New Jersey Angel
By TIM DAVID HARVEY
By gaslight, I'm not trying to play New Jersey's devil's advocate. I love this f#####g city, like talking from across the way in Neew YAARK! The city I used to take an Amtrak train from to East Rutherford, just to watch the New Jersey Nets play. Back in my 20s, before Brooklyn and with more affordable air-fare, You just had to see Jason Kidd throw it up there to Vince Carter. Would have been there for the K-Mart days, too. I love Jersey, boy! Like I was Bruce, 'Born To Run' there. Besides, it's the home of Springsteen and the American dream, Jon Bon Jovi, and of course, The Gaslight Anthem.
Following the band's decade in the making, heartland reunion back in 2023 for the 'History Books', frontman Brian Fallon switches 'The '59 Sound' for an 80s one that the 'Sob Rock' of John Mayer, coming out of COVID, would be proud of. It's all Springsteen synths with a human touch and songs with the man that "went back-to-back" with The Boss, Brandon Flowers (who just released his own solo set, 'Thrasher' a few weeks back). All as the other NYC area adjacent Fallon tells us he's 'Not Bad For New Jersey' on his first individual album in four years. Featuring the self-titled single, 'Better Before', 'Love At The End Of The World' (featuring Flowers), 'On Good Terms' with Lori McKenna, 'Somewhere You Shouldn't Be' alongside Phil Collen, a 'Wolf By The River' and Mark Ribot, and the movie-making 'The Big Sleep', with Donovan Woods playing his part.
New romantics classic, all the way down to the 80s vibe pink neon cover like a summer sunset in Tokyo, this is Brian back to being Fallon, following his beautiful hymn sheet of a 'Night Divine'. His first traditional solo album of type since the 'Local Honey' of 2020. Not to mention his sixth set in total, ever since the band eponymous debut a decade ago. It's something to celebrate now The Horrible Crowes singer has matched his Gaslight output, album for album. Dropping 'Pearls' of wisdom on a Butch Walker produced song that sings, "Where the streets come alive/On the Lower East Side/And you're just like the city/You're just like a ghost/I still want you to have all the pretty things/Even if we're not close." 'Nobody Likes You In NYC' teases the same across bridges and boardwalks like, "Nobody likes you in New York City/They were sad, they were sad, they were sad/They got no use for no Animal boys/They were sad, they were sad, they wеre sad/Nobody likes you, but I love you/I wish I didn't, but I do."
'Fading On Me' riffs on a live 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out' for the real King of New Jersey, but the prince is close in off-purple. Yet it's deep in the Meadowlands were we find him 'Walkin' Through The Garden'. "Now, I searched along the rivers, and I searched among the stars/Looked out in California in the neighborhood bars/I kept my lantern burning so she would come back to me/But I think I saw the devil in her passenger seat." All for what might just be the best and most him album yet, pulling up his collar in a signature style and struck pose. A bruised and brooding Brian knows how to bring that heartland yearn across the shores, from the city all the way to the promised land. If Springsteen is the blue, bootcut jeans, Fallon is the leather jacket that goes over them. Not bad...and that's no gaslighting.
Playlist Picks: 'Pearls', 'Nobody Likes You In NYC', 'Love At The End Of The World (Feat. Brandon Flowers)'.
Spin This: John Mayer - 'Sob Rock'
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