The band occasionally stopped futzing around to fine-tune the song. It is archetypal Hold Steady. Big classic-rock riff? Check. Propulsive, E Street-style piano? Check. Sad/funny lyrics (about moving to California just to find it’s all “disinterested kissing”)? Check.
From Washington Post article
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/after-16-years-the-hold-steady-is-changing-the-business-of-being-in-a-band/2019/08/28/956d9f04-c297-11e9-b72f-b31dfaa77212_story.html
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 1 September 2019 22:28 (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