The Brian Fallon and Gaslight Anthem albums you should definitely listen to

The Gaslight Anthem - The ’59 Sound (Sideonedummy, 2008)

In the opening minute of Great Expectations, track one on The Gaslight Anthem’s second album, Brian Fallon’s lyrics reference a diner, a car, a radio station, a girl called Mary, fading dreams and flight in search of a better life. Comparisons to Bruce Springsteen would later irk him, but come on, really, what did he expect?

To be fair, Fallon probably wasn’t anticipating the record to find the broad audience that it did, but it deserves to be heard far and wide. From that inviting opening to goosebumps-inducing closer The Backseat, The ’59 Sound is a damn-near flawless collection.

Brian Fallon - Painkillers (Island, 2016)

On July 29, 2015 The Gaslight Anthem announced that they were taking an indefinite hiatus. “With a band that’s all heart, if you’re not sure where your heart is at, you have a choice: you either stop it or ruin it,” Fallon explained.

Recorded in just 14 days, Painkillers is the sound of a revitalised man falling in love with music anew, and perhaps even falling in love with Brian Fallon anew, following the emotional battering that came with the break-up of his marriage. It’s an album good enough to make Gaslight Anthem fans fear that their beloved band might never, ever, ever be getting back together

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang (Sideonedummy, 2010)

Following up TGA’s breakthrough record was always going to be challenging for Fallon, and it’s to his credit that he showed little interest in revisiting familiar ground with American Slang. Songs such as The Diamond Church Street Choir and The Queen Of Lower Chelsea are the work of a band on the rise, shimmering with confidence.

In a nice touch that spoke of his gratitude to those who’d helped elevate his band, Fallon titled Stay Lucky in tribute to former Classic Rock writer Ian Winwood, who wrote TGA’s first magazine cover feature, for Kerrang!

The Horrible Crowes - Elsie (Sideonedummy, 2011)

Influenced heavily by the Afghan Whigs and Tom Waits, The Horrible Crowes found Fallon and his English guitar tech (who later became TGA’s touring guitarist) Ian Perkins diving deep into the darker, less pure aspects of desire, lust, love and obsession.

That Fallon decided to branch out with a side project when The Gaslight Anthem were gathering genuine momentum speaks of his confidence at the time, but in retrospect one wonders if it might have been wiser to save excellent songs such as Behold The Hurricane, Ladykiller and I Witnessed A Crime for his other band’s major-label debut.

Brian Fallon - Sleepwalkers (Island, 2018)

While his first solo album Painkillers was the sound of Brian Fallon dipping his toes back into the water, Sleepwalkers sounds like the work of a man determined to make a proper splash.

His second solo record is a more full-bodied work, and while it lacks the consistency of his solo debut, opener If Your Prayers Don’t Get To Heaven, with its Motown soul groove, is as good as anything he’s ever written, Etta James burns with world-weary wisdom and bitter regrets (‘I was lost and alone, a million light years from home, it was nobody's fault but mine’) and the jazzy, bluesy title track is Fallon at his most winning.

The Gaslight Anthem - History Books (Thirty Tigers, 2023)

The Gaslight Anthem’s comeback album needed to be good, and it was. The fire was back in Fallon’s belly, and it shows. This was not the time for left-field, experimental detours, and as such the only criticism that could really be levelled at History Books is that it plays things a little safe and straight.

Still with the presence of Bruce Springsteen on the excellent title track, fist-pumping singles Positive Charge and Little Fires, and Fallon clearly feeling comfortable in his own skin once again, it was good to have The Gaslight Anthem back.

The Gaslight Anthem - Sink Or Swim (XOXO, 2007)

Full respect to those who were on board from day one, but most Gaslight Anthem fans came to the band’s debut album after falling in love with The ’59 Sound, and regard it as something of a bonus reward for digging deeper.

There’s a charming naivety, innocence and energy to the record, exemplified by I’da Called You Woody, Joe, Fallon’s open-hearted fan-boy ‘thank you’ letter to The Clash (‘This was the sound of the very last gang in town’), and specifically Joe Strummer, for changing his life, but there’s craft and maturity in the songwriting too, with Wooderson perhaps the best signpost for what lay ahead.

The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten (Mercury, 2012)

The stakes were high for The Gaslight Anthem’s major-label debut, with words like ‘The New Saviours Of Rock’ being attached to their name by media who paid attention to the genre roughly once every five years. And when the group came roaring out of the blocks with irresistible leadoff single 45, it seemed briefly like predictions about TGA following Foo Fighters’ trajectory into stadiums might not be so far-fetched.

However, despite the album reaching No.3 on the Billboard 200, and No.2 in the UK, the increased expectations and pressure weighed heavily on Fallon, and sucked some of the joy from TGA’s achievements.

Brian Fallon - Local Honey (Lesser Known, 2020)

With the benefit of hindsight, one might interpret the slim-line form of Fallon’s third solo record, comprising just eight tracks, as an indicator that he was coming to a realisation that he didn’t have too much more to say. “When I finished Local Honey, I remember feeling like I had finished something that I was really trying to complete,” he told us later.

Local Honey might not be a record that will attract a host of new believers into the congregation, but as one of the most natural, warm and unself-conscious records Fallon has made in his career it possesses an easy charm all its own.

Brian Fallon - Night Divine (Lesser Known, 2021)

While Brian Fallon’s Christian faith is undoubtedly hugely important to him, making his fourth solo record a deeply personal one, even his most devoted followers would need the patience of a saint to sit through an album that has the singer-songwriter crooning his way through a selection of hymns and Christmas carols, Amazing Grace, Silent Night and Nearer, My God To Thee among them.

If your idea of a good time is hanging out at Salvation Army fêtes or school Nativity plays, then fill your boots with this album, with our blessing. But there’s a reason for the old saying that the devil has the best tunes.