The Hold Steady Holds Steadily
Minnesotan rockers cater to accursed critics, maintains Midwest rock sound.
The Hold Steady
Stay Positive
Released on Jul 15, 2008
I've oftentimes wished for a band that took the hooks and melodrama of Bon Jovi or Meat Loaf and combined it with brutal honesty and a rock-n-roll aesthetic that harkens back to the angst and love-ridden days of acting like a character from Dazed and Confused.
The Hold Steady, led by Craig Finn (vocals) and Tad Kubler (guitar) have always played a mixture of riff-heavy classic rock and modern Midwestern storytelling. Their breakthrough, Boys and Girls in America, put them on the radar of even the most tragically tight-pantsed critics back in 2006. Their latest, Stay Positive, is looking to offer up more beer swilling sympathetic rock than ever before.
Finn has noted that he feels Stay Positive is an example of the band at its creative peak. While the album holds up musically as being much more vast than previous recordings, including talk box solos, a harpsichord and actual melodies in the vocals, there may be something of The Hold Steady missing from Stay Positive, something that originally drew the Minnesotan-turned-Brooklynite quintet on to such a wide audience.
While The Hold Steady sound, that riff-driven, sing-along power rock, is maintained, there's a sense that Finn has given in to some of the criticism that's surrounded his career thus far. He's always crafted songs that are as apathetic as they are sympathetic and rooted in Midwestern degradation. While these themes still shine through on Stay Positive, tracks like "Sequestered in Memphis" produce choruses that may be catchy, but are a blunt thrust to the head of critics who have long ridiculed his lack of choruses. The only saving grace of this new portion of Finn's songwriting is that, with tracks like "Sequestered" and "Lord I'm Discouraged", the choruses shine through as truly catchy and interesting.
"Lord I'm Discouraged" also shines through with one of the best solos that Kubler has ever laid down. It's songs like this that make The Hold Steady what they are: a rocking riff band that can also slow themselves down enough to sing a tragic ballad as well as any hair band of the 80's, except with a lot more integrity.
What's required for these ballads and the newfound melodic nature of The Hold Steady's progressing sound is, naturally, melodic vocals. Finn has been taking lessons and a lot of the natural grittiness of his voice has fallen to the wayside. The sounds of the guitars have followed suit, with lots of clean, reverb-filled tones abound across the album.
The Hold Steady have put out another record that holds up the natural sound that made Rolling Stone and Blender fall in love with them a few years back. However, some of the pandering to the limited critique that has thrived around the band becomes somewhat detrimental to the overall grime that so aptly fit into previous albums. Nonetheless, Stay Positive is a positive direction in songwriting and a more mature sound than ever before, and no one can help but to hold that steady.
High Point
"Constructive Summer" is not just a power anthem and brilliant lead-off track, but a track that will make even those with the worst drinking habits feel all right about having friends who are, "like Lust For Life" and drinking lots of, "double whiskeys, no ice."
Low Point
By the time the title track rolls around, the vagueness of the album begins shining through far too much, instead of the normally vast Midwestern landscapes being painted in myriad colors, instead Finn gives us an excess of "Woahs" and a moderate failure when it comes to his normally unflinching nature.
Posted by Mark Steffen on Jul 03, 2008 @ 7:50 am
