Guaranteed to Tell You a Story

I have heard several albums from the Hold Steady (a few of which I still need to review for this blog), and one thing is guaranteed:  you’re going to get a story told to you.  Craig Finn, chief lyricist, guitarist and vocalist, has a superb way of telling stories about life around you.  Each song tells some character’s story, whether it is someone he and the band has met along their way or just someone he read about.  You’re also going to get a straight-ahead rock and roll sound.  In some ways, they remind of the straight-ahead rock sound of Soul Asylum (with a better track record for songwriting).

The band first started working together in 2003 in New York City.  Finn and lead guitarist Tad Kubler developed the idea for the band after viewing the concert film The Last Waltz by the Band.  From there they recruited bassist Galen Polivka, drummer Bobby Drake, and keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay to start the band.  They released three other albums prior to the one in this review, Stay Positive.

# 163 – The Hold Steady, Stay Positive (Metascore = 85)

Stay Positive is just a straight-up, muscular rock record.  You can pin labels onto them all you want (mostly “indie rock”), but this is the way rock & roll should sound right now, or at least one form of it.  There are guitar solos, there are raw guitar riffs, and there are tastefully-done piano fills.  There’s even a harpsichord thrown in there.  Finn’s voice sounds like a mix of Elvis Costello with Billy Joel, which is actually very effective for this type of record.

The theme for the album is exactly that of the title’s name.  Lyrically Finn weaves between different characters and stories, but each focuses on this idea of staying strong, staying young, staying true to yourself, staying positive through adverse times, and, according to reviews, “ageing gracefully”.  From what I have read online, several characters from previous albums appear on this album, and Finn describes their appearance as embracing the ideas I just listed.  Finn’s not afraid to talk about subjects that sometimes seem taboo in modern rock music—religion, addictions, and depression.  These are just things that have been a part of Finn’s life, particularly religion (he was raised Catholic).

Earlier I mentioned the sound of the record being straight-ahead rock & roll, but more needs to be said about the overall song structures.  The way the songs play out, the order of the songs, is so important to the overall effect that Finn plays with the lyrics.  You would be unlikely to fully appreciate a song like “Both Crosses” if it did not have that brooding sound (played out most effectively with acoustic guitars and haunting organ fills).  Likewise, a song like “Sequestered in Memphis” wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t played out as the all-out rock song it is.

I really enjoyed this record.  This is probably my favorite record of theirs of the records I have heard, and reading a bit online about the band’s reaction to this record, you can tell there is a loose, fun feel to it.  My favorite track would probably be “Both Crosses”, but really all of the songs are right in my wheelhouse for favorite genre.  If you like rock, this is a great record.