-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
Everyone loves the new Hold Steady record "Stay Positive," and now so do I. Hooray for conformity.Edit: But seriously. What is with that dude's voice? He sings like Randy Newman with a head cold.
More >
The Hold Steady
Stay Positive
-
AMG Review of Stay Positive
Thom Jurek
All Music GuideIf the Hold Steady quit after 2006's magnificent Boys and Girls in America, no one could have blamed them. After all, they had recorded three brilliant records. In 2004, THS issued the guttersnipe punk meets classic rock Almost Killed Me -- recorded mostly live since the band had little wherewithal in using a studio. They upped the ante with Separation Sunday, where songwriter Craig Finn's post-Catholic guilt and confusion led to lyric lines that were pregnant with self-mythologizing. The melodies were more intricate, the guitars referenced Led Zeppelin and Cheap Trick, and the stories about himself with busted heroines and drunken heroes -- all fallen former Catholic angels -- were as memorable as the Beat Generation icons rock & roll immortalized. Finally, 2007's Boys and Girls in America added new studio savvy -- along with the same crazy energy and chanted refrains that referenced more than just rock & roll clichés (they hinted at the confused self-mirroring universe Finn was trying to figure out) -- and an expanded band sound (with keyboards no less) drawing from Thin Lizzy's dual lead guitars, the Replacements, Led Zeppelin, and, of course, Bruce Springsteen of the '70s. Over three records, they'd done almost everything. To boot, they had a smoking live show that captured everything they did on record even better.
Released in 2008, Stay Positive is the most sophisticated and erudite THS have ever sounded, and that's a mixed blessing. Where every song on previous sets felt unfinished and open-ended, these tracks are sheen-polished and almost slick. They reveal growth and studio expertise but also a kind of laziness. These 12 songs are full of near-cinematic rock dynamism and expertly rendered sonic effects. The Led Zep insider jokes are abundant in both lyrics and music, and the E Street Band's Darkness on the Edge of Town epic rock is channeled to alternately stunning and irritating degrees. The random reckless energy of the earlier album trilogy has been replaced -- mostly -- by tucked corners and smoothed edges. For instance, the harpsichord on "One for the Cutters" is dreadful; it dulls the impact of Finn's searing words that reference characters from his previous songs. One wonders if this is attempted irony, blunted personal pain, or both. Production aside, Finn's words and melodies have grown in depth without losing their immediacy. On album opener "Constructive Summer," the huge guitars of Stiff Little Fingers circa Nobody's Heroes meet the young wistful Van Morrison of "Brown Eyed Girl." But there's a twist: the protagonist is an American adult male trapped in adolescence, living in nowheresville; he seeks something worth remembering from all the blackouts and wasted life -- the romance of myth is displaced by false promises dictated by fear and self-deceit. He raises a toast to "...Saint Joe Strummer/I think he might have been the only decent teacher/Getting older makes it harder to remember/We are our only saviors/We're gonna build something this summer." The chorus offers a confusing, jokey chanted chorus (ŕ la the Adolescents) that adds dimensionally to the loss here. "Navy Sheets" references four tracks on Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy: "Dy'er Maker," "The Ocean,""The Crunge," and the song itself from Physical Graffiti. But the piano in the wonderful "Sequestered in Memphis" -- channeling the E Street Band pianist Roy Bittan -- is very effective; it introduces the tune before a B-3 and a tenor saxophone move against the guitars to create an unholy union between story-song and mid-level punk anthem. But Finn and company save two of the best tunes for last in "Joke About Jamaica" and "Slapped Actress." Their drama, raw and incessant energy, and musical sophistication all come together in two songs that are less studied and calculated. There is an uneasy balance between "finished" big-time rock and the wily, playful freedom of "arena rock in my basement"; humor is maintained amid the darkness and Finn's self-referential mythology unwinds itself into even greater insight. Irony abounds, finally, in that even if it's the Hold Steady's least enjoyable recording, Stay Positive will break this band on the charts nationally.
Tonight in L.A.: The Hold Steady at the Avalon
-
Artist:
-
Album:
If you haven't heard one of the year's best albums yet and you're on the fence about seeing the band's sure-to-be-life-altering live show (tonight: Hold Steady vs. my ears, round 1), it's about time to fix that. ~~
More >
Album Review: The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
-
Artist:
-
Album:
I posted this one on Blogcritics, so I can post it hereIt's understandable why The Hold Steady wanted to release Stay Positive digitally well over a month before its official release date. The album is so overstuffed with summer jams, ballads of rejection, and meditations on Americana, that it has already succeeded in becoming the definitive summer album of 2008 well before it was even released...
More >
The Hold Steady: Stay Positive (Vagrant)
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
Dear Fellow Hold Steady Fan:Have you heard The Hold Steady's new album? Yeah? Yeah, it's pretty good. I mean, it's no Separation Sunday, that's for sure. But it still rocks—it's a good summer record. They've lightened up, don't you think? Yeah, I guess the Stay Positive album title implies that. It just seems like Craig Finn got it out of his system a few years ago and now he and his mates are .
More >
Photos: Public Enemy, Hold Steady, Spoon, Les Savy Fav Play A Muddy Pitchfork Music Festival
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
At the Pitchfork Music Festival the VIP pass is good for two things and two things only: FREE beer and Chipotle burritos. Sure you get to hobknob with the indie rock cool crowd and hi-5 the Ice Cream man, but nothing beats the taste of a nice wheat 312 or a filling burrito on a hot (rainy) summer day. So when some pals fell short we had to get crafty …really crafty. Thank God for the rain. Whi.
More >
Hold Steady Sketch From Late Show With Dave Letterman
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
My buddy who works at Letterman warned me about the Hold Steady's sketch on the late show a few days back. Yesterday when all the blogs made the rounds reporting on the Andy Kindler funny spot I scoured YouTube but to no avail. Only the actual performance was up. Sometime last evening the YouTube gods delivered. Here is the Hold Steady at their finest (I'm liking the new single "Sequestered in...
More >
MOG Exclusive Video Interview - The Hold Steady
-
Artist:
-
Album:
These video interviews are killer! Enjoy....on meeting heroes:http://mog.com/mogtv/hold_steady1on stay positive, their new album:http://mog.com/mogtv/hold_steady2on their favorite musichttp://mog.com/mogtv/hold_steady3on rock and religionhttp://mog.com/mogtv/hold_steady4
More >
The Sing Along Songs Will Be Our Scriptures
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
It's been like...what, 10 days since my last Hold Stready post...way too long, I concur.This one is not only the title track off of their latest record(available now on Itunes - the hard copy drops in July) but it serves as a sort of 'state of the band' address and a big lover letter to their fans.The song revisits several lyrics and song title from older HS songs. As a huge fan, it's hard not ...
More >
Both Crosses
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
Ok...so I was talked into doing a brief write up on all of the Hold Steady tracks...not that my arm needed MUCH twisting.'Both Crosses' is probably the most brooding song that Hold Steady have ever written. Musically, it sounds like something off an Afhgan Whigs album, but the lyrics are pure Craig Finn.Faith and doubting ones' faith are recurring themes in Hold Steady songs, and this tune is t...
More >
New! Stream The Hold Steady's "Sequestered In Memphis"
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
The new album, Stay Positive, is out July 15 but you can download from iTunes right now. The album is pretty great from start to finish, I'm listening to it over and over again, it's one of those. Here's the first single, which is a cool one.
More >
Sequestered In Memphis
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
This is the first single off of the forthcoming Hold Steady LP, 'Stay Positive'...featuring Ben Nichols from Lucero on backing vocals.Could there be a Lucero/Hold Steady tour far behind?? Let's hope so...i will start prepping my liver now!
More >
One for the kids(and teachers)
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
One last post for May.I thought this the perfect song to officially ROCK in summer.May you all have constructive summers...and all become something bigger!I am now off to drink many drinks and watch a friend's really bad cover band...if you heard them, you would understand the need for heaving drinking.
More >
The Hold Steady: Stay Positive (Vagrant)
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
Dear Fellow Hold Steady Fan:Have you heard The Hold Steady's new album? Yeah? Yeah, it's pretty good. I mean, it's no Separation Sunday, that's for sure. But it still rocks—it's a good summer record. They've lightened up, don't you think? Yeah, I guess the Stay Positive album title implies that. It just seems like Craig Finn got it out of his system a few years ago and now he and his mates are .
More >
More songs about the 'Unified Scene'
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
Getting to hear a new Hold Steady for the first time is like seeing a REALLY good sequel to one of your favorite movies. You know you will see the usual suspects in all of their usual haunts...you just don't know EXACTLY what they are going to say or do...but you will love it anyway.I just listened to 'Stay Positive' one time through...and man, I LOVE this movie!!
More >
A love letter
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
This is final new track I will post from the new Hold Steady record, 'Stay Positive'...I may have to break my own fingers in order to do so, but this is it.I would never think any less of anyone for not loving The Hold Steady as much as I do...not for a second. Craig Finn writes songs about middle class white kids who grew up in the suburbs of a Midwestern city. I was a middle class white kid g...
More >
The iTunes Conspiracy
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
OK. I am thoroughly convinced that iTunes (or the record companies) skew sales #'s of a band's most popular song(s) to reflect the single of the newest album. If you're scratching your head, let me explain. I am not a huge supporter of iTunes. Let me rephrase that - I'm not fanatical about the iTunes Store. The reviews of albums are frequently slanted in favor of the band. I mean, if you'...
More >
Wow! Get The Hold Steady's "Stay Positive" for $1.99!
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
Hey this is cool. Right now they're selling the download of the new Hold Steady album, Stay Positive, for $1.99 at Amazon. It's a great album. The only downside is that there is a special edition CD out that includes three bonus tracks that you can only get by buying that version of the CD.Still, if you're not obsessed with the group, this download deal is a good one.Just search in the MP3 sect...
More >
New! Video Interview with The Hold Steady's Craig Finn
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
Mog interviewed The Hold Steady's Craig Finn recently and he had plenty to say about some of his favorite artists of all time, meeting Bruce Springsteen and The Clash's Joe Strummer, bands he's into right now, the first concert he attended, the group's latest album, Stay Positive, and lots more. Check out these clips: Meeting Springsteen and Strummer:http://mog.com/mogtv/hold_steady1 Stay Posit...
More >
 "Stay Positive")
