First Night: The Hold Steady, A Positive Rage

(Note: This is a heavily edited version of a review that I wrote that is now up at Prefix Magazine. Apparently, I talk way too much about The Steady once I get going, as it was cut from about a thousand words to just over four hundred. And SO IT GOES.)

Some bands cannot be fully appreciated unless you see them live. The Hold Steady are not one of those bands. No, the odd thing about The Hold Steady is that you really need to hear them on disc, in a controlled, confined arena, in order to understand what the hell Craig Finn is on about in a live setting. Once you are able to do that, there aren’t many rock bands that can evoke the feelings of unity and joy that The Hold Steady can on stage.

*****Read the "full" review here.

The Hold Steady, Stay Positive (Addendum)

The inevitable leak of The Hold Steady's fourth LP Stay Positive seemed to really get to them. However, instead of getting mad, it's almost like they've decided to reward everyone. First, there was the decision to move the iTunes release of Stay Positive up an entire month. Now, with the wait over, and the actual physical release of the CD here, the group (along with the folks at Vagrant) have decided to add 3 bonus tracks to the first 50k Cds sold. Way to punish us, dudes.

So, if you go out and pick up Stay Positive today, you will find the curious adding of a twelfth track. That twelfth track contains 3 songs from the Stay Positive sessions that didn't quite make the cut for the album. They are "Ask Her For Adderall," "Cheyenne Sunrise," and "Two Handed Handshake."

I've heard "Ask Her For Adderall" live, but, needless to say, it is a much different experience recorded. It has a similar feel to album opener "Constructive Summer," but the similarities are mostly in tempo. "Constructive Summer" relates a post-punk/Husker Du feel, where as "Ask Her For Adderall" is more in the vein of a sped up Springsteen throw-away track. It's quite typical lyrically--we even get the return of Holly, Charlemagne, and Gideon--if not a bit darker than they are used to. But it is all momentum, and ends as quickly as it starts, which weirdly works in its favor.

"Cheyenne Sunrise" is more of a barroom ballad affair. I can see why it didn't make the album, though. Superficially it's just a bit too similar to "Lord, I'm Discouraged." However, thematically, it actually almost works as the much darker, male counterpart to "Joke About Jamaica."

"Two Handed Handshake" is, without a doubt, the best of the lot here. If "Slapped Actress" wasn't already the best song that The Hold Steady have ever done, I would say that this would be a perfect track to close Stay Positive. "Two Handed Handshake" is a damn near epic plea to all of us boys and girls in America to "try a little harder," to "be a little better," and to fucking "pull it back together." Damned if you don't want to do all of those things after listening.

No Culture Icons: The Hold Steady "Stay Positive"

In Opening Night, Gena Rowlands plays a Broadway actress who witnesses the accidental death of an adoring young fan as she tries to snag an autograph from the star. This experience both traumatizes and enlightens Rowlands's character to the point where she questions the very nature of what she does for a living. Her lack of actual responsibility for the death is slightly outweighed by her guilt for indirectly creating the situation that led to it; her fame brought the fan there, after all, and caused her to look "upwards with wonder" from the start. When Craig Finn of the Hold Steady sings, "Some nights it's just entertainment/And some other nights it's work," on the song "Slapped Actress," which references the John Cassavetes film, he's talking about the moments in which the fantastic escapism of the entertainment world meets harsh reality.

*****Read the full article here

The Happening

So, listen: I really am not ALL ABOUT Myspace. I notice that every post has a link to Myspace. But, really, it's just an easy way to link to tracks. NOTHING MORE. Okay? Okay

SO...I'm gonna do it again.

But it's SUPER IMPORTANT.

The Hold Steady--perhaps prompted by the inevitable and actual leak of their forthcoming fourth LP Stay Positive--have went ahead and ok'd an "exclusive" album preview on their Myspace page. The whole album is there RIGHT NOW. But who knows for how long. So stop messing around with me and head over to their profile page.

Stay Positive, bitches.

Prepare for glory!

It is highly doubtful that anyone reading this who happens to be a fan of The Hold Steady hasn't seen this yet--but I am CATCHING UP with all the blogging. So here is the cover of the new album from The Hold Steady entitled Stay Positive due out July 15th on Vagrant Records:



You can hear their first official single from the album "Sequestered in Memphis" on the band's Myspace. It is filled with their signature sounds and lines, but also has a distinct identity which makes me quite hopeful for the LP.

I WILL note that the album HAS leaked, but...you can look elsewhere for things of that nature. It's not hard to find if you so wish.