Hold Steady .. coming soon

They kinda duplicate themselves at rhis point

I haven't heard anything yet, but Stereogum was enthusing all over the place about it.

10 years pass...

They kinda duplicate themselves at rhis point

― 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.

craig finn doesn't speak-sing anymore; he just sings

this is a huge part of what made me lose interest tbh

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

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

Hey, wait… it's "The" Hold Steady, though, right? Just plain "Hold Steady" doesn't sound fuckin stupid enough.

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

fixed.

Good job guys

the ballad i heard from this album is pretty great.

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

This is one of the real surprises of the year so far. Really really good record. I like the new production too.

man the production on this sucks sooo bad! man what a fuckin bummer

It does but I do like the songs.

is it worth even listening to or should i just bump stay positive and boys and girls instead?

i never got into separation sunday so i guess i could do that too

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

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.

Yeah, the first two albums really tower above everything since.

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

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

^^^
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.

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.

the production has grown on me.

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.

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.

It just has a "dude our friend has a craxkedy copy of pro tools he'll totally record us at his house" vibe

Man this guy can't sing

and you can't post

http://cdn.niketalk.com/d/de/def72e19_wee-bey-gif.gif

TOO REAL

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.

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.

"Oaks" is amazing, their Stairway to Heaven

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.

3 song spotify sessions up today w.2 non album tracks

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"!

i heard they finally got some discipline

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.

new one is indeed very good

The one that popped up in my new song recommendations seemed overly wordy even for Finn.

I haven't had a great urge to listen to his solo stuff (when I quit drinking I lost the taste for both whiskey and white guys with acoustic guitars) but that really seems to be his wheelhouse these days.

i think if anything his lyrics are more pared down on this album

I like the noir/crime direction of some of the new songs, especially The Stove and the Toaster. Also dig, in a really different way, Finn’s solo album from earlier this year.

I honestly think that Boys and Girls in America is one of my favorite albums ever by anyone. Yet, despite spending quality time with other Hold Steady and Craig Finn solo records, none of them really grab me. Am I doing this wrong?

kinda with you on that

i think it’s completely understandable, hooks and writing really came together on that record. separation sunday will always be my fav but boys and girls was the only album in the world for me when it came out other than br*nd n*w’s the devil and god are raging inside me

separation sunday is the best by far

Stay Positive for me, it was just the right amount of anthemic before the album after that went too poor man's Springsteen. A mix CD I made that was equal parts BGIA, Separation Sunday and Stay Positive was the one that stayed in my truck for years, though.

I have no recollection of the last time I heard SS this decade, but it lives in my memory. This is their best since Stay Positive

yeah that one is weirdly forgotten

also Lifter Puller>>>Hold Steady