- Audio CD (14 July 2008)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Rough Trade Records
- ASIN: B00191XCVI
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 327,143 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Hold Steady's ascent and eventual breakthrough with 2006's Boys & Girls in America was never pre-ordained. If anything they did it without the tastemakers' consent. Their shtick is old-fashioned through and through, beginning with Thin Lizzy and ending with Bruce Springsteen, performed by men advanced enough to have experienced those touchstones first or second hand. And look at them--not exactly The Strokes, are they? But it was precisely their enthusiastic unoriginality, the fact that the clichés were piled on so thick and so fast, that they triumphed. And placed next to that unapologetically feel good record, that Stay Positive sounds so immediately brighter and more muscular is undoubtedly a great sign. Production is really cranked up--see the horns wedged into "Sequestered in Memphis", the REM mandolin texturing of "Both Crosses" and the surprising harpsichord flagrancy of "One for the Cutters". They're clearly determined to not be so easily pegged this time around, though admittedly they never exactly go that far off-piste. "Our songs are sing-along songs," announced Craig Finn semi-helpfully, and though the spirit is right, with such a conversational lyrical style that is rarely the case. It's more about the rock gestures and knowing when to punch the air. And there are instances aplenty, from the Pete Townsend-esque windmill power-chords in "Constructive Summer", to the overblown solo in "Lord I'm Discouraged" that is so "November Rain" it's practically going through Stephanie Seymour's trash (those not watching MTV in the mid-90s, hit Youtube). --James Berry
Review
There's something reassuring and satisfying about mature, confident rock, played by musicians who know their instruments and have seen a few of life's ups and downs. More an acquired adult taste than the easy appeal of nursery food, there's a grown-up flavour to The Hold Steady's latest set; these guys have circled the block once or twice in their time, and their girlfriends have wrinkles, chronic complaints and a tendency to drink too much. Their love is aged and their stories are dusty and crusted, but Stay Positive tastes all the better for it.
The band's skill and mutual understanding allows them to play around with awkward time signatures and stumbling rhythms; it creates a richer rock 'n' roll stew, but the recipe doesn't always come out right. At times it all gets a bit Pere Ubu and might be liable to scare off the more close-eared listener. But in the main, whether they're kicking straight-up four to the floor, or messing with an old baroque dance step, they generally come out on top.
Craig Finn's vocals are The Hold Steady's most easily recognised feature, and tower above the maelstrom of music swirling around them. Finn declaims bitter truths and prophecies in his lyrics, firing out slogans and catchy choruses alike with the same air of unsurprised anger, while the band goes a little bit E Street Band (on the title track) or Husker Du (on Magazines) as the mood takes them. --Al Spicer
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Writing this review I don't mean to sound judgemental or condecending, but I feel I must take a moment to vent my rage.
The Hold Steady are a band who along with many other great American artists(Richmond Fontaine and The National to name two) who are continually ignored by the general public in the UK.
This is the band's 4th album and I firmly beleive it to be their career high-point to date.
If you are yet to hear the dlights of Craig Finn and co, then let me take a second to discribe their sound.
Imagine if you will Bruce Springteens's E Street Band having grown up listening to 80's punk legends Husker Du and Fugazi, then decideing to bring in a poetic literate (much in the same vein as our own home-grown genius Mark E Smith) to bring the stories to their songs, and your somewhere near knowing what they sound like.
In the early part of the decade, 'The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me' was released to much critical acclaim from across the pond, and yet did'nt make so much as a rain drop in the puddle of hype left by The Strokes thunderstorm.
Non-detered the band ploughed on and released 'Seperation Sunday' in 2005, which again garnered huge praise by ou american cousins. But alas bands such as Coldplay and Snow Patrol bored their way into the public's record collection instead. *sigh*.
But again The Hold Steady continued to spread their sermon to the unwanting masses, and at the end of 2006 released the startling good record 'Boy's and Girl's in America'. But, you guessed it, the album was ignored in favour of such modern greats like Hard-Fi and The Kooks, who's legacy I'm sure will be talked about for years to come. (Apoligises to any American's reading this, but thats what you call 'being Ironic').
And so we come to 2008 and the band have once again decided to bring their gospel to this country's sorry music scene, and I implore each of you reading this review to make the effort to discover this seminal band before it's too late.
So instead of wasting your hard-earned money on the latest fashion statement (don't get me started on One Night Only) give this record a try, and y'know what ?, it might just change your life.
I'm sorry to any Hold Steady fans reading this who maybe wanted an opinion on the record itself, but I figured you already knew how truly special this band are, and were gonna buy it with or without my recommendation. So let's just be grateful Craig Finn has once again decided to bring the sermon to this unknowing (or un-caring) country.
And I'll see you on the front pew.
The Hold Steady are a band who along with many other great American artists(Richmond Fontaine and The National to name two) who are continually ignored by the general public in the UK.
This is the band's 4th album and I firmly beleive it to be their career high-point to date.
If you are yet to hear the dlights of Craig Finn and co, then let me take a second to discribe their sound.
Imagine if you will Bruce Springteens's E Street Band having grown up listening to 80's punk legends Husker Du and Fugazi, then decideing to bring in a poetic literate (much in the same vein as our own home-grown genius Mark E Smith) to bring the stories to their songs, and your somewhere near knowing what they sound like.
In the early part of the decade, 'The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me' was released to much critical acclaim from across the pond, and yet did'nt make so much as a rain drop in the puddle of hype left by The Strokes thunderstorm.
Non-detered the band ploughed on and released 'Seperation Sunday' in 2005, which again garnered huge praise by ou american cousins. But alas bands such as Coldplay and Snow Patrol bored their way into the public's record collection instead. *sigh*.
But again The Hold Steady continued to spread their sermon to the unwanting masses, and at the end of 2006 released the startling good record 'Boy's and Girl's in America'. But, you guessed it, the album was ignored in favour of such modern greats like Hard-Fi and The Kooks, who's legacy I'm sure will be talked about for years to come. (Apoligises to any American's reading this, but thats what you call 'being Ironic').
And so we come to 2008 and the band have once again decided to bring their gospel to this country's sorry music scene, and I implore each of you reading this review to make the effort to discover this seminal band before it's too late.
So instead of wasting your hard-earned money on the latest fashion statement (don't get me started on One Night Only) give this record a try, and y'know what ?, it might just change your life.
I'm sorry to any Hold Steady fans reading this who maybe wanted an opinion on the record itself, but I figured you already knew how truly special this band are, and were gonna buy it with or without my recommendation. So let's just be grateful Craig Finn has once again decided to bring the sermon to this unknowing (or un-caring) country.
And I'll see you on the front pew.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Caught this band when I went to see Counting Crows in Cardiff. They were BRILLIANT!! I'd never heard of them before, but after the concert, I got 2 of their albums and was just blown away by them. If you like your music raucous, loud, brash and bright, then this is the band for you. Killer lyrics and riffs mixed with crystal clear piano and crashing drums. What more do you need?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
38 reviews
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Stay Positive
19 July 2008
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
News of the new Hold Steady album raised a lot of questions. Could it possibly live up to the escalating expectations their first three albums produced? Will the familiar characters of the past be back? Can Craig Finn keep writing the wittiest lyrics in rock music? Will every review make a Springsteen comparison? The answer to all of these questions is yes.
Stay Positive was released in digital form last month and like it's predecessors gets off to a rocking start with "Constructive Summer" which revisits Boys and Girls in America's theme of partying with friends while tossing in a toast to "St. Joe Strummer" who "might have been our only decent teacher". "Sequestered in Memphis" keeps the rocking party going but throws some shadows in the lyrics. There are subpoenas and sequesters, and the lyrics seem to be the response to an interrogation. In Craig Finn's addled world you don't go back to her place when you leave the bar, you go to "someplace where she cat sits".
When a harpsicord leads off the third song "One for the Cutters" you start to realize you may not be in Minnesota anymore. Kids are being killed, suspects are on the run, and every townie is being paraded to the police station. What follows in the album are the consequences to the partying. Characters are older but not wiser, and aging but not gracefully. Holly (who like Gideon and Charlemagne are never named) may be in worse shape than where she was left in the song "First Night" from BAGIA. "Lord I'm Discouraged", a heartbreaking ballad with a monster guitar solo finds the singer pining away for her and praying "she don't die".
Even the title track "Stay Positive" warns "There's gonna time a time when the scene'll seem less sunny." and begins a great four song sequence that culminates with "Slapped Actress" which may be the best song The Hold Steady has ever released. The song, influenced by the John Cassavetes movie "Opening Night" sways back and forth between re-examining the events in previous albums "Don't tell them Ybor City almost killed us again" and exploring the relationship between the performer and the fans "Some nights, it's just entertainment and some other nights it's work".
If you are a Hold Steady fan "Stay Positive" has the comforting themes, name and song dropping, intertwined lyrics and explosive sound you are used to. If not "Stay Positive" may be the album that will make you go back to find out what happened before this, as BAGIA was for me. In any event it is The Hold Steady's most musically diverse album to date, with a storyline that can stand up to the brilliant "Separation Sunday", something even the most positive Hold Steady fan may be surprised by.
Stay Positive was released in digital form last month and like it's predecessors gets off to a rocking start with "Constructive Summer" which revisits Boys and Girls in America's theme of partying with friends while tossing in a toast to "St. Joe Strummer" who "might have been our only decent teacher". "Sequestered in Memphis" keeps the rocking party going but throws some shadows in the lyrics. There are subpoenas and sequesters, and the lyrics seem to be the response to an interrogation. In Craig Finn's addled world you don't go back to her place when you leave the bar, you go to "someplace where she cat sits".
When a harpsicord leads off the third song "One for the Cutters" you start to realize you may not be in Minnesota anymore. Kids are being killed, suspects are on the run, and every townie is being paraded to the police station. What follows in the album are the consequences to the partying. Characters are older but not wiser, and aging but not gracefully. Holly (who like Gideon and Charlemagne are never named) may be in worse shape than where she was left in the song "First Night" from BAGIA. "Lord I'm Discouraged", a heartbreaking ballad with a monster guitar solo finds the singer pining away for her and praying "she don't die".
Even the title track "Stay Positive" warns "There's gonna time a time when the scene'll seem less sunny." and begins a great four song sequence that culminates with "Slapped Actress" which may be the best song The Hold Steady has ever released. The song, influenced by the John Cassavetes movie "Opening Night" sways back and forth between re-examining the events in previous albums "Don't tell them Ybor City almost killed us again" and exploring the relationship between the performer and the fans "Some nights, it's just entertainment and some other nights it's work".
If you are a Hold Steady fan "Stay Positive" has the comforting themes, name and song dropping, intertwined lyrics and explosive sound you are used to. If not "Stay Positive" may be the album that will make you go back to find out what happened before this, as BAGIA was for me. In any event it is The Hold Steady's most musically diverse album to date, with a storyline that can stand up to the brilliant "Separation Sunday", something even the most positive Hold Steady fan may be surprised by.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Great Album - Horribly over compressed
16 July 2008
Format:Audio CD
This excellent record deserves to be played loud. Unfortunately, it's been so aggressively mastered, that I haven't been able to turn it up without distorting.
I'll gladly pay twice if somebody can tell me that the vinyl was treated differently.
Musically, this is the best album of the year.
Sonically, the wrong mastering for what should be a loud, dynamic rock masterpiece.
I'll gladly pay twice if somebody can tell me that the vinyl was treated differently.
Musically, this is the best album of the year.
Sonically, the wrong mastering for what should be a loud, dynamic rock masterpiece.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
In the running for best of 2008...
25 July 2008
Format:Audio CD
I have to admit that I came pretty late to The Hold Steady party but better late than never. I picked up their 2006 release Boys and Girls in America about 6 months ago and quickly followed it up with Separation Sunday and Almost Killed Me. After fully immersing myself in those albums I was more than ready for this release. Stay Positive could be The Hold Steady's masterpiece, but somehow I think that album is still to come. What it is, however, is one of the finest albums in a year of fine albums.
In the rock press The Hold Steady is often referred to as a unique blending of The Replacements and Bruce Springsteen, but they'r much more than that. In the opening track "Constructive Summer" they mine the ground formerly occupied by another Minneapolis band, Husker Du and name drops Joe Strummer opining that "I think he might have been our only decent teacher". The song is similar to many of their earlier works except that the characters are older and a bit more damaged a world of dashed hopes and diminishing expectations. Craig Finn writes abotu these scenes as if he's not only lived them, but breathed them and drank them down. Never is this more in evidence than on the second track, and obvious single "Sequestered in Memphis" a rollicking account of a one night stand. If your not singing along by the second chorus of this one then this band is not for you.
Despite it's title Stay Positive is a fairly dark album in content. On Boys and Girls in America the characters were young hard partiers who still had their optimism. Now they're older and more beaten up by life. On "One for the Cutters" with it's murder mystery theme and harpsichord (!) tones this is in particular evidence. The beautiful "Lord I'm Discouraged" takes a similar tone and features a nuanced vocal by Finn far outside of his usual sing/speak style. The album's weakest cut, "Navy Sheets", references the synth tones of the Cars in a rather unfortunate manner but still features a brilliant lyric. Rounding out the album are standout cuts like the title track, "Joke about Jamaica" and the magnificent closing cut "Slapped Actress". The literate lyrics throughout and the inspired guitar of Tad Kubler tie them all together with a shiny bow on top.
The bottom line for any album review is should you buy this album? Well I have to admit The Hold Steady are not for everyone. If you're not a fan of unusual singing styles and lyrics about hard living, then this band is not for you. On the other hand if you love honest songs, with complexity, ingenuity, pop culture reference and a strong tip of the hat to great artists of the past pick up Stay Positive. You won't regret it.
In the rock press The Hold Steady is often referred to as a unique blending of The Replacements and Bruce Springsteen, but they'r much more than that. In the opening track "Constructive Summer" they mine the ground formerly occupied by another Minneapolis band, Husker Du and name drops Joe Strummer opining that "I think he might have been our only decent teacher". The song is similar to many of their earlier works except that the characters are older and a bit more damaged a world of dashed hopes and diminishing expectations. Craig Finn writes abotu these scenes as if he's not only lived them, but breathed them and drank them down. Never is this more in evidence than on the second track, and obvious single "Sequestered in Memphis" a rollicking account of a one night stand. If your not singing along by the second chorus of this one then this band is not for you.
Despite it's title Stay Positive is a fairly dark album in content. On Boys and Girls in America the characters were young hard partiers who still had their optimism. Now they're older and more beaten up by life. On "One for the Cutters" with it's murder mystery theme and harpsichord (!) tones this is in particular evidence. The beautiful "Lord I'm Discouraged" takes a similar tone and features a nuanced vocal by Finn far outside of his usual sing/speak style. The album's weakest cut, "Navy Sheets", references the synth tones of the Cars in a rather unfortunate manner but still features a brilliant lyric. Rounding out the album are standout cuts like the title track, "Joke about Jamaica" and the magnificent closing cut "Slapped Actress". The literate lyrics throughout and the inspired guitar of Tad Kubler tie them all together with a shiny bow on top.
The bottom line for any album review is should you buy this album? Well I have to admit The Hold Steady are not for everyone. If you're not a fan of unusual singing styles and lyrics about hard living, then this band is not for you. On the other hand if you love honest songs, with complexity, ingenuity, pop culture reference and a strong tip of the hat to great artists of the past pick up Stay Positive. You won't regret it.
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