First Impressions: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

Oh man, the poor Hold Steady. Their new album leaks the same day that I go see Springsteen live and my first chance to listen to the record is overshadowed by memories of The E-Street band being amazing at pretty much the same sorta schtick they trade on (OK this is a really lazy stereotype to bring up when discussing The Hold Steady, they’ve really toned down the Bruce stuff since Separation Sunday, nothing they’ve done since comes as close to aping the boss as the frankly brilliant line “Tramps Like Us and We Like Tramps”, but hey I’m lazy and I’m gonna run with it, for a couple of paragraphs at least).

It’s not a problem though; Craig, Tad and the boys hold up pretty well under the extra scrutiny that they’re placed under this morning. Maybe it’s because I’m just in the mood for this sort of thing right now or maybe because it’s actually a really good album.

You pretty much know what you’re gonna get from any Hold Steady release. The band unashamedly plays classic bar-room American rock and one of the best (if perhaps a little one track minded) lyricists of his generation sings songs about drinking, getting high, screwing, college kids (often doing the previous 3 things), Catholic guilt and there’s usually a truck load of references to the St.Paul/Minneapolis area, Ybor City, Fl. as well as to songs that he’s previously written. And if you’re not a fan at this point Stay Positive isn’t going to win you over now.

Basically this is just another Hold Steady album.

But that’s fine with me, because I really like Hold Steady albums.

And this song fuses the things that I most liked about each of their previous 2 records into just under 3 marvellous minutes.

MP3: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive from Stay Positive. Removed as requested. There's material from the album up on the band's MySpace.