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Post by orzelc on Nov 6, 2019 18:54:41 GMT -5
Saw St. Paul and the Broken Bones in Albany a week ago; slightly surprised to learn they're from Alabama, solely because I've listened to so much Hold Steady that I just assumed the name must relate to Minnesota.
The singer, who has a hell of a voice, wore an absurd sparkly cape for the entire show, and sang the last verse of the last song in the encore from atop a 10' ladder. I'm honestly not sue whether this is a planned part of the show-- he wandered off stage while singing, came out with the ladder, and a roadie ran out to help him set it up. At the end of the song, the rest of the band split, and as the house lights came up he was gingerly climbing back down...
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Post by orzelc on Sept 18, 2019 4:45:06 GMT -5
I think it’s their best album since Stay Postive, and that Blackout Sam is their best song since Entitlement Crew. Definitely fond of this one. Watching set lists get posted after the summer shows, it occurred to me that Blackout Sam into Resurrection would be an amazing transition toward the end of a set.
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Post by orzelc on Sept 10, 2019 5:22:57 GMT -5
I just spent a bunch of time processing photos from our recent vacation, and I'm getting better at my expensive hobby-- 300 decent photos out of around 1800 total. These albums are a good reminder that I've still got a lot of room to improve...
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Post by orzelc on Aug 28, 2019 4:12:31 GMT -5
Shuffle play this morning served up "Sweet Jane" by the Velvet Underground and "Dirty Boulevard" by Lou Reed back-to-back, and the double shot of sweet Lou not-really-singing made me think that he's underrated as a Hold Steady comparison. Obviously, THS songs tend to be a bit more musically elaborate than the Velvets, but I'd really kind of like to hear what they'd make of "Romeo Had Juliette."
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Post by orzelc on Aug 20, 2019 16:36:17 GMT -5
Right before the bridge he says "It sounded like they're pretty much over it," so the narrator had previously done something to piss off the chef and the chauffeur, thus the set-up.
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Post by orzelc on Aug 20, 2019 6:46:35 GMT -5
Weirdly, I've enjoyed "You Did Good Kid" more listening to it on earbuds while walking the dog. I can crank it up a little louder in that context than I can get away with in the house with the wife and kids, and there's some cool stuff in the background.
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Post by orzelc on Aug 20, 2019 4:45:21 GMT -5
Weirdly, I've enjoyed "You Did Good Kid" more listening to it on earbuds while walking the dog. I can crank it up a little louder in that context than I can get away with in the house with the wife and kids, and there's some cool stuff in the background. Also, there was a point where the lyrics clicked as a story about a guy turning informant (stressed out and laughing awkwardly because he's wearing a wire to a meeting with drug dealers), which may or may not be the intent, but makes the song make more sense to me.
"Epaulets" is another one I'm a little iffy on, though I like the line about "dictator chic." That one reminds me of "Same Kooks" in that it's a little more revved-up than the others, tempo-wise, but doesn't do that much for me.
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Post by orzelc on Aug 17, 2019 18:36:03 GMT -5
The one I have a little trouble with is "You Did Good Kid," which is kind of weird and jagged. It's interesting to me though that everybody seems to have different answers to the question of favorite/least favorite track. And, for that matter, which of the previously released tracks that got left off should've been included (I'm voting for "Snake in the Shower"). That probably says something about the quality of the record, and where the band is at these days.
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Post by orzelc on Aug 16, 2019 11:31:50 GMT -5
I've been listening to it on loop all morning, while doing other stuff, and it's really good in a low-key way. There isn't anything in the new tracks that strikes me as transcendantly great, but at the same time, there isn't anything I want to skip, either. I probably would've liked to have "A Snake in the Shower" on there somewhere, but it's maybe too dark and weird to fit with the rest. And, you know, I have it in a playlist, so it's all good.
I am struck by the heavy use of horns, and wonder how they're dealing with that live. Guess I'll find out in December in Brooklyn...
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Post by orzelc on May 19, 2019 5:36:05 GMT -5
Steven Hyden at Uproxx is the current critic whose tastes run closest to mine, and he really talked up the new record by Pup, MORBID STUFF. It's not all brilliant, but the lead single "Kids" kicks ass: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iVrOOCYD80
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Post by orzelc on Jan 14, 2019 15:17:58 GMT -5
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Post by orzelc on Dec 28, 2018 6:45:05 GMT -5
They were pretty definite at the Brooklyn sound check that they don't plan to release an album, citing the bullshit associated with getting it on a label and so on. Craig did suggest that you could just save up all the singles to listen to at one time, to which Tad added a cheery "And then you can do the sequencing yourself!"
They do have at least one new song (played the night before, and again at the sound check), so I would expect another set of singles at some point, right before some upcoming show.
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Post by orzelc on Dec 21, 2018 5:32:09 GMT -5
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Post by orzelc on Dec 11, 2018 17:21:21 GMT -5
I've not made my way through the demos properly yet but I'm loving the bonus tracks. Hauler, like you said, is a straight up banger. I've never seen it live before and now it's probably the one I want to hear most. [/i][/quote] They played it in Brooklyn this year, which was nice. But I missed the Thursday Brooklyn show, when they played "Hot Fries", so that's probably my white whale now (well, that or "Oaks", which I doubt will happen.)[/quote] They did Hot Fries at the sound check on Friday in Brooklyn, which counts as, like, 80% of actually seeing it in a show. I think "Curves and Nerves" would be awesome to see live, but Rob Sheffield said he'd asked for it, and they said they really didn't remember it well enough to perform at the moment.
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Post by orzelc on Dec 11, 2018 8:42:02 GMT -5
Since I'm spending a lot of today self-promoting, I may as well drop a link here, too: my fourth book is out today in the US (the UK edition came out a little while back): www.amazon.com/Breakfast-Einstein-Physics-Everyday-Objects/dp/1946885355/This is another physics book for non-scientists, explaining some of the many ways that quantum physics manifests in the course of an ordinary morning: explaining why the heating element in your toaster glows that color red is the problem quantum mechanics was invented to explain, looking at cat photos on the Internet would be impossible without the particle nature of light (used in making digital cameras and lasers for fiber-optic telecom) and the wave nature of electrons (used to make computer chips), etc. Not a lot of Hold Steady content in this one, though I did listen to a lot of their music while powering through final edits...
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Post by orzelc on Dec 11, 2018 8:08:50 GMT -5
There's some discussion of this going on elsewhere, but it probably rates its own top-level thread, so...
A few things after a couple of days listening to the digital version of the reissue:
-- The extra backing vocal on "Constructive Summer" is really weird. Not sure what's up with that. I don't notice any unfamiliar parts on the other tracks.
-- Somehow, despite having bought this originally from vendors who now sell versions with bonus tracks, I didn't have versions of any of the extra tracks until now, so I'm psyched to get those. There's some interesting twists on their basic sound in those (which maybe ties in to the Franz comments in the "These Miracles Work" podcast...).
-- "Ballad of the Midnight Hauler" is a banger, though I can see why it doesn't fit on any of the albums.
-- Regarding the demos, it's interesting to hear how mumbly the vocals are on a lot of them. Which makes sense, because I think Craig's game-on shout/singing style probably takes a lot of energy that's not really worth expending on a demo track. I've been to a couple of sound checks in Brooklyn, and there's a similar vibe there-- this year, he was low-key enough that I was wondering if he was slightly sick.
-- Also interesting to hear how many of the demo versions have a LOT more words than the album versions. "Sequestered" in particular lost a lot of lyrics between demo and studio, and there was a bunch of additional stuff in "Cutters" that I can't quite make out due to the mumbly thing mentioned earlier. The studio versions are mostly better for the cuts, though there's the occasional brilliant bit (a line about "stiff drinks and rigid fingers" in "Sequestered" in particular).
Anyway, a good package of stuff. Between this and the Philly live show, plenty of stuff to listen to until it's time to switch over to Christmas music...
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Post by orzelc on Dec 11, 2018 6:21:29 GMT -5
Another thing that struck me is Franz's comments about the band and their style of music. It edged up to the border of almost being condescending, but luckily it didn't get there. Instead he was just frankly observing that the "Cheap Trick"/etc. style of guitar driven rock isn't really his thing. I appreciate his candour. Yeah, the phrase "that choogling guitar thing that they like" was pretty striking. You can really see why the producers felt the need to get follow-up from Craig.
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Post by orzelc on Dec 9, 2018 20:18:15 GMT -5
the lyrics in "wait awhile" have always made me wince a little bit. never been a huge fan of the song because of it. There's an interview somewhere where Craig talks about falling into a rut of writing advice songs, and how most of them are sort of regrettable. I think "Wait a While" has a pretty good hook, but I wish he'd come up with better words to go with it. I got a little eye-rolly over the bit in the podcast complaining about "Slapped Actress," because I'm not convinced that particularly stands out among all the shady drug dealers and pimps and violent skinheads in the Hold Steady cosmology. But, you know, that's part of why I'm not a critic...
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Post by orzelc on Dec 6, 2018 19:53:18 GMT -5
I was just coming here to see if anybody had posted about this...
I've enjoyed the episodes so far, though one weird problem I keep having is mistaking Franz's voice for Tad's.
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Post by orzelc on Dec 4, 2018 5:26:58 GMT -5
Great post/recap Chad! Thanks for ID’ing Lido Shuffle too Best of luck on the new book! Ryan (from San Diego) This will sound very strange, but my favourite single moment from the weekend was singing along to Lido with a very large portion of the crowd as the band walked onto the stage on Friday night. That moment was filled with so much fun and excitement and anticipation and energy. What a time. Thanks for this write up, OP. I was initially slightly disappointed not to get the Spanish "Yankee Rose," just because that's so weird, but "Lido Shuffle" is a brilliant choice for them. Also, "Banging Camp" was a great way to open.
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Post by orzelc on Dec 4, 2018 5:23:43 GMT -5
How was the brand new song they played? I haven't been able to find video of it anywhere, but I hope it means we'll be getting more studio material soon. I was at Night 1 and Night 4 - both were fantastic shows. They really made an effort to mix up the sets, and it was great to see some cuts I'd never heard after many shows. Some of those Stay Positive deep cuts need to stay in the rotation, because they sounded great. The new song was good, very much in line with the recent releases. Probably closer to "Esther" or "Entitlement Crew" than "Snake in the Shower" or "The Stove and the Toaster" in that it's not that dark or loud. It's a little hard to judge from the sound check, though. Craig commented on the new material at the Q&A, saying that they're really enjoying releasing music this way: "You don't have to book a studio for thirty days and get together fifteen tracks then send it off to the label to spend four months doing... whatever it is." I wouldn't count on these getting pulled together into an album, but I'd be surprised if we didn't get a couple of new tracks in the near future. Once they're done putting out live bootlegs, anyway...
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Post by orzelc on Dec 3, 2018 10:05:32 GMT -5
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Post by orzelc on Dec 3, 2018 9:05:30 GMT -5
Here's a quick blog post about my trip down for Friday's walking tour, sound check, and show. Would've been up sooner, but I had to head out early Saturday to help with the kids (ended up driving them another hour north for some early-season skiing), and needed most of Sunday to recover... Shout-out to Brendan who recognized me from my Twitter userpic and said hi.
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Post by orzelc on Dec 1, 2018 17:40:28 GMT -5
Re: downloads, at the soundcheck event yesterday, they did "One for the Cutters," and Craig mentioned that they had found an early demo of it which was titled "Creepy Harpsichord Jam." In talking about the demos, he said something like "I guess it's going to be on the digital version..." so I'm hoping that in the not too distant future they'll be selling the extra tracks in electronic form.
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Post by orzelc on Nov 30, 2018 19:27:46 GMT -5
A wop bop ba-lu-bop...
(Probably the last time it's worth doing this, so I'll leave you with that awful mental image...)
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