Features Disc of the day
The Hold Steady
Boys And Girls In America
(Vagrant, 2007)
Sex, drugs and transubstantiation from Brooklyn’s unlikely rock stars.
But for the grace of God, The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn might be working in a record shop in his hometown of Minneapolis. It’s not hard to imagine him: bitter, overqualified, black jeans, smoking out the back, silently loathing the customers. Instead, he fronts one of the greatest rock’n’roll bands in the world right now, an exhilarating live act whose third album from 2007 was a perfect distillation of the classic American bar band grit and punk rock brio seen on 2005’s ambitious Separation Sunday, their severely lapsed Catholic concept album. Exultant piano ushers in opener Stuck Between Stations, setting the tone with its poignant invoking of Jack Karouac’s gloomy narrator: “There are nights when I think that Sal Paradise was right / Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together”. Those same kids get wasted at the school dance (Massive Nights), win on a horse and get wasted some more (Chips Ahoy!), cry about Jesus (First Night) and engage in brief, ill-advised snogging after overdosing at a festival (Chillout Tent). Its seedy, hormone-raddled stuff and the female characters are infuriatingly negative. But Finn’s verbose narratives are impressive in their honesty. His gift for tapping into the perpetual adolescence that’s the lifeblood of all pop music makes these songs timeless, and the tunes are irresistible. You can’t ask for more. But you’re getting it anyway. New album out next month!
Jenny Bulley
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2008
Further Listening
The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday (Vagrant/Fulltime Hobby)
Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park NJ (Sony)
The Replacements – Let It Be (Twin Tone)
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Previous Disc of the day
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Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
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6:00 AM GMT 17/06/2008
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Chris Smither - Don’t It Drag On
26-year-old Crescent City native decamps to Woodstock for growly folk-blues radiance.
6:00 AM GMT 16/06/2008
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Luther Ingram - I Don’t Want To Be Right: The Ko Ko Singles Volume 2
A treasure trove of soul gems by the late, undervalued singer from Jackson, Tennessee.
6:00 AM GMT 14/06/2008
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Killing Joke - Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell
End-time claustrophobia punctuates the last Killing Joke song cycle to feature late bassist Paul Rav
6:00 AM GMT 13/06/2008
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