that I would personally rank up there with Brian Fallon's absolute greatest songs would be "Have Mercy". That's not so much a knock on Get Hurt or it's songs though, because it is actually an extremely well-written and cohesive album both lyrically and sonically, it's more a testament to how good of a songwriter Brian is and how many other amazing songs the guy has written. He went for something darker and a bit different and completely pulled it off, I just think he's better at writing songs that look back at things with a more nostalgic and slightly less angry view.

As far as Get Hurt having weak b-sides though, I can't abide that a all. I think it follows Brian Fallon's usual pattern of having one or two b-sides that should have been on the album proper no question, in this case the aforementioned "Have Mercy" and "Sweet Morphine" - both are songs that are so damn good a spot in the track listing needed to be found for them. "Halloween" is also an incredible song but the version they recorded for Get Hurt has always sounded off to me and hurts the song big time.

 

Have Mercy and Rollin' and Tumblin' are right up there in my top 8 songs, a list that reads:

59' Sound
Blue Dahlia
Say I Won't
Handwritten
Rollin' and Tumblin'
Meet Me By The Rivers Edge
The Backseat
Here's Lookin' At You Kid
Have Mercy

 

1. The '59 Sound
2. Handwritten
3. Elsie
4. Sink or Swim
5. American Slang
6. Painkillers
7. Get Hurt

 

Only song on Get Hurt I never really go back to is Stay Vicious. The rest of the LP is solid gold.

 

Probably two Get Hurt songs I would put in his top 10. Also a fair few I would put below anything on The 59 Sound or American Slang, though.

 

Best song... I honestly don't know.
Worst song... Stray Paper.
Most underrated... Too Much Blood

 

I would love for a Butch Walker produced Gaslight album. I love the production on Stay Gold and Painkillers and would love to hear what he could do with the "heavier" sound of Gaslight.

 

I think I would actually say that Too Much Blood is my least favourite. Although I do think its placement after Keepsake bogs the LP down in that section and is probably why it is rated poorly by me.

 

I really hate how those two songs are back to back in the dead middle of the album. Too Much Blood is also like a minute too long.

 

Stray Paper is one of the best songs on Get Hurt. It's like hating Spirit of Jazz or Mulholland Drive or Great Expectations. It captures the album so well that if it wasn't called Get Hurt, it should be called Stray Paper. At worst it sounds like every other song on the album.

 

Man, I really hope Butch Walker doesn't produce a Gaslight record.

 

Handwritten is pretty easily my least favorite Gaslight record. It has some of my favorite songs of theirs ever (title track, Howl, Biloxi, Mae, Mulholland) but also has the only Gaslight songs in the catalog that I'm more likely to skip than listen to (Too Much Blood, Desire). I LOVE that record, probably have it at an 8/10, but it's the record I am least likely to listen to front-to-back without interruption.

 

Stray Paper is their worst song. I dislike everything about it. Too Much Blood gets the honorable mention, along with a few of the Get Hurt b-sides.

 

Off with your head.

 

Angry Johnny
Red in the Morning
Keepsake
Too Much Blood
Desire
Red Violins
Ain't That a Shame
Mojo Hand
Ladykiller

Those are his worst songs. He doesn't have enough to do a bottom ten and, all things being subjective, genuinely cannot fathom how Stray Paper is a bad song, certainly not when compared to those nine tracks or hell, even most of the album. It's not even close to his worst. At worst you can say it's just like everything else but in that regard I don't see what could make you hate that track and love the others that sound like it.

 

Here to defend Stray Paper.

 

I just can't defend "Mama's Boys" and "Sweet Morphine." Sorry.

 

Mama's Boys I could maybe... maybe forgive. But Sweet Morphine is a goddamn treasure. That chorus soars and soars and soars.

 

Yeah, Sweet Morphine is good.

 

You will one day answer for your sins.

 

If you don't like everything after and including "And on and on and on and on and on..." in Angry Johnny then I just don't know

 

I have to agree that "Stray Paper" is one of their worst songs, if not their worst. There aren't many Gaslight songs that I don't like but that is definitely one of them. "Sweet Morphine" on the other hand is one of the best songs "on" Get Hurt and is definitely a top tier Gaslight song.

 

I just don't get it haha. Have I listened too much? Not enough?