 |
| Album
Review |
|
|
I first got into The Hold Steady in the summer of
2006 when they released their quirky single 'Chips
Ahoy!' the song was a classic, it was so catchy
and told such a random story, shortly after the
band then went on and released their third studio
album 'Boys And Girls In America', I rushed out
to get the album on the basis of just hearing and
loving 'Chips Ahoy!', When I first put the album
in my cd player I was quite shocked and dissapointed
with what I was listening to, the album was nothing
like what I was expecting, but after listening to
the album time and time again I was hooked and listened
to songs such as the bands hit singles 'Chips Ahoy!,
'Stuck Between Stations', and the more laid back
'Chillout Tent' over and over again.
It’s clear to see that The Hold Steady
are an extremely hard working band and it seems
like they release an album every year, they released
their debut album 'Almost Killed Me' in 2004,
the follow up to that 'Separations Sunday' was
released in 2005 and then they went on to release
'Boys And Girls In America' in 2006 and are now
back with their 4th studio album 'Stay Positive',
to be fair its been about a 20 month period between
the release of the last Hold Steady album and
their new album 'Stay Positive', but it makes
you wonder how the band managed to write, record
and release the album so quickly considering that
they have been touring their arses off ever since
'Boys And Girls In America' was released, if you
ask The Hold Steady this question they will give
you the simple and quite truthful answer that
they wrote the majority of the songs whilst they
were on the road touring, now that is some achievement
especially considering how well the songs have
turned out.
If you thought 'Boys And Girls in America' was
a good album then you will really be excited about
what The Hold Steady have to offer on 'Stay Positive',
it’s more or less the same style of music
that was featured on 'Boys And Girls In America'
but let’s be honest what’s the point
of changing a sound that suits your band so well,
the only difference this time around is that everything
sounds louder and more mature which clearly shows
that the more time goes on the better and more
positive The Hold Steady get.
Take the album opening track 'Constructive Summer'
for example, it is a song about trying harder
and is quite possible the best song that The Hold
Steady have ever created, it’s quite loud
and heavy sounding, well when I say heavy I don’t
mean like some kind of death metal music that’s
going to burst your ear drums, but what I mean
is that it’s quite heavy for The Hold Steady,
Craig Finn's vocals are loud and clear and his
lyrics are as fun and quirky as you would expect
as the man is a lyrical genius, during 'Constructive
Summer' Finn about his friends and drink with
quirky lyrics of "Me and my friends are like,
double whiskey coke now ice, we drink along in
double time, might drink too much but we feel
fine" the man does some name dropping with
lyrics of "Raise a toast to saint Joe Strummer"
and also "Me and my friends are like the
drums on "Lust For Life", which is a
pure Iggy Pop reference. It’s not quite
Finn's vocals that are great this time around,
the band have all come together for some very
pleasing backing vocals which sound at their strongest
during 'Constructive Summer'.
The whole of 'Stay Positive' is really listenable
but it’s the first couple of tracks that
happen to be the strongest, take a listen to 'Sequestered
In Memphis', and just try not to sing, hum or
tap your feet along to the song, it’s pretty
much impossible, you will start off tapping your
feet to the beat, next you will find yourself
humming along because your not quite sure of the
lyrics to start with and then as soon as the song
has finished you will find yourself skipping back
to listen to it again and again and again until
the lyrics are totally logged in your memory.
The song is really catchy and the chorus is so
huge and it quite possible has the biggest sing
along chorus of the album, the break downs are
really good and the addition of Horns is very
welcomed.
'One For The Cutters' sounds like something you
would hear from one of those bands that play down
your local pub on a Sunday night, the kind of
band that your dad and his friends go along to
see for a mellow night to have a couple of beers
and listen to a bit of soft rock, now this isn’t
a bad thing as The Hold Steady are a soft rock
band and they do have the feel and sound of a
band who you would find playing a short pub set,
but the good thing about The Hold Steady is that
they are at the top of their game they are a really
successful soft rock band and they haven’t
had to follow the latest trends, looks and sounds
to get there, instead they have stayed true to
themselves they still wear the same checkered
style shirts they wore when they first formed
and they still play the same music they were playing
when they formed back in 2003 and the only difference
between The Hold Steady and other pub rock bands
is the fact The Hold Steady are extremely talented
and have such a tight sound.
The crunching guitars on 'Navy Sheets' stands
out throughout the song and Finn pretty much chants
along his lyrics during the song which makes for
an interesting listen. Things take a chilled out
turn for 'Lord I'm Discouraged', the song tells
a story of half-truths and fortified wine with
Finn singing those lyrics over and over again,
the song is so chilled out but so beautiful sounding
at the same time. The only out of place sounding
song on the album is 'Both Crosses' the song is
really mellow and doesn’t really have much
going for it, the instruments are proper toned
down and you can hear windy kind of sounds sweeping
through the song, this is something The Hold Steady
haven’t tried before and I really hope they
don’t try something like this again.
The album title track 'Stay Positive' makes a
return to the bands more upbeat sound, the guitar
riffs are quite chunky and loud and the bands
backing chants of "woooaah, woooaah"
go down extremely well giving the song a really
catchy edge over Finn's distinctive vocals.
'Slapped Actress' closes the album in style with
its piano driven style sound which runs throughout
the whole song until the epic sounding choir sounding
vocals of "wooah, wooah" which happen
to be the closing moments of the album.
The Hold Steady are in a league of their own
and they have so much going for them, the main
thing that gets you hooked with The Hold Steady
is front man Craig Finn's unique sounding vocals
and then if you read into the bands lyrics you
realise quite how quirky and witty they are and
start to appreciate just how much time and effort
must of gone into writing them, and then you get
the bands sound, they can pretty much play anyway
they want and the end result being huge, the album
features pretty much everything from big guitar
riffs, to constant strong sounding drumming to
sing along choruses to the more chilled out side
of rock all executed in such a perfect way.
'Stay Positive' is the best Hold Steady album
to date, seriously check it out and watch The
Hold Steady continue to get the world wide success
that they have been enjoying for the last 18 months.
5/5
Review by Trigger |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Band
Members |
|
|
Craig
Tad
Galen
Bobby
Franz |
|
|
|
|
|
| Track
Listing |
|
|
1. Constructive Summer
2. Sequestered In Memphis
3. One For The Cutters
4. Navy Sheets
5. Lord I'm Discouraged
6. Yeah Sapphire
7. Both Crosses
8. Stay Positive
9. Magazines
10. Joke About Jamaica
11. Slapped Actress
12. Ask Her For Adderall
13. Cheyenne Sunrise
14. Two Handed Handshake! |
|
|
|
|
|
| Band
Related Links |
|
|
| Review
Score Code |
|
|
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
