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Post by nosferatu on Mar 4, 2021 9:49:34 GMT -5
That is a sticky little wicket and it's confusing to me as well. In the line previous, we hear "now while you're here in person" so the speaker (I use "speaker" to distinguish from the Narrator character himself) is talking to someone they don't see on a regular basis. That also makes me think of "tell the truth if I were you / I'd rather sleep over than telecommute" from "Star 18," another "meeting in a mansion" song. So I think your interpretation is correct that one of these characters is The Maestro (Shepherd?) In fact, there's a good amount of connective tissue between those songs -- maybe "The Feelers" and "Star 18" operate in sort of a "MPADJs/Rock Problems" relationship? One thing I think worth noticing is that the speaker in those lines seems pretty unsure or nervous. "I was kinda, sorta hoping" is how you introduce a topic you aren't comfortable with. I imagine the Maestro to be pretty cocksure and confident so I don't think that's him. Hurricane J has a heavy case of the “yous”.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 27, 2021 12:16:31 GMT -5
Here's my thinking: The original reference to "Shepard's mansion" comes with Ascension Blues in 2010. This appears to have been introduced in the first place because of a different coincidence: 1) the title of the film in which it appears, Days of Heaven, fits the Heaven motif of HiW ("heaven" appears in the album title itself, TSPotC, Smidge, RP, HJ, OWL, and of course many times in both WCGT and ABlues itself); 2) there's a scene in the same film, the confrontation of Abby's lover Bill (Gere) with her husband, the rich farmer (Shepard), in the farmer's mansion (wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Heaven), which fits the story Craig is telling. That this is so is now confirmed by the detail of the Shepard's mansion scene in The Feelers: "she had a couple problems/ I guess the big one is she's someone else's wife." The big problem is... Mary is already the wife of Joseph. You may have touched on this before!
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 24, 2021 6:42:38 GMT -5
There’s a musical theory I’ve been nurturing for a while that I’m not quite ready to put more time into, but there are a lot of musical “word painting” and knowing musical in-jokes/self-referential moments in the whole Hold Steady catalogue. Manchester, England is a hugely important musically influential touchstone, for all of the smokescreen of E Street Band this and Replacements the other, Stone Roses and Oasis actually crop up very often musically. Take for example Killer Parties. On Positive Jams (the hold steady’s podcast accompaniment to the anniversary release of AKM), Craig mentions the bass line and vibe are a “stone roses thing”, and guitar lick wise there are definitely nods to Noel Gallagher’s everyman guitar playing. I dunno, perhaps this is too much of a metatextual stretch [paging skeptic], but in my experience of being from the U.K. and travelling around the USA, every now and then I would bump into a committed Anglophile who would blow me away because they knew bands I had no idea had made it anywhere near successfully over in the states. Perhaps this allusion is part of one of the characters’ personalities - one of them being an Anglophile would definitely explain how Heavenly pop up on HIW too. Another point about Joy Division is that Ian Curtis committed suicide on the eve of their first US tour, perhaps there’s something in that given the John Berryman poet/tortured artist archetype from BAGIA. Absolutely! Craig seems to be a guy who was a classic music nerd back in the day, and while the 90s never became a secon brit invasion, I guess a lot of bands and singles got through to people paying attention. And Tad have mentioned several places that he's an Oasis fan. The most obvious reference to that for me is Touchless, who's very, very close to being a straight steal from Some Might Say. Never thought about Stone Roses and Killer Parties/Positive Jam, but when you mention it, Killer Parties have a lot of I Wanna Be Adored and Made Of Stone in it. To me, it's more a feeling that these characters seem to live a life where bands like Stone Roses and Joy Division are a little bitt off what they're exposed to. It's not wrong in any way, and not like I'm pointing out an anachronism in a movie or something like that. And I love how it sort of tilts the image in a certain direction. Yeah, me too! I just wonder whether the tilt towards these bands in particular is a feature of one of the characters in the steadyverse... Regarding “Touchless” - absolutely, first thing that struck me is it’s basically an oasis song!
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 24, 2021 6:22:13 GMT -5
I’m not totally sure why, but I was really surprised to hear a Joy Division reference in “the prior procedure” Yeah, they feel like a band who's a part of a different world than the rest of the stuff happening. But it felt even weirder to me when Stone Roses popped up in The Most Important Thing. There’s a musical theory I’ve been nurturing for a while that I’m not quite ready to put more time into, but there are a lot of musical “word painting” and knowing musical in-jokes/self-referential moments in the whole Hold Steady catalogue. Manchester, England is a hugely important musically influential touchstone, for all of the smokescreen of E Street Band this and Replacements the other, Stone Roses and Oasis actually crop up very often musically. Take for example Killer Parties. On Positive Jams (the hold steady’s podcast accompaniment to the anniversary release of AKM), Craig mentions the bass line and vibe are a “stone roses thing”, and guitar lick wise there are definitely nods to Noel Gallagher’s everyman guitar playing. I dunno, perhaps this is too much of a metatextual stretch [paging skeptic], but in my experience of being from the U.K. and travelling around the USA, every now and then I would bump into a committed Anglophile who would blow me away because they knew bands I had no idea had made it anywhere near successfully over in the states. Perhaps this allusion is part of one of the characters’ personalities - one of them being an Anglophile would definitely explain how Heavenly pop up on HIW too. Another point about Joy Division is that Ian Curtis committed suicide on the eve of their first US tour, perhaps there’s something in that given the John Berryman poet/tortured artist archetype from BAGIA.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 19, 2021 12:15:57 GMT -5
I cant place the song the keyboards in Hanover Camera reminds me, but I love it...this album is amazing. Not sure where i would rank it compared to the others since this is my first full listen, but it is really something special. Neither could I, and then I worked it out. For me at least it’s “Get It Right Next Time” by Gerry Rafferty! Edit: with a debt of gratitude to Breakdown by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 19, 2021 12:07:13 GMT -5
Ordered the black vinyl from THS non us store music glue they are blaming the delay on brexit got the new hoodie from the same shop in 2 days tho thought I’d support the hold steady approved shop rather than Jeff Bezos I ordered peach from Rough Trade. Arrived yesterday. There’s a misprint on the lyric sheet, I wonder if that’s one of the reasons? Anyway, here you go muzzleofbees :
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 19, 2021 5:13:28 GMT -5
I can confirm there’s a lyric sheet! And mine’s misprinted. Which I like because I am weird. I’m at work now - but all the lyrics are on genius. Ah, they're up allready! They weren't last night. Edit: Unpleasant Breakfast is the only brand new who's currently updated with lyrics. The last four tracks on the album are missing, also from Genius. But I guess they'll be put up there soon. I'd very much like a photo of the lyric sheet anyway, if you don't mind. Oh, my bad. Saw lanyards and a couple of others, assumed they were all up! Sure thing, will get to it later
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 19, 2021 4:28:32 GMT -5
Any of you got the vinyl allready? Is there a lyric sheet? If so, would you mind posting it here? My favourite line from what I've picked up so far: "Last summer at the shore when I was working cleaning carpets in a hotel that was haunted by some sailor who supposedly was murdered after losing all his treasure in the harbour/ that's back when I found romance in these ghosts" I can confirm there’s a lyric sheet! And mine’s misprinted. Which I like because I am weird. I’m at work now - but all the lyrics are on genius.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 18, 2021 20:16:52 GMT -5
Good grief, all these positive reviews from critics plus all the love shown on the board here . . . I genuinely feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. Moderately embarrassing question, but anyone know exactly when new releases are added to Spotify? Vinyl hasn't arrived yet and if it "drops" at midnight I might just have to stay up. It’s on U.K. Spotify now, as of 1AM GMT DST.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 18, 2021 20:14:47 GMT -5
A virtual beer to the first one who spot the one single line obviously written to serve a function in a live setting. Every time I hear it, I can almost hear the applause and cheering afterwards. I’ve got it! Won’t spoil it.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 18, 2021 15:57:37 GMT -5
I LOVE IT!
I love that there’s a “Navy Sheets” esque opinion-splitter on the record and the first verse is about a fucking sailor
Lanyards made me cry
Oh wow
It’s like they’ve got enormously better in a very very short space of time. Listen on headphones.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 11, 2021 16:54:17 GMT -5
Thought it was a great year for guitar-wielding women. Besides the aforementioned Phoebe Bridgers, the new records by Margo Price, Waxahatchee, Frazey Ford, and HAIM were my favorites of the year. And while my college self would be shocked to hear this, I have to say the new Taylor Swift records took me by surprise in a good way. There's some inter-song connectivity which obviously those of us here on THS board might appreciate. 100%, there’s a really healthy vibe going on with lyrically self referential stuff in everything you mentioned there, which is always firmly up my street! I’m a little disappointed in the production de jours being so ubiquitous, makes everything unfairly sound similar. But hey, some great songs released this year! (2020)
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 11, 2021 16:52:21 GMT -5
forgot about Isbell. solid enough. another gig that was cancelled. havent heard the Adams album yet I found both albums a tough listen. I love Jason Isbell, but I really don’t like this latest record. I also have stopped liking him live. Seems to have developed into a holographic show, does the same thing every time. Wow, such downbeat. I turned Ryan Adams off after a few tunes, it was just too hard to listen to. Not in the way I was prepared for, just that musically it wasn’t my jam. At all.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 11, 2021 16:47:09 GMT -5
Welcome back!
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 9, 2021 17:17:07 GMT -5
I’ve got better bandwidth this time, let’s see.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 9, 2021 7:32:24 GMT -5
Yay!
See you there, kids that I know from the net!
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 6, 2021 8:53:23 GMT -5
Hi! I'm new to this board as a poster, though I've been reading for a while. And I'm a big fan of the Hold Steady, dating back to 2004 when friends at the website I wrote for interviewed the band and turned me onto Almost Killed Me. I wanted to share a podcast that my friend/fellow THS fan and I are putting out, called A Positive Jam. The aim is to break down great records track by track to see what makes them work, and we're starting with Almost Killed Me, of course. We have two hosts but then a few guests who are also big fans join us at some point or another for most episodes.
We've put out an intro episode and, today, a Hold Steady Starter Kit playlist. We start releasing the track by track episodes on August 5th. I don't mean to spam or anything, but I just thought people on this board might get a kick out of it. We refer to this thread a couple times during the 12 episodes (we do one on the bonus tracks and one on the Twin Cities as a scene in addition to the 10 main tracks), and I think we get into a lot of fun stuff for Hold Steady fans. The podcast is available wherever people get podcasts, including these links: And if you want to look at our Starter Kit Playlist, it's here. It's meant for newbies and we tried to keep it short, but we may have missed stuff (I would have loved to include Cattle & the Creeping Things or Barfruit Blues). Thanks for your time and I hope you check it out! If you have any feedback or anything, feel free to get in touch, especially if we're doing something wrong, though staying positive is welcome . Daniel
Hey, finally got around to checking this out, it’s really good! I echo what muzzle said before in this thread, there’s a tendency as a big fan sometimes to be *so* into THS you forget there’s new things to be said about it! You guys manage that in a really cool way. I also love it when one of you points out how awesome it would be to just have discovered THS because the THS universe is so dense it would occupy all of your time... I hadn’t thought about the band that way before, as like you guys I’ve grown up alongside each release and it’s marked by the time I heard each record in, the universe grows at the same time. Guess I’m also a little jealous of people coming to the band first time now on record 7, there’s so much richly dense material to wade through and if you like that sort of thing I can imagine it might still be incredibly exciting to get into the band even though a lot of the original (for me) 2006-2009 excitement was following them around on tour and the heady momentum of the Sep Sun - BAGIA - SP cycle. Time for a chronological re-listen! Also, thanks for the shout out on the 00s playlist pre-episode! Nearly spat out my tea in surprise. On The Swish and the pills/powders/powders pills, it struck me it is pretty neat that the actual music also does this reversing - the back half of the song (it was a blockbuster summer...) is the same chords as the first half, just kind of reversed/jumbled. Hadn’t made that connection before I heard so much talking about the lyrics on the episode where you talk about the swish... and it might be too much of a close reading thing for you guys but when Craig and Tad were writing those early jams they were drinking beers around the kitchen table so it’s entirely possible this is a deliberate very clever in-joke.
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Post by nosferatu on Jan 26, 2021 7:11:57 GMT -5
Making sure their makeup's straight, alright! Yeah! This has probably been mentioned before but The Swish pretty much has this whole thing too. Craig even sings “it was a cock sucking summer” live quite often rather than “it was a blood sucking summer”.
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Post by nosferatu on Dec 16, 2020 15:11:00 GMT -5
Finally got my hands on a copy! Definitely one of the best purchases I've made. I thought the majority of it was just going to be live recordings (which I also would've loved), but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of commentary and behind the scenes footage. I could listen to Craig talk for hours about literally anything. Also, I firmly believe that the Paddy Costello & Franz scene is the most iconic in cinematic history. Just to add to this - when they did the Q&A in London 2019, the band hadn’t seen it before! They were in stitches when that bit came on, was lovely to see.
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Post by nosferatu on Dec 11, 2020 14:21:00 GMT -5
God that was amazing last weekend wasn’t it? Wasn’t planning on zooming or anything but as ever got sucked in right away! Ended up chatting shit until about 4am! Much more moved by it all than I’d thought I’d be, always assumed touching people I don’t even know yo was the pinnacle of the live experience but that performance last Saturday had me in bits by the end, the guys are so professional - gave it everything despite there not being a physical crowd to feed off. Needed that more than I realised!
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Post by nosferatu on Nov 11, 2020 17:12:24 GMT -5
Thin Lizzy surely? A fucking poet only widely remembered for The Boys are Back In Town. Unbelievable knack for dropping the listener into his stories that had started offscreen so to say. Great influential underground solo record. Heartbreaking late-era sweaty bloated face from heroin. One of Bob Geldof’s less appealing readings of solidarity is that his charity didn’t extend to coaxing his old peer back to the live arena for Live Aid. Could’ve saved him.
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Post by nosferatu on Nov 11, 2020 17:05:16 GMT -5
Absolutely not having it, sorry folks. DBT are brilliant. Tried to engage with legitimate criticisms about five years ago in this thread by sitting on the fence but they’re a FANTASTIC band. If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, just move on and don’t flame.
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Post by nosferatu on Nov 11, 2020 17:00:41 GMT -5
2 months later, it's 30 N Michigan Ave. Well, sort of at least. I had to widen the building with some photoshop magic to have enough windows to make the Stay Positive logo in there. But the base picture is of 30 N Michigan Ave in Chicago. That building actually has a Walgreens in the bottom which I like to pretend is the same Walgreens from God In Chicago, but it's definitely just a fun coincidence. You sure? “Michigan Avenue I can still picture you”
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Post by nosferatu on Oct 29, 2020 11:46:25 GMT -5
See you on the Saturday! Gonna be a blast.
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Spinners
Jul 30, 2020 8:27:43 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by nosferatu on Jul 30, 2020 8:27:43 GMT -5
I am a sucker for an interesting time signature! What is the time signature for Spinners? Clicks and Hisses notes Curves and Nerves being in 6/4 time and Southtown Girls being in 7/4 time.
Hey! Think there’s at least two. Would hazard a guess the intro to each verse is 6/8 or something (possibly 12/8 due to the way the strings move) and then the verses are 4/4, with a bar of 5/4 before the chorus?!
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