At the intersection of punk and indie rock, The Hold Steady are directing traffic with a beer in each hand, laughing and staggering within inches of death. Their third and last album, Boys And Girls In America, was a raucous affair of classically debaucherous imagery and tales of hangovers and comedowns to come. Stay Positive is the aftermath, coming to philosophical terms with the wretched age acceleration that accompanies tripping your face off and religiously drinking till the world is a hazy, spinning shade of vomit. Yet somehow, in the ulcer-ridden belly of consequence, the party rages on.
The Hold Steady offer a perfect-storm combination of Replacements-style swagger, 80’s Springsteen’s all-for-one band atmosphere and storytelling prowess, a Bob Mould-meets-Joe-Strummer school of delivery and just a hint of that guy at the bar who always gets way too drunk and makes a belligerent ass of himself. You know, the one who thinks it’s hilarious to piss in the beer pitcher when nobody’s watching.
And that’s the secret behind the band’s success: singer Craig Finn finds a way to make you like that guy. He somehow romanticizes the sensation of sifting through the beer cans and cigarette butts after an epic night of debauchery, looking for anything to ease the morning-after comedown. Brilliant one-liners spun into an unapologetic narrative of mindless, self-indulgent fun and the inevitable repercussions is precisely why their first few records were so good, and that theme remains this time around. Hell, the first line of the album kicks the collective ass of most other bands’ best: Me and my friends are like the drums on ‘Lust For Life’
Finn’s drunk-prophet talk-singing is the rudder to the collective sail of the rest of the band. Where they provide a dutiful and fitting bar-band backdrop, Finn’s narrative prowess gives vivid color to the songs’ characters, a new collective of rapscallions and vagabonds, nameless familiars challenging your gods while drinking you under the table.
I met your saviour I knelt at his feet / and he took my ten bucks and went down the street / I tried to believe all the things you said / but my friends that arent dying are already dead
While Finn’s familiar cast of Holly, Charlemagne, and Gideon from previous albums are notably absent, he makes a damn good argument for the lyrical rehash, interweaving anthemic lines from past songs into new ones and shifting the atmosphere just enough to give them new meaning. The comically autobiographical title track is a perfect example, where Finn repeats what could be his single best line ever: There’s gonna come a time when she’s gonna have to go with whoever’s gonna get her the highest.
To hell with overproduction and “wall of sound” nonsense. There’s no room for that here. What you get with Stay Positive is textured, intense organics, ten pints deep and riding high. It’s what the Hold Steady does best, and this time around things are a little more polished and reflective. Could the boys finally be feeling their age?
Whatever the case, they’re not going out of their way to break new ground here, and no apologies are offered on the matter. It’s a formula that works.
In all, Stay Positive sounds a bit like something we’ve heard before. But it was a damn good something, and there’s no shame in holding on to a winning formula as long as you improve upon it over time. With this album, they do.
Stay Positive
July 15, 2008
Vagrant Records
01 Constructive Summer
02 Sequestered In Memphis
03 One For The Cutters
04 Navy Sheets
05 Lord, I’m Discouraged
06 Yeah Sapphire
07 Both Crosses
08 Stay Positive
09 Magazines
10 Joke About Jamaica
11 Slapped Actress
