Brian Fallon Talks About Critical Reaction to ‘Get Hurt’

I was craving some 'Get Hurt' the other day and played the album all the way through in one sitting...glad I did, cause it created a newfound love for the record that I didn't have upon release...Couple weird songs, but overall great album IMO.

 

I generally think saying "critics didn't get the record" is a little arrogant. But there's never a need for personal attacks like he's saying he got.

 

I enjoyed that album

 

ian was vicious with that one. i don't care for the album that much, unfortunately. his last line is so killer though:

And it’s still so completely sincere that every time you laugh at Fallon, you also feel some kind of pity, so the only thing they truly nailed on Get Hurt was the album cover: an inverted heart that just ends up looking like a cartoon ass.

 

but i guess an extremely personal one like this, that is ostensibly only about a divorce, which is one of the most personal things there is, will end up with personal reviews. It's not wrong to review the material.

Ian Cohen did skip a bit over that and review the man, basically coming to the conclusion that: of course someone this shallow and cartoon-ish got a divorce, and, of course this is how he chose to "let it out." On that, he doesn't know Brian Fallon, which I think is fair for Fallon to take offense with. There's no way he can know why Fallon got a divorce, or where to place blame.

 

The Pitchfork review of this album was a pile of snark topped with bullshit. Might be Cohen's worst work. I think most artists would be hurt/offended by that kind of review.

 

I can't say this is their best record. But I can, and will, say it is my favorite. It connected with me like nothing else the band did (though it's in a congenial tie with his solo album which is actually playing right now as I avoid contracts law with a bare-knuckled intensity). Get Hurt hit me at the right time. It soundtracked that summer (which says a lot for the quality of that summer). Glad BF is able to shake it off and go on to release that big-balled beast we know as Painkillers, but I can't imagine dropping a record this personal and watching it get lambasted. Dude's a better man than I, though that comes as no surprise.

 

This album was really good. My second favorite gaslight, probably. I only read Craig's and Ian's reviews - since Ian's is clearly the one he's talking about, he's right, it was a pretty shitty review

 

yeah i like ian as a writer but his review of this album was really just unnecessarily vicious for no reason.

 

Would you say that he..."stayed vicious"?

I'll see myself out.

 

ya know i restrained myself from making that joke and now youve ruined everything

 

Ian is a good writer but I always thought his Get Hurt review was really terrible writing on all levels.

That said, Get Hurt's best song is a bonus track (Have Mercy), and generally I found it kind of weak.

 

I tend to do that.

 

Get Hurt is probably my second least favorite Brian Fallon album, but it still has some of his best songs. "1,000 Years," "Get Hurt," and "Dark Places" are all particularly great.

 

I really liked Get Hurt, probably more than Handwritten. Don't understand this conception that it isn't a good album or significantly different.

 

I love Get Hurt, even if it's probably my least favorite Fallon penned work (it depends on the day and the mood between it and Sink or Swim).

Artists are allowed to be human. I'd be pissed at the personal attacks too.

 

I love Get Hurt. Such a great record. Listened to it the other day all the way through and it is just amazing. Gaslight and Brian never do put a foot wrong.

His new solo album is really good. Only one song which I skip over is Mojo Hand. It is a very experimental and different track to what I was expecting but I appreciate it for what it is. Love what he says about Trump in the article. Would love to see a political Fallon song.

 

There were a couple solid tracks on Get Hurt. Rollin' And Tumblin' and Stray Paper are great tracks. But to me the album as a whole did not have the replay value of the previous 3 albums.

What bummed me out the most was when I went to see Gaslight when they were touring for Get Hurt, and the whole vibe was completely off. It was abundantly clear that the audience was there to see them play their older stuff, and when they played mostly new stuff, the energy just wasn't there. It was a huge change compared to when I saw them touring for 59 Sound. Not sure if this was the case on their entire tour or just my stop (Fox Theater in Oakland) but after they announced their hiatus, it kind of made sense.

That being said, Brian's newer solo album is much better than Get Hurt in my opinion.

 

Album was my favorite from The Gaslight Anthem. It was so beautifully dark to me. The right kind of dark.

 

Here's the thing - if I'm on a run, I don't want Get Hurt; I want one of their first 4. If in in bed or driving at night, I want Get Hurt. It just depends on what I'm doing.

 

I think it's totally fair for Brian to say a critic doesn't get it, especially if they don't. It's his art, he would know best.

I think Get Hurt is great. I've always felt like Painkillers was a continuation of that album (thematically, of course.) Painkillers and Georgia have taken up my year for the most part when it comes to Fallon, but if it's not one of those, it's Get Hurt or American Slang that I go back to the most.

 

Get Hurt is my second favorite Gaslight ANthem album and one of three I actually enjoy

 

It took me about a year to get into Get Hurt and while it is still my least favourite work from Brian Fallon, id still say its a good recrod and it was nice to see him branch out a bit. In some ways i think it was the album TGA had to release or risk becoming a paraody of themselves if they tried another Handwritten or American Slang.

I find i always have to take Pitchfork with a pinch of salt. I used to really rally against them but they are probably my second favourite source for new music after this site. Pitchfork will always be unashamedly too cool for school which is precisely why it can simultaneously introduce you to the best new bands as well as sometimes inducing nausea with a portion of its writing. Maybe age has sobered me to the point where i accept what it is and take the bits i like about it with the bits i dont.

 

I have said this before round here but I'll say it again - it really is such a shame this record got the level of criticism it did. On a personal level I believe it to be right up there with their best work. I have the ITunes Deluxe version on my phone which is 16 tracks (including 'Have Mercy' which I consider to be a top 3 GA song) and I can listen through those 16 tracks from start to finish without skipping anything which is no small feat these days for a record that long. This record hit at the perfect time for me too which helps.

As someone mentioned above it really wasn't that significantly different from their previous work. I suppose the positive part of the criticism is that it indicated that it was the right time for them to take a break and as Brian said made him stronger.