Premature Evaluation: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
In "Constructive Summer," the opening and arguably best track on Stay Positive, Craig Finn intones "Our psalms are sing-a-long songs." True, the best ones really are anthems you want to be shouting while climbing water towers, toasting St. Joe Strummer ("I think he might've been our only decent teacher"), and drinking whiskey coke's with no ice in double time -- which is the "get hammered" summer plan Finn and cohorts lay out. In "Constructive Summer" he also tells us, "Let this be my annual reminder / that we can all be something bigger." If there's any major letdown on Stay Positive, it's that there isn't a bigger song in the collection. Sure, bands often front load, or give you their best first, but this song feels classic after only a few listens, setting the bar really high. When Craig says he thinks Strummer "might've been our only decent teacher," he's likely forgetting Blake Schwarzenbach, who he's mentioned as an inspiration, and who haunts this tune in particular, for sure. It doesn't help the Jawbreaker flashbacks to have gravelly Ben Nichols singing on "Sequestered In Memphis," another of the album's truly kick-ass tracks.
Those two gems are followed up by the harpsichord/piano-lined story time of "One For The Cutters." It's not a bad song, but the five minutes feel like 10. They write "sing-a-long songs." This is not one of those. The narrative Finn weaves here isn't interesting enough to stand on its own -- it needs to be buttressed by "Sequestered In Memphis"'s saxophone or a hooky guitar part. Instead, it sprawls. "When one townie falls in the forest can anyone hear it?" If they've made it that far into the song, maybe. Unfortunately, it's followed by Stay Positive's least interesting track, "Navy Sheets."
Follow along at home on your tracklist and printout of the artwork, because we feel the need to go from song-to-song, story-to-story, or chapter-by-chapter. The next one, "Lord, I'm Discouraged," is an example of the Hold Steady at their down-tempo best. Like, when they go for the Springsteen-style ballad. And dig that middle guitar solo. The dynamics in general. The closing line: "And I mostly just pray she don't die."
As if revitalized by "Lord, I'm Discouraged," they pick up the steam here, rebounding from the early stumbles. "Yeah Sapphire" is a swaggering, piano-lined guitar-rock anthem: "I was a skeptic at first, but these miracles work." Dripping in blood, death, and indulgences, "Both Crosses" is more ominous. Of course, we've all heard the Youth of Today and (early) 7 Seconds-referencing title track. It's a definite highlight, as is "Magazines," which has Nichols contributing an excellently torn-throat chorus: "Magazines and daddy issues / I know you're pretty pissed, I hope you still let me kiss you." God bless. "Joke About Jamaica" feels like a nice, more spacious reprise of "Stay Positive" ("The boys are getting younger and the bands are getting louder," "the punks, the skins, the greaser guys," "I know it sounds repetitive," etc.) and the crunchy, dynamic "Slapped Actress" is a powerful closer. Finn plays the part of John Cassavetes and his group of singers play the part of adding a rollicking chorus to the end of this thing, a great way to exit.
Finn's said they weren't going for another Boys And Girls In America or Separation Sunday with Stay Positive. In some ways, we miss the interconnectedness. In other ways, though, it makes it easier to tease the tracks out, treating them as the stand-alone beer-soaked anthems or rock-n-roll downers they've always been, regardless of all that talk about Berryman and Kerouac. Though, come to think of it, he does mention blood a lot and there are more than a few implied age spots and wrinkles. Time to get out the notebooks and clue-in more deeply on the lyrics.
Stay Positive is out 7/14 in the UK via Rough Trade and 7/15 in the US via Vagrant.
Posted at 5:31 PM by stereogum in Premature Evaluation
Tags: The Hold Steady
Wow, I'm so excited...is this leaked?
Score = -2
This is spot on! The album's opening two tracks are tops, then....
Score = -3
one of my favorite things about the album is the way Finn interweaves anthemic lines from past songs into new songs and makes them fresh, especially on 'stay positive.' when he brings back 'theres gonna come a time when shes gonna have to go with whoevers gonna get her the highest' its surprising, puzzling and fucking exciting. we can all commit. all in all I think the record cements craig finn's status as the bastard child of strummer, springsteen and old duluoz.
Score = 0
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Hi SG,
On behalf of Rough Trade, Beggars Digital and The Hold Steady, many thanks for your review of "Stay Positive" ... .. and, if your readers want good quality, non-pirated, preview tracks, “Sequestered in Memphis” is available for fans and bloggers to stream / link to on the band’s MySpace ... .. check-out http://www.myspace.com/theholdsteady and http://www.theholdsteady.com for details on “Stay Positive” and the band’s 2008 shows and keep an eye out for details of further, preview material and exclusive content.
Thanks again for your plug.
Regards,
WEB SHERIFF
Score = -68
I hate... so much... about the things that you choose to be
Score = 20
here's how things work here. the pirates' job is to make the internet fun, you job is to make the internet lame. and there is an internal struggle, you and them. and only one of you can be the winner. Spoiler Alert, they're gonna win
Score = 9
woo hoo web sheriff. sorry bro already leaked and everyones loving it.
Score = 5
Magazines is great, and sounds like it could've been on Lucero's last album.
Score = 2
actually the majority of the music on this sounds like it could have been on lucero's last album.
Score = 0
I wasn't gonna say that but yeah.
Score = -1
Zzzzz..... Zzzzz.... Huh, wha.. The hold steady put out another album? oh, excuse me while i go back to sleep... zzzzzzzz....
Score = -30
your gonna miss everything cool and die angry
Score = 3
ah - Vagrant. -1
Score = -4
how does what label they're on even matter?
Score = 1
sfgdsfgfgd
Score = 2
I personally think Yeah Sapphire and Slapped Actress are the strongest tracks. Constructive Summer didn't grab my attention at all at first. I originally loved Navy Sheets and then the rest grew on me.
Score = 3
Do check the title of the post. Album says Stay PosTitive.
Score = 0
You're right. I blame Freud again. Fixed.
Score = 0
This album is definitely a grower. If you dismissed it after a listen or two, do yr.self a favor and give it one more shot!
Score = 4
I love the Dillinger Four "Doublewhiskeycokenoice" shout out. Great fucking album. Gotta Stay Positive.
Score = 2
other than a slight disagreement on "one for the cutters" [it's one of my favorites on the album-- perhaps it's the harpsichord?], the review is spot-on. when finn [easily one of the ten best lyricists in america right now] says, "..we could all be something bigger," it makes me hope that some band will come along in twenty years and say that the hold steady was the most important band in the world to them.
i hope a band like this isn't just lost on us types that sit in front of the computer all day.
Score = 3
Yes, I've been waiting for this. "Boys and Girls in America" is pretty much permanently in my CD player (yeah, I'm old school), and I have converted quite a few Hold Steady fans. I'm so excited for new stuff, even if a couple of the songs aren't that great.
Score = 1
please people stop listening to this shitty band so they will stop making shitting music and the world will be a better place
Score = -15
"Shitting music"? Is that music I listen to while I shit? There's an untapped market if I've ever heard one.
Score = 4
This band is not good. At all. Why is this boring bar rock band treated as something special?
Score = -18
Easily the most overrated band in the entire "Indie music" genre. A lame second rate Dave Matthews band, which is a lame second rate version of a lame band.
Score = -25
A second-rate Dave Matthews Band?
What the fuck are you smoking?
Score = 7
LOL. The day Dave Matthews can spit lyrics like Craig Finn I will come to your house and bow. Long live The Hold Steady.
Score = 9
This post is a lame second rate version of a witty post.
Score = 9
Great album, and nice review (though I also think that One for the Cutters is quite good). Also, I don't know what you're talking about a lack of interconnectedness. Check out the lyrics at the link below (scroll down a bit) and you'll find loads of connections in the album itself, and to their other album. Recurring characters like Charlemagne are MIA though.
Here are the lyrics:
http://soundopinions.org/forum/index.php?s=84c469556efd3f89ca46941d65a7248a&showtopic=15515&st=260&p=657915&#entry657915
Score = 2
Oh, and my favorite references are to Only the Good Die Young (in Both Crosses) and to their own name (in Slapped Actress).
Score = 1
this band is for frat houses.
Score = -1
This band is for America.
Score = 5
the "whiskey coke no ice" lyric is almost certain a reference to Dillinger Four. http://www.myspace.com/dillingerfour
Score = 0
it's doublewhiskeycokenoice
Score = 1
right. and i'm guessing its a reference. considering they're both from minneapolis.
Score = 1
I don't know. I may need to go back and really try to re-digest 'Boys And Girls In America' with a fresh outlook, but that album was about the point I started to wonder if The Hold Steady weren't just a one trick pony, recycling the same cast of characters and religious symbolism (which I got more than a little tired of having thrust in my face) ad nauseum. We'll see, I guess. I liked 'Almost Killed Me', and adored 'Separation Sunday', so I'm willing to give the new album a fair chance.
Score = 5
Loved this band until this album (and I've given it a ceaseless week of steady listens and will continue to listen - i'm always open to changing my mind about music). But, to my ears Craig sounds like he doesn't believe in the things he sings about on this outing. The references to their old songs now seem forced rather than revelatory. The specifics on characters' choice of certain drinks or drugs also feel strangely forced. What happened? I hope they're next outing is better. But then again, it's only art. No need to shit your pants either way.
Oh yeah, and fuck you in the asshole Web Sheriff! Why not train monkeys to do your job so you hapless freaks can at least have a shot at saving your soul. Whoopsie-doodle-doo! I told a truth that you can't deny and it hurts, don't it? Peace friends.
Score = 3
Also in "Premature Evaluation" - My Brightest Diamond, A Thousand Shark's Teeth. It makes me sad in it's inconsistency. Some songs are really fantastic, then others are really, really boring. =(
Score = 0
Why exactly are Craig Finn's lyrics praised so highly? Pretty much every song I've heard by the Hold Steady seems like a nostalgic account of getting drunk/high/laid. Which, granted, is pretty awesome to an extent, but given how much everyone raves about them I feel like I'm missing something. Not hating, just actually wanna know. Anyone care to explain?
Score = 2
that's what i used to think, but the songs aren't actually nostalgic at all. the great thing about finn is that he's trying to figure out/explain/illustrate what's motivating all these characters to get drunk/high/laid, and why those sort of things often end in some sort of sad outcome.
Score = 3
Yes, and he works Catholicism into it as well.
And to reply to some of the "bar band" comments:
I think the point of The Hold Steady is that they're like a glorious bar band; the absolute low of music (bar bands) dealing with the absolute bottom of society (drug-addicts, pimps, etc.) that generally has recourse to everyone's real life, at least to some extent. The music, for the most part, supports and masks the lyrics, either with anthem-y guitar hooks or, more currently, marginally more inventive instrumentation. It's guilty-pleasure rock music with some of the best lyrics in a long time - hardly bar music or indie-rock (whatever that is).
Score = -1
Hmm interesting. I'm gonna go give boys and girls another listen with that in mind. And I definitely plan to check out the new one.
Thanks!
Score = 0
Help me guys.
What 2006 or 2007 indie-ish mainstream song's guitar riff sounds almost exactly like "slapped actress."
This is killing me.
Score = 0
Bryan- it's silversun pickups Lazy Eye.
Score = -1
I have to say, this new album is a grower. I liked it upon first listen, don't get me wrong, but I was feeling a little cold at first - then I heard "One for the Cutters" while driving on the lonely interstate at night, and when that first chorus hit, I suddenly felt like I "got it". I can't stop listening to it now.
I really can't decide between Stay Positive and Separation Sunday now...
Score = 0
I don't know. I just, I can't imagine how you can do this review without addressing the lyrics as a whole. have a hold steady fan do the review and go deeper past the "anthemic lines", however gracefully implemented. this album really throws you for a loop. I honestly think they took separation sunday and boys and girls in america and said, "what were the best things about these albums" and then put them together. it's honestly incredible how they did it.
Score = 2
Agreed. And what's even more incredible is how they incorporated the best parts of the last two albums without all of the old characters (Charlemagne, Gideon, Holly the Hoodrat, etc.) and even the recycled lyrics seem fresh.
Score = 2
It's a 'premature evaluation,' not a dissertation, sonny
Score = -2
the thing is, though.. it's just that. premature. let it sink in. I just think they could have done a better job. like off "lord, I'm discouraged"... how can you not think it's holly's parents asking for help? "the dynamics"...............poorly written.
Score = 1
In your Gumdrop email, it refers to 'Stay Positive' as being the Hold Steady's third album. It's their fourth, obviously. Thought you might want to make the change. Good album, though-great live band.
Score = 1
Damn. That logo for "Stay Positive" is so beautifully simple. Cheers to whoever did it.
Score = 1
Anyone else having trouble reading this post? The search bar on the side is blocking half of it.
Score = 0
"Even the recycled lyrics seem fresh"
Oh man, you worshippers. The Hold Steady have made some good music (Seperation Sunday) but at least try to look at it objectively. This album just isn't as good as what they've already released. The subject matter is the same, but the wit is sorely lacking.
It's gone from this:
"You came into the ER drinking gin from a jam jar / and the nurses making jokes about the ER being like an afterbar."
To this:
"there's gonna come a time when the true scene leaders
forget where they differ and get big picture
cause the kids at their shows, they'll have kids of their own
the sing-a-long songs'll be our scriptures"
That's not an interesting situation and there's no clever wordplay, just self-important bloat.
Few bands can successfully match their prior material when they start writing songs about their band, and The Hold Steady fall into this trap this time around. I hope their next album's a little better. No more "transverberating," please.
Score = -1
ok. granted, separation sunday is clearly their best album. however I'm inclined to say they stepped it up on this album vs. boys and girls in america, musically and lyrically. I think you're right in saying the wit has faded a bit, but the one-liners have given way to better development. it still ends up meaning something.
Score = 0
"Our PSALMS are sing-along songs" not "Our songs are sing-along songs," that's just stupid.
Score = 1
Correct! Fixed.
Score = 0
i wish my job didnt require me making posts on melencholy bands
Score = 0
I really feel sorry for anyone how doesn't like this band.....They are just fun, intelligent, and have songs you can sing a long to. You can't just cross your arms and stare at them at concerts. I think lot people just can't relax and pun intended "stay positive" at shows anymore so they listen to things that are pretty or interesting but in the end boring. Maybe its not music for ipods commericals or European dance or nerd rap or djs or collectives from art school maybe it just rocks and I like it.
Score = 0
I'm really liking this album, although there are a few moments when the lyrics make me cringe ('cutters", the title-track, part of "magazines"). Overall it's right up there w/ B&GIA. great summer album.
Score = -1
we’re gonna be the band that writes the song
that makes Israel and Palestine get along
we’re gonna write a song as universal as "Happy Birthday"
that makes sure everybody knows
that everything is going to be okay
Score = 0
lololololol, get real dude!
Score = 0