• The Hold Steady

Posted: **Tue May 25, 2010 1:53 pm**

Jeremy wrote:
Iowan wrote:I definitely like it more than Stay Positive. It doesn't blow it's load in the first two songs, only to drag in the middle, but recover towards the back side. I don't really skip any tracks on the album right now. Stay Positive has some incredible songs, but I always skip One For the Cutters and Navy Sheets. We Can Get Together is the only one I'm ever tempted to skip, and I'm always glad I didn't in the end. Not as good as BAGIA, but hey, few albums are.

Personally, I rank THS albums as...
1) Boys and Girls in America
2) Almost Killed Me
3) Separation Sunday
4) Heaven Is Whenever
5) Stay Positive.

I love all of them, too.

I love that song man. Reminds me of this chick I knew.
Id rank them like this
AKM
SS
SP
BGIA
HW( but it is growing on me, but kind of like DBT's ABAAC, just not in the same league as the previous releases).

I may like LFTR PLLR better than THS now, been listening to them a lot lately.

Me too, I just find it tuneless and unlistenable. Probably because of that damn harpischord.

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 4:17 am**

New single streaming on Rolling Stone.

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 8:15 am**

This thread is funny.

I always get jazzed about new albums by bands I love and initially overrate them. HIW is my least favorite THS album, although its probably more consistent than Stay Positive. However, Stay Positive hits more high points.

Quite frankly, the exclusion of Kubler's solo on We Can Get Together may have been the difference in how I ultimately view this album. So good live, so awful on the album.

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:38 am**

I'm halfway through. The music sounds sounds great. I've already heard "discipline", "down by the river", "these guys I know", and "center of the city".

The contrast in growth between their records and DBT's records since the Rock and Roll Means Well tour couldn't be greater.

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:06 pm**

I saw this thread and decided it was time to dust off The Hold Steady - I'd forgotten how much I like them. I read an article years ago where Patterson was praising Boys and Girls in America, so that was my first encounter with them. I can completely see where some folks don't like them, it's sort of a love it or hate it deal. I just really enjoy the energy they bring and the story based songs. I think that as a Minnesotan I connect to some of the songs more than folks who don't know the region. Places like Nicolette, the grain belt bridge, the entry, and the rainbow are all places I know and recognized immediately.
I didn't care much for HIW though - it was almost like some other band was told to make a THS record - it sounded like them, but there wasn't as much charm or definition to it. Maybe I was just setting my expectations too high. Maybe I need to give it another chance?

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 7:40 pm**

John A Arkansawyer wrote:The contrast in growth between their records and DBT's records since the Rock and Roll Means Well tour couldn't be greater.

Mind elaborating a bit?

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:14 pm**

I really like the new album. Looking forward to seeing them in a week. I would rank their albums in this order, minus the new one:

Boys and Girls in America
Stay Positive
Separation Sunday
Almost Killed Me
Heaven Is Whenever

Posted: **Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:55 am**

ramonz wrote:
John A Arkansawyer wrote:The contrast in growth between their records and DBT's records since the Rock and Roll Means Well tour couldn't be greater.

Mind elaborating a bit?

No, but I'm about ready to crash, so I won't be too elaborate. The Hold Steady is still pretty much telling the same stories about the same people from the same point of view. DBT is also still talking about many of the same sorts of people, but they're telling different stories from a more mature point of view.

"The Weekenders" on Heaven Is Whenever showed a little maturation. Maybe this new album will show more. I hope so. I love that band. I don't have anything but high praise for the first four studio records and the live one. They all kick ass, beginning to end. I just want to see them grow.

Posted: **Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:05 pm**

OkieinTexas wrote:I really like the new album. Looking forward to seeing them in a week. I would rank their albums in this order, minus the new one:

Boys and Girls in America
Stay Positive
Separation Sunday
Almost Killed Me
Heaven Is Whenever

Do you have a leak?

Posted: **Sat Jan 25, 2014 4:21 pm**

John A Arkansawyer wrote:
ramonz wrote:
John A Arkansawyer wrote:The contrast in growth between their records and DBT's records since the Rock and Roll Means Well tour couldn't be greater.

Mind elaborating a bit?

No, but I'm about ready to crash, so I won't be too elaborate. The Hold Steady is still pretty much telling the same stories about the same people from the same point of view. DBT is also still talking about many of the same sorts of people, but they're telling different stories from a more mature point of view.

"The Weekenders" on Heaven Is Whenever showed a little maturation. Maybe this new album will show more. I hope so. I love that band. I don't have anything but high praise for the first four studio records and the live one. They all kick ass, beginning to end. I just want to see them grow.

Thanks. This is a little off-topic, but I saw a doc on Black Oak Arkansas recentlty, and damned if the lead singer wasn't David Lee Roth. Not really, but.... Anyway, it made me wonder if DLR modeled his stage image after Jim Dandy. And sure enough, he did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_%22Dandy%22_Mangrum Ever see those guys back in the day?

Posted: **Sat Jan 25, 2014 4:40 pm**

ramonz wrote:This is a little off-topic, but I saw a doc on Black Oak Arkansas recentlty, and damned if the lead singer wasn't David Lee Roth. Not really, but.... Anyway, it made me wonder if DLR modeled his stage image after Jim Dandy. And sure enough, he did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_%22Dandy%22_Mangrum Ever see those guys back in the day?

No, but I saw Jim Dandy and some of the guys show up in '87 at a--Leaving Trains, Rhythm Pigs, or Flaming Lips? I'd have to look at my reviews to be sure--show in Fayetteville and want to jam. And my first serious girlfriend gave me a garter that Ruby Starr had given a songwriter friend of hers. It's still around somewhere, but it got broken the night those two girls I met at Roger's Rec gave me a ride home with my video equipment. There's a VHS tape of how that happened somewhere. But now I'm the one getting off-topic.

Posted: **Sat Jan 25, 2014 4:43 pm**

ramonz wrote:Thanks. This is a little off-topic, but I saw a doc on Black Oak Arkansas recentlty, and damned if the lead singer wasn't David Lee Roth. Not really, but.... Anyway, it made me wonder if DLR modeled his stage image after Jim Dandy. And sure enough, he did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_%22Dandy%22_Mangrum Ever see those guys back in the day?

I'll never forget an episode of Classic MTV where Martha Quinn said if you crossed David Lee Roth with Jethro Bodine you'd have Jim Dandy Mangrum. On the Black Oak Arkansas tip, I recently heard a cut off of their new album on a blues show out of Fayetteville, NC and it wasn't bad at all.

Posted: **Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:27 am**

Not a big Hold Steady fan but I heard Craig Finn on the Steve Gorman sports show the other day. Nice to know he's a sports fan.
Weird how I've been getting musical info from sports shows lately.

ramonz wrote:Thanks. This is a little off-topic, but I saw a doc on Black Oak Arkansas recentlty, and damned if the lead singer wasn't David Lee Roth. Not really, but.... Anyway, it made me wonder if DLR modeled his stage image after Jim Dandy. And sure enough, he did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_%22Dandy%22_Mangrum Ever see those guys back in the day?

A friend and I flew out to New Orleans in 78 to see the Stones and the Doobies. We had an hour layover in the ATL. A friend met us there and excitedly told us the opening act was Van Halen. I had never heard of them and when they came on stage my first thought was "who is this Jim Dandy wannabe?"

Posted: **Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:07 pm**

I've been listening to "Teeth Dreams" a lot lately. I think it's massively underrated album around here. Outside of the three skippers between "Spinners" and "Big Cig", it's a an ass kicking rock and roll effort.

Posted: **Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:27 pm**

I like the new record very much but it's still my least favorite of their albums. I'm one of those oddballs that really likes HIW. I saw them in July for the first time in four years and had the most fun I'd had in ages.

Posted: **Sun Sep 07, 2014 7:10 pm**

I hope you aren't saying "The Only Thing" is worth skipping, because that is one awesome track. It's a record I appreciate a lot but I do agree it bogs down some. Still, "Spinners" and "Oaks" are two all-time Hold Steady songs for me.

Posted: **Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:06 am**

Did anyone watch the yahoo live broadcast last night? I did. It was an ok show - didn't really heat up until the encore.

They really need to shake up the setlist, though. It was essentially the same as all four shows I saw this summer.

Also, they are playing four nights in Toronto this December and that is tempting, but it's the same weekend as the Holiday Hangout. Argh.

Posted: **Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:48 am**

sactochris wrote:I like the new record very much but it's still my least favorite of their albums. I'm one of those oddballs that really likes HIW. I saw them in July for the first time in four years and had the most fun I'd had in ages.

I tried HIW again the other day, and it still doesn't do much for me outside "Sweet Part of the City", "The Weekenders" (which is absolute top shelf THS), and "Hurricane J".

The live solo on "We Can Get Together" really should have made the album.

Posted: **Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:55 pm**

Iowan wrote:
sactochris wrote:I like the new record very much but it's still my least favorite of their albums. I'm one of those oddballs that really likes HIW. I saw them in July for the first time in four years and had the most fun I'd had in ages.

I tried HIW again the other day, and it still doesn't do much for me outside "Sweet Part of the City", "The Weekenders" (which is absolute top shelf THS), and "Hurricane J".

The live solo on "We Can Get Together" really should have made the album.

Sweet Part of the City is one of my very favorite songs from THS, but the other two you mention, I barely like at all.

Individual taste be individual.

Posted: **Tue Sep 23, 2014 2:37 pm**

I flew up to Chicago to see a THS show on 9/12. They did Almost Killed Me in order.

The first time I saw THS was on the Rock and Roll Means Well tour. I'd only been listening to them for about a week, but I liked what I heard. THS closed, and DBT came out and jammed on Killer Parties. I hope it happens again sometime.

Posted: **Wed Feb 25, 2015 10:12 pm**

Circa 2006:

Posted: **Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:03 am**

Posted on THS facebook today.

The last of our recordings from the December 13, 2014 show at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto!

Posted: **Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:52 pm**

So what’s next for the Hold Steady?

The Hold Steady did 120 dates last year, and everyone came back a little fried and needed a little space, and I wanted to do some stuff in 2015 and other people didn’t. It’s my expectation that we will fire it up, again, but I don’t know. I can’t guarantee it.

Posted: **Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:55 am**

Craig's new solo album looks good though.

http://www.jambands.com/news/2015/06/17 ... solo-album

Posted: **Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:59 am**

That interview prompted me to revisit Clear Heart Full Eyes and I liked it better than I remembered.

Posted: **Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:16 pm**

Iowan wrote:That interview prompted me to revisit Clear Heart Full Eyes and I liked it better than I remembered.

I am open to the possibility that CHFE could be better than the latest two THS albums.

Posted: **Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:54 pm**

RolanK wrote:
Iowan wrote:That interview prompted me to revisit Clear Heart Full Eyes and I liked it better than I remembered.
I am open to the possibility that CHFE could be better than the latest two THS albums.

I really liked Teeth Dreams (in the minority on that around here), but I could see feeling that way in regards to HIW.

Posted: **Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:19 pm**

I think it's the best CF record since Boys & Girls. The writing is way deeper than anything on Stay Positive and stronger than most of Teeth Dreams, which I still really like. I just love it front to back, "Balcony" especially.

Posted: **Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:29 pm**

Really fantastic new song, as well as tour dates:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/07/ ... sive-song/

Will I be seeing any of you on the 14th in Woodstock?

Posted: **Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:56 pm**

The Hold Steady Reviews Every Album By The Hold Steady

https://uproxx.com/indie/the-hold-stead ... or-policy/

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