Album Review
The first time I saw The Hold Steady was just after Boys And Girls In America had been released. A friend of mine passed on ye olde sage wisdom (“Dude……you’ll LOVE these guys!”) and he certainly was right. From my first listen to “Stuck Between Stations,” coincidentally at a record store listening station, I was hooked. I bought the disc and, a couple weeks later, bought a ticket to their show. I was officially a fan.
And boy was that first show a blast. Even though I only knew the Boys And Girls In America material at the time, I was still blown away. The band seemed dead-set on making rock shows fun again and the crowd didn’t seem too opposed to the notion. The night was a blur of sweaty sing-a-longs, airborne beer, and crunching power chords. Lead singer Craig Finn turned out to be a great host, and by the end of the night everyone in the room seemed pretty convinced this band was going places. In fact, this notion was so evident that even at this early stage in the game there was already a video crew in tow to document their entire tour. And now, finally, this footage sees the light of day as the DVD portion of A Positive Rage.
The Hold Steady seemed dead-set on making rock shows fun again.
And why, you ask, do I say “finally?” Well, the last Hold Steady album Stay Positive has been out for nearly a year, and Boys And Girls In America came out in 2006. So the DVD footage is about three years old, and the show featured on the accompanying CD was recorded in Chicago on Halloween night, 2007 – so it’s a little fresher.
The big bummer about the entire package is that the DVD portion only includes full performances of a couple songs. It is more a band history as told by the usual march of talking heads (band members, music critics, fans and friends.) There are some cool candid moments, but for the most part it is one of those “one and done” DVD add-ons. Only the most fervent fans will seek repeated viewings of this one.
The CD is a bit more interesting. It captures the band at the tail end of the Boys And Girls tour when they had begun to throw some new material into the sets. This explains how the Stay Positive b-side “Ask Her For Adderall” made it onto this disc. The band is on fire throughout this song as well, which, surprisingly, didn’t even make it onto the future album. Of course “Lord, I’m Discouraged,” which also shows up, made the cut.
The show starts with “Stuck Between Stations,” which has to be one of the better show openers ever. First the guitar, then those magical keys, and then the immortal line: “There are nights when I think that Sal Paradise was right/ Boys and girls in America they have such a sad time together.” I could see this band 100 times and never tire of them opening with this song. Most bands choose to keep the anthems caged up until they have warmed up the audience a bit, but most bands aren’t the Hold Steady.
And talk about a one-two punch, the second song is a true powerhouse, “The Swish,” off the band’s debut album Almost Killed Me. The most evident difference in this version as opposed to the studio take are the great organ fills that keyboardist Franz Nicolay (who didn’t join the band until 2005) has worked into the song. Next up are a pair of ragers from Boys And Girls – “Chips Ahoy” and “Massive Nights” – followed up by the aforementioned “Ask Her For Adderall.”
The middle of the set is hit and miss as the band veers away from the anthems. It’s actually kind of a bummer to see “Barfruit Blues,” “Same Kooks,” and “You Can Make Him Like You” on here since they are some of the band’s blandest offerings. Plus, “Lord, I’m Discouraged” will always seem a bit out of whack to me as a Hold Steady song. But if there is one thing you can count on, it’s that the Hold Steady is going to take stylistic risks,which will certainly be to their benefit in the long run.
The final third of the disc bounces back well with the Separation Sunday sing along bonanza “You’re Little Hoodrat Friend” emerging as an obvious highlight. “Girls Like Status” is another oddball track that comes off as a fun rocker, segueing brilliantly into the epic album closer “Killer Parties.”
So it’s a good Hold Steady show, but I wouldn’t call it one of their best. It’s a pretty accurate representation of what the band delivers live. A bit drunk and sloppy, but not as drunk and sloppy as the Replacements or Guided By Voices. Finn rambles up a storm and botches some lyrics, and guitarist Tad Kubler (per usual) is the glue throughout. Some more material from Separation Sunday (most notably “Banging Camp” and “How A Resurrection Really Feels”) would have been nice. And speaking of the latter, it’s a disappointment that on this night they didn’t perform the closing songs from the three first albums as a package at the end of the show. I’ve seen them do this once and it’s simply epic – “Southtown Girls,” “How A Resurrection Really Feels,” and Killer Parties”- boom-boom-boom – one after another. Yep, that would have been nice, but I guess we’ll just have to wait for the next live album.
