I liked the last record, and the Craig Finn solo too for that matter. The one I hated was Stay Positive.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 29 January 2014 00:15 (ten years ago) link
those keyboards in the trailer make this sound like some 70s classic-rock throwback. i kinda like it.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Wednesday, 29 January 2014 00:43 (ten years ago) link
I thought the Finn solo was really good, to be honest. Liked the last THS album, too - opened up several directions for them to go in. Question is which one they take …
― Unsettled defender (ithappens), Wednesday, 29 January 2014 10:23 (ten years ago) link
How about a LifterPuller direction
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 29 January 2014 15:50 (ten years ago) link
new song:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-hold-steady-return-with-big-rock-aspirations-on-teeth-dreams-20140123
― Zen Dawson (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 29 January 2014 15:53 (ten years ago) link
it kinda sounds like color and the shape era foo fighters musically but craig's doing a more cryptic street story lifter puller style in the verses which i like
― Zen Dawson (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 29 January 2014 15:54 (ten years ago) link
I listen to Finn's solo album more than any given HS album lately, but storytelling songwriting + pedal steel is pretty much directly up my alley.
Hated the last album, not really feeling that new song. Same problem I had with the last album (and when I saw the band live a couple of years ago) - no groove, much more emphasis on multiple guitars and layers. I like Finn's songs so I'd rather they have more room for the lyrics.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 10 February 2014 05:34 (ten years ago) link
New album sounds like Graham Parker and the E Street Band.
― MV, Wednesday, 5 March 2014 04:45 (ten years ago) link
this new album is streaming on itunes radio, but i don't know how to link to it. first single, which apparently has been out for awhile?
― Daniel, Esq 2, Wednesday, 19 March 2014 20:41 (ten years ago) link
how does it sound? song i heard sounded weird and muddy in terms of mix
― Little Nicky Pizza loved that rascal Rust (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 19 March 2014 20:57 (ten years ago) link
They kinda duplicate themselves at rhis point
― nostormo, Wednesday, 19 March 2014 21:15 (ten years ago) link
I haven't heard anything yet, but Stereogum was enthusing all over the place about it.
― an enormous bolus of flatulence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 19 March 2014 21:18 (ten years ago) link
10 years pass...
― purposely lend impetus to my HOOS (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 20 March 2014 02:35 (ten years ago) link
They kinda duplicate themselves at rhis point― nostormo, Wednesday, March 19, 2014
― nostormo, Wednesday, March 19, 2014
i dunno. for one thing, craig finn doesn't speak-sing anymore; he just sings. it's a jarring change, over the last two albums. and the band just feels a lot older. sometimes that's good (weathered and interesting), and sometimes that's bad (songs can be a drag). this is going to be a divisive album. can't decide if i like it or hate it, to be honest.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Friday, 21 March 2014 08:09 (ten years ago) link
craig finn doesn't speak-sing anymore; he just sings
this is a huge part of what made me lose interest tbh
― purposely lend impetus to my HOOS (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Friday, 21 March 2014 18:34 (ten years ago) link
me too, but honestly i'm someone who likes hold steady because i was a huge lifter puller fan and tend to like them more the more they were like LP
― Little Nicky Pizza loved that rascal Rust (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 March 2014 19:17 (ten years ago) link
I'm no Hold Steady fan but new single sounds weird, UMS is right the mix is really murky, it makes the song sound a lot more sluggish than it probably really is
― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 21 March 2014 19:27 (ten years ago) link
Hey, wait… it's "The" Hold Steady, though, right? Just plain "Hold Steady" doesn't sound fuckin stupid enough.
― i went to Hoogie Boogie Land and all I got was th (fake penthouse letters mcgee), Friday, 21 March 2014 23:26 (ten years ago) link
correct.
I'm no The Hold Steady fan but new single sounds weird, UMS is right the mix is really murky, it makes the song sound a lot more sluggish than it probably really is― chr1sb3singer, Friday, March 21, 2014
― chr1sb3singer, Friday, March 21, 2014
fixed.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Friday, 21 March 2014 23:32 (ten years ago) link
Good job guys
― Little Nicky Pizza loved that rascal Rust (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 22 March 2014 01:43 (ten years ago) link
the ballad i heard from this album is pretty great.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Saturday, 22 March 2014 01:44 (ten years ago) link
but honestly i'm someone who likes hold steady because i was a huge lifter puller fan and tend to like them more the more they were like LP
yup
― (or if you must, "data") (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 22 March 2014 02:26 (ten years ago) link
This is one of the real surprises of the year so far. Really really good record. I like the new production too.
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 27 March 2014 23:50 (ten years ago) link
man the production on this sucks sooo bad! man what a fuckin bummer
― Juelz Fantano (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 14 April 2014 23:24 (ten years ago) link
It does but I do like the songs.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 14 April 2014 23:26 (ten years ago) link
is it worth even listening to or should i just bump stay positive and boys and girls instead?
― markers, Monday, 14 April 2014 23:26 (ten years ago) link
i never got into separation sunday so i guess i could do that too
― markers, Monday, 14 April 2014 23:27 (ten years ago) link
not liking separation sunday as much as stay positive kinda breaks my brain so yeah you should check that one again
but this one is a step back in the right direction, i think there's some good songs but yeah just odd production, so muddy and it kind of buries Finn's vox which is sort the whole point of the band
― Juelz Fantano (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 14 April 2014 23:34 (ten years ago) link
well, what i meant to say is that, like, i'm not sure i've even heard it? i might've, but i never really spent much time with it. will do so though.
― markers, Monday, 14 April 2014 23:45 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, the first two albums really tower above everything since.
― keep calm and nahkchivan (how's life), Monday, 14 April 2014 23:53 (ten years ago) link
i love the first one cuz it's basically half a new lifter puller record and half a hold steady record, but i guess separation sunday is probably the best because they more fully became themselves on that one and it's by far (IMHO) the greatest and most realized version of finn's whole interconnected fictional minneapolis drug/music scene mythology
― Juelz Fantano (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 14 April 2014 23:56 (ten years ago) link
man the production on this sucks sooo bad! man what a fuckin bummer― Juelz Fantano (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 14 April 2014 23:24
― Juelz Fantano (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 14 April 2014 23:24
^^^The most baffling, all-time, world-class suck-ass production I have heard in a long, long time. I don't like the songs. I don't like the singing. And Separation Sunday is sometimes my favorite album of the past ten years.
― Inty Tyga Et La Tyga Loma (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 00:29 (ten years ago) link
I don't feel like the production is that awful. It's not great, for sure and I wish a few things were done differently, but I also don't hear the absolute disaster you people are hearing.
I'd say there are about 4-5 songs on here worth saving. Still a disappointment but, yeah, a step back in the right direction. "Oaks" kind of slays me.
― an enormous bolus of flatulence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 01:51 (ten years ago) link
the production has grown on me.
― purposely lend impetus to my HOOS (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 03:05 (ten years ago) link
Another vote for awful, awful production. When you can't tell what Craig Finn is saying more than 50% of the time, there's a fundamental problem.I don't think there are "I'm not that into lyrics, really" people that listen to The Hold Steady.
― Walter Galt, Tuesday, 15 April 2014 08:20 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, it's definitely muddy and he's buried more in the mix than I'd like, but I had absolutely no problem making out his lyrics throughout the whole thing.
― an enormous bolus of flatulence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 14:17 (ten years ago) link
It just has a "dude our friend has a craxkedy copy of pro tools he'll totally record us at his house" vibe
― Juelz Fantano (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 14:22 (ten years ago) link
Man this guy can't sing
― waterbabies (waterface), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 14:30 (ten years ago) link
and you can't post
― markers, Tuesday, 15 April 2014 14:31 (ten years ago) link
http://cdn.niketalk.com/d/de/def72e19_wee-bey-gif.gif
― waterbabies (waterface), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 14:33 (ten years ago) link
TOO REAL
― markers, Tuesday, 15 April 2014 14:34 (ten years ago) link
I don't think there are "I'm not that into lyrics, really" people that listen to The Hold Steady.
You know, I am that type of person and yet I love this band. I don't really listen to lyrics until multiple upon multiple repeat listens and there are songs that I consider all-time favorites that I don't know the words. I was initially drawn in by Franz Nicolay's keyboards, but Finn's reference-heavy lyrics, multi-album narratives and conversational vocals force you to pay attention to what he's saying.
― voodoo chili, Tuesday, 15 April 2014 14:59 (ten years ago) link
Anyway, think the album is ok, there aren't any songs that really stick out except for the first and last, and Finn's vocals are buried in the mix. The lack of Nicolay still hurts, but Kubler and Selvidge seem to work well together and I have more hope that they have another classic in them than I did after Heaven is Whenever.
Saw them last night, and for what it's worth the new songs sound much, much better live and blend nicely into the set (same for the few Heaven is Whenever tracks that they play). The set drew most from Boys & Girls in America, and there was a huge five or six song encore ending with Constructive Summer, Stay Positive, and (of course) Killer Parties.
― Walter Galt, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 08:41 (ten years ago) link
"Oaks" is amazing, their Stairway to Heaven
― dollar rave club (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 6 May 2014 12:57 (ten years ago) link
Ages ago, when I interviewed Zeppelin, I got Plant, Page and Jones to autograph a copy of IV for Tad Kubler, being as I know THS from having championed them so much. In return, I asked, could they maybe play one song I've never heard them do next time they were in London. So last week I suggested Milkcrate Mosh. No sign of it in the set last night. That's it. They're dead to me.
Seriously though, great show last night. Fantastic to see them in a small room again.
― Unsettled defender (ithappens), Tuesday, 6 May 2014 18:32 (ten years ago) link
3 song spotify sessions up today w.2 non album tracks
― dollar rave club (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 6 May 2014 21:01 (ten years ago) link
Have they ever played Milkcrate Mosh? I saw a couple of their early shows but I don't ever remember them doing it. Great tune, though - and they cover "Hey Hey a What Can I Do" on the b-side of the 7"!
― Walter Galt, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 21:48 (ten years ago) link
i heard they finally got some discipline
― purposely lend impetus to my HOOS (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 02:05 (nine years ago) link
This seems to be the nearest we have to a general Hold Steady thread and I didn't want to start a new thread just for the new album. Anyway it's great, a definite step up from the last two, looser and with more of that bar-band feel. Finn is back on top form as a lyricist as well.
― van dyke parks generator (anagram), Friday, 30 August 2019 08:37 (four years ago) link
Had no idea they did a song for Game of Thrones with zero contemporary references:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgiTB2NFvAM
― ... (Eazy), Sunday, 10 November 2019 03:24 (four years ago) link
Looking into it, I guess the lyrics are actually George R. R. Martin’s.
― ... (Eazy), Sunday, 10 November 2019 04:48 (four years ago) link
From there, to here. From here! To there!She got in a mosh at a hardcore show there
― ☮ (peace, man), Sunday, 10 November 2019 12:48 (four years ago) link
Does anyone else really like the new one, Open Door Policy, that came out a few weeks ago?
They do a good job of finding slightly new directions to bend their sound - 'Hanover Camera' has a Steely Dan groove while 'Unpleasant Breakfast' stitches some disparate sections together in a fun way.
I thought Thrashing Through The Passion was a good comeback, and this one's even better.
― aphoristical, Monday, 1 March 2021 23:34 (three years ago) link
I like it, it is even better than Thrashing Thru the Passion, but I was never completely sold on that one - felt more like Hold Steady going through the Hold Steady motion more than anything else. This is hitting the right spot for me. My only complaint is that weird wooing/siren sound effect that runs through "Unpleasant Breakfast" is super obnoxious on headphones, I can't even listen to it.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 1 March 2021 23:38 (three years ago) link
i'm liking the sounds, but i could've sworn this band used to have choruses
― little johnny juul (voodoo chili), Friday, 5 March 2021 18:40 (three years ago) link
I suspect fans will be interested in the read
https://defector.com/craig-finn-returns-to-the-scene/
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 22 May 2022 18:29 (one year ago) link
Seeing them tonight, with some band called (checks website) the Mountain Goats? Something like that. I hadn't caught the HS live for years before I saw them at some festival back in 2018 or something and was reminded that they're great fun. (Also reminded that I started a thread on them back in 2004, which is crazy.)
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 30 June 2023 23:53 (ten months ago) link
I've been listening to Stay Positive, Boys and Girls in America and Separation Sunday a lot this week - so many elements I'd hate in isolation (most of the piano, most of the backing vocals, the way it all kind of sounds like '80s Jersey rock, often Craig Finn's voice) but as a package it all works. (Until the album after Stay Positive when it stopped working completely.)
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 16 September 2023 08:14 (seven months ago) link
have you listened to Almost Killed Me, the first album? that one’s still my hands down favorite.
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 16 September 2023 15:38 (seven months ago) link
yeah that one is weirdly forgottenalso Lifter Puller>>>Hold Steady
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 16 September 2023 15:41 (seven months ago) link