|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 7, 2022 14:17:04 GMT -5
I also think Clear Heart Full Eyes is less coherent than what came after it, and I guess that's natural for a debut album. It also feels like a reaction to Hold Steady in some ways - I get the sense that the entire band is holding back a little, deliberately not making it into capital R rock. I think Craig has related that he hired the producer over the phone and then went down to Texas to meet the band. They immediately started recording and got everything done in a short amount of time (don't remember exactly...4 days? A week?). So it's not surprising that the music is the weakest part of the album.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 6, 2022 19:00:03 GMT -5
I haven't listened to Clear Heart as an album in a long long time but I think it very much has an element of it being a bunch of individual songs rather than a collection making up an album - everything post CHFE seems more like an album with a specific style. Dave Hause is the exact same with his solo album releases too. As for Jackson, it's actually one of my favourite Craig Finn solo songs - definitely Top 5. Interestingly you say it's placed inside a good run of songs which looks like it includes New Friend Jesus - now that's one I just don't see the appeal of. There's a guitar (maybe a pedal steel?) going throughout it that just really really irritates me. I really like Jackson too, especially the way it builds, and the last verse is just great.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Mar 16, 2022 12:23:52 GMT -5
So far this thread is reminding me that I know Craig's songs, but I don't really know the names of all of them. ..
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Mar 14, 2022 13:17:53 GMT -5
Just popping in to say I'm looking forward to this.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Feb 23, 2022 13:18:06 GMT -5
Folks, I still have a ticket for Friday night. I'm not looking for any $$$ for it, I just don't want it to go to waste. So if you can use it, and maybe if you're willing to donate a bit of $$$ to a charity you like, DM me.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Feb 15, 2022 12:31:52 GMT -5
Hi folks. I have 1 ticket for each of Friday and Saturday night in London that I can't use. If anyone can use them, please DM me.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Nov 29, 2021 12:16:26 GMT -5
Does anyone know a good place to stay near the shows? My wife and I are driving down early Wednesday for the first 3 nights. We'll probably try to get an Airbnb...they didn't look too bad when I last checked. More expensive and smaller than London, but still ok. It was two years ago my brother took us to our first Hold Steady show. The first night when the Figgs opened for them and we were both blown away. Met some awesome people there (Hi Jonas). Then Josh and I being inspired by Jonas' tales of traveling from Norway to Brooklyn booked flights and tickets for London made it back right before Covid exploded. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend that time at those shows with him. We again ran into Jonas and crew again in London and went out for beers after...it was great. Sadly, Josh is no longer with us, but we will be carrying on in his memory this week. I'm picturing him smiling down on us at these shows. Unfortunately, hotels near the venue are expensive. If you still don't have something booked, you could check Hotwire to see if there are any last minute deals (I just checked and it looks like there may not be any great deals). If the main purpose for your trip is the shows, if you can swing it then staying in Williamsburg or Greenpoint is convenient - often walking distance to the venue, and easy to go to Lake Street Bar after for the after-party if you're so inclined. This year we splurged and are staying at one of the hotels right across the street from BB.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Nov 17, 2021 11:07:44 GMT -5
Any scene reports from this weekend? Scene reports seem to mostly be over on Facebook (check out the group The Hold Steady Positive-Posting) and on the band's own social media. Their Twitter account put out each of the set lists, and below is a c&p from their Facebook post this morning: Hi Everyone, The Hold Steady had a pretty incredible re-entry into real live shows this past weekend. A huge thanks is due to First Avenue for hosting us and to everyone who came out to the shows. We couldn’t have imagined it any better. Not sure we could have scripted a better place to return than the First Avenue main room, site of a bunch of great THS shows in the past but none since 2012. This show was originally scheduled for the clubs 50th anniversary in May 2020 but….things got in the way. Still, there was a celebratory vibe in the place even at soundcheck. We got to see Conrad, the legendary club stage manager and a few other old old friends. The sense of anticipation was palpable. The club filled up and we got treated to awesome opening sets by locals Kiss The Tiger and Gully Boys. We took the stage to Barry Manilow’s “Looks Like We Made It’”, the curtain rose and Tad hit the opening riff from Constructive Summer….we’re back. The audience was amazing, great energy, singing and dancing. We played a few songs off our 2021 record Open Door Policy and we were joined on a bunch of songs by the Twin Cities outpost of Horn Steady (Thanks Nelson & Jake!). Such a great return to the stage and we got to do it two more times the next day. The double header in the Entry is a throwback to the classic shows of the 80s where bands would play a 4pm all ages show and a 9pm 21+1 show. It always feels like the correct way to do the Entry, if possible. The room filled up in the afternoon to the sounds of our friend Bruce McGuire's DJ set. We opened up with Positive Jam and it was a positive jam indeed. We played a few “new” songs too, I think it might have been the first version of “Spices” in front of a live audience. The crowd was great, crowded in but really friendly and fun. One down, one more to go. Predictably, the evening show was a little bit wilder, but still a very respectful audience, and a great way to finish up the weekend. Our old pal Lori Barbero played jams from her amazing record collection as the people came in. We opened with Hornets, a local reference obviously. The set took off from there. It featured the live debut of “Unpleasant Breakfast” and got a chorus of “WOOOs” which was pretty hilarious. We also broke out “Parade Days” for the first time in the encore. Someone threw out a bunch of piano key ties during “T-Shirt Tux” which was pretty awesome. Confetti flew too. We brought it home with Killer Parties and it was, of course, a killer party. A huge thanks to Minneapolis/St.Paul for being a spiritual home to the band, First Avenue & 7th St Entry for the being the best rock club in the world, and to everyone who came from near and far to celebrate our return. It was an absolute joy. See you soon Brooklyn. This year is going to be big. Thanks for listening, Thanks for understanding. Stay Positive. THS
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Oct 15, 2021 12:21:29 GMT -5
I managed to get Friday and Saturday, but not Moth Club or pub quiz. So it looks like I'm coming in from Vancouver for 2 shows...seems dumb but here we are.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Oct 12, 2021 12:17:35 GMT -5
I'm seriously considering making the trek from the West Coast of Canada for this. Can anyone share a bit more insight about the quiz event? That sort of thing usually isn't my scene. For context, I did the soundcheck at the Brooklyn Bowl once, and I enjoyed it somewhat BECAUSE it was kind of awkward, if that makes sense?
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Aug 16, 2021 11:51:07 GMT -5
Y'all got the email, right?
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Jun 10, 2021 11:04:42 GMT -5
Parade Days is hard to rate for me for some reason, probably just need to spend more time with it I almost exclusively listen to ODP on CD in the car (and it's pretty much the only thing I listen to in the car when I drive, to the extent that my family has started complaining), so I fear that Parade Days will end up being a forgotten song for me since it's not on the CD.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on May 16, 2021 21:07:50 GMT -5
I've had a great time when I've gone to THS shows alone, although I usually end up drinking too much. The worst was when my friend bailed last minute (long story...he showed up at the airport without his passport...did he do so intentionally to get out of going, or was it an honest mistake? I'll never know) right before my cross-country red-eye to JFK, followed by a drive to Asbury Park for the THS/DBT double-bill Friday night. Because I was alone with nothing to do, I was drinking in the sun on the boardwalk by noon and by the time the show started that night I was a wreck. The lack of sleep plus the hangover made the Saturday trek from Asbury Park-->Manhattan-->Long Island to see THS/DBT again that night a bataan death march, But, no regrets.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 16, 2021 10:42:20 GMT -5
#26: HEAVY COVENANTThey way each instrument are introduced, how they never compete for space, and while adding layer after layer, the song stays fresh, breezy and listenable.
This, exactly, especially on headphones. I've mentioned this in a few places, but by the end of the song it sounds like there are at least 20 different sounds sharing the same space without overwhelming one another. Also, I'm still convinced the main guy in the song is cheating on his wife while out on his business trips, finding drugs and "friends" based on this: I'm sorry but my meeting got delayed /I'm going to be another night. It's phrased differently than earlier in the song when they're calling the front desk: we're going to need another night / We're going to stay a second night.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 15, 2021 21:22:00 GMT -5
#26: HEAVY COVENANTThey way each instrument are introduced, how they never compete for space, and while adding layer after layer, the song stays fresh, breezy and listenable.
This, exactly, especially on headphones. I've mentioned this in a few places, but by the end of the song it sounds like there are at least 20 different sounds sharing the same space without overwhelming one another.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 15, 2021 21:17:52 GMT -5
#29: SLAPPED ACTRESSAnother album closer i needed to experience in lots of different ways before I really fell for it. At first, I thought it was a victim of the darkness and resentment in Stay Positive in general. It’s pretty dark and massive, and leaves little room or space for contemplation - except for when the band tells you to, in a way. Franz’ very, very emotional piano, and the “Sometimes actresses get slapped…” part (also, really, everything Franz contributes in general here, he add so much sadness into a very massive and full song). But then it’s kind of at the band’s wish. You don’t get to decide for yourself, they lead you through the pre-destined emotions.
Two things changed this: 1) As with Southtown Girls, experiencing it live, along with 1500 other people. Not just the woo-hooa’s at the end, but just being in a room full of people, and to feel this song ring through my entire body. And 2) getting completely lost in the beyong magnificent Here Goes thread on this very message board, five years ago. I can’t pinpoint exactly what in it who made Slapped Actress feel special, but it made me appreciate Hold Steady even more, and on a level I’d never thought was possible. It changed my perspective on so many things, and off course, the lyrics specifically. At first it was just a quest, solve the riddle. Afterwards it have made me able to dwell on single lines, single words even, in a way that’s both strangely fulfilling and extremely exciting.
Long digression, but in short: Slapped Actress have grown into a gigantic song for me. It’s still a little too much fanfare and power, and a little bit to little of subtlety or nuance, but it’s alright. It’s this kinda song, and it does what it’s supposed to do in a pretty much perfect way. A great set closer, a great album closer, emotionally heavy and really hitting you over the head in all the right ways. Final points: - Back in 2008, I bought Opening Night on DVD, but I never got around to watch it. It's interesting that this movie is referenced so heavy in two separate Stay Positive songs - Hats off to yet another conversational style lyric, with only one part of the converstaion cited. I've said it many times before, but this is so good writing. This is sacrilege, but I prefer Slapped Actress to Killer Parties, and I think it would be a fine closer in place of KP on some nights during 3 or 4 night stands.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 10, 2021 12:52:37 GMT -5
#49: HOT FRIESI came late to the party (pun partially intended) on this one, and I think that’s part of the reason it still sounds fresh to me. It’s one of the rockiest songs in the entire catalog, all fuzz and no afterthought. And it’s one of the songs in the catalog closest to Lifter Puller, in my opinion. A counterpart to Secret Santa Cruz.
I’m not sure if I would call it “simple”, but it’s very straight forward, still carefully constructed in the way that it keeps building energy and intensity. The chourses feels like such a release, even if they just bang along in the same style as the verses. The Big Moment for me is when they turn the screw another turn when they kick off the final part, the “It’s my party and I’ll die if I want to” - which is also a contender for the most Hold Steady-esqe line of all Hold Steady lines.
I would live to hear this live, I think it would be such a blast. And I keep putting it on playlists, intended to show what Hold Steady is all about. Final points: - There's plenty of references to getting "fried" in the Hold Steady lyrics, but if I remember right, there's not many mention of "fries" at such? This also feels like a callback to Lifter Puller, with the "we loaded up on the curly fries" line - At Massive Nights 2017 they sold a really cool grey shirt with an Andy Capp and Hot Friest theme. I use it pretty frequently Totally agree that it would be a blast to hear this live, if only to hear what Steve and Tad could do with the guitar interplay, which really comes through for this song on my headphones. Also, maybe to hear if Craig would update the line about Elliot Smith because he's since said that it's too mean -- maybe he could change it to "Kanye West seems like a mess to me"?
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 9, 2021 17:50:23 GMT -5
#47: EPAULETSI fucking LOVED Epaulets when Thrashing arrived. The way we’re throwed straight into this hectic, hasty rush of rock’n’roll, and how the band suddenly come into focus at “…it’s sweet, cause I’m a sucked for the dictator chic”. It’s a song I’m at some point of my life would have found a little to messy. It offers no real place to getting to know the song, it starts off, and you’re suddenly in the middle of everything. I think I’m more able to appreciate it know, just roll along and feel the rush.
But it’s not exactly noise rock either, there’s plenty of pop sensibilites here. I think the chours, both melodically, but especially how they do it arrangment wise, is pretty perfect. It reminds me of some of the stuff they do in Spinners, which is a magnificent example of pop sensibilites mixed with great musicianship and wise production choices. Epaulets isn’t all the way up there, but it does the same thing.
At certain points the past two years, I could have ranked this way higher. When I’ve pushed it at little further down the list, it’s because that inital rush wears a little bit off, the excitement over the hectic blaze fades a little on repeated listens. I still think it’s a great song, though, and I greatly appreciate that this also was a part of Hold Steady’s arsenal when they returned for real. Final points: - "Epaulets", the word, joined a list of words I had to google when I first read it, and therefore also the list of english words Hold Steady have though me the meaning of (see also: Sequestered, transverberate and others) - In an interview a few years back, Craig talks about his childhood memories of hearing Slip Slidin' Away, and I can't help thinking that the "Dolores" is a reference back to that one I completely agree with being thrown straight into this song. The first half dozen times I listened to it, my brain couldn't quite catch up to the sounds at the start of the song, and it just sounded like noise until they get to "It's sweet...". Now that my brain knows what to expect from the outset, it's not an issue any more. Weird.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 8, 2021 17:19:34 GMT -5
#50: ALMOST EVERYTHINGI’ve never really listened much to Led Zeppelin, but this is kinda what they sounded when they turned the amps down, right? The whole song has a very retro feeling to me - something about the sound on the guitars, the druggy and hazy fog surrounding everything, Craig singing from a dream like state. Everything seems super slo mo, alright.
All of this elevates what at it’s core is a really beautiful song into something even more moving. There’s a subtext here, not only in the nostalgia and sadness, but also in the sound and the almsot physical notion of something out of reach, or something long lost.
It’s strange how this feels like a departure from the rest of Teeth Dreams, being so light and acoustic, but the way the song’s played and produced, makes it very capital-R Rock anyway. This isn’t just an acoustic song, it’s the type of acoustic song a juggernaut rock band would make. Hence the Zeppelin vibe. Final points: - I think it's a far too simple reading, but the first time I heard this, I couldn't help thinking there was a nod to Franz here. Craig have talked about it in interviews later on, that he felt Teeth Dreams lacked keys. And even when it arrived, these lines felt like they already admitted it: "Remember the feeling, remember the sessions/ how we made a connection/ the lambs from my dreams looking up at your hands/ your hands pointing up at the sky". It's far more plausible that it points back to the broader narrative, but my inital thought was "Franz". - There's an unparalelled soreness in the "I can hear you breathe" part For the longest time, when I went to bed and needed a distraction to fall asleep, Almost Everything was my go-to. Usually I'd be asleep before the song ended, and if not then I get to go right into Oaks. I'm not sure I've ever still been awake by the time Oaks ends.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Apr 7, 2021 15:00:11 GMT -5
#71: WE CAN GET TOGETHERI’m not sure if there’s a collective opinion about We Can Get Together among fans. To me it seems like the song is a little forgotten. At the time it came out, it felt a little disappointing. Not only did it follow First Night and Lord I’m Discouraged (the big ballad at track #5), and did it in a very much more low key way. But it was also Hold Steady’s lushest, most rounded song to date. Everything about it is warm, cozy and embracing, all the way up to the angel choir near the end. If fans rejected it, I can understand why.
10 years later, I think it’s easier to really appreciate it as something different. An honest attempt on writing a heartfelt and shiny anthem to listening to music in a room together. And the alternative version on the reissue is arguably even better.
It’s not a song who really tell people what Hold Steady is about, and it might not be a song very many people actively put on either. But it’s nice and sweet, and if you just accept what it really is, I think it’s easy to enjoy it too. Final points: - This was actually a highlight for me from The Weekender in March. I didn't expect much when they went into it, but it turned out as a really majestic and big song, which I massively liked. I seem to remember a similar reaction from hearing it in a real live setting a couple of years back too, and I'm pretty sure it boils down to something Steve and Franz is cooking up. Neither of them played on the recorded version, and they've both talked about the fun in finding space for themselves in these songs they didn't originally take part in. I need to go back and check exactly what was so thrilling about it, but this is a decent guess, I think. I never really thought much about this song - it was average at best. But then the pandemic hit, and they played it during one of the Massive Nights in December, and I'd had just the right amount of booze, and the sound was perfect through my headphones, and other THS fans in the Zoom chat were getting emotional, and that moment was the closest a song has ever been to making me cry. There may have been some extra water in my eyes, but it never breached my eyelids! Also, "it’s nice and sweet" is what I always thought, but then I noticed Craig does the "business" air quotes when he sings "listen to your records" and now I'm not so sure.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Mar 21, 2021 20:08:11 GMT -5
[/quote]I certainly don't dive as deep on lyrics as you do, sir, [/quote] See what I mean? But I'm really glad that you're here...the part of the song that I can't quite wrap my head around, even using my own more vague, unconnected, narrative is the meaning of "To make with someone powerless". I can't figure out who it is that is powerless--unless it's just "powerless" in the sense of being subject to one's addictions.
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Mar 19, 2021 9:54:15 GMT -5
The guy in Heavy Covenant is cheating on his wife, right? I don't think so, but serious question: do you mean 1) the guy who could tell that it was difficult? 2) the guy who said he'll ask about that other stuff? 3) the guy who sells software made for offices? 4) the guy who sings the songs? 5) the guy up in some music club? 6) the taxi driver? I certainly don't dive as deep on lyrics as you do, sir, but my reading is that the guy who could tell that it was difficult is the guy who sells software made for offices. He's also the same guy who found his friend on the phone and is at the Hotel Mariposa with the wine glass and the ashtray. He's having a drug-fueled hook-up with that "friend" so he calls his wife (or significant other) and says "I'm sorry my meeting got delayed/I'm going to be another night."
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Mar 18, 2021 12:47:52 GMT -5
The guy in Heavy Covenant is cheating on his wife, right?
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Mar 16, 2021 17:20:03 GMT -5
[/quote]“ Third act takes place in a wormhole” - 2001: a space odyssey [/quote]
But was 2001 loud, dumb and bloody? Or is Craig being ironic?
|
|
|
Post by kayfaberaven on Mar 7, 2021 20:12:33 GMT -5
I know they did the full album show but I couldn't watch that due to time zones and it was the one thing that sadly hasn't been archived. I don't want to rub it in, but it was really great to hear them do the full album front to back. I was impressed that they were able to play them all so well live.
|
|