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Post by tableinthecorner on Jan 29, 2021 10:56:01 GMT -5
I agree that the guitars are significantly weaker than they were live, but, overall, I'm very happy with how this turned out. From "we're at the table..." on, the song is absolutely perfect, in my opinion. I can't wait for the rest of the album
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 30, 2021 15:39:36 GMT -5
Yeah, it's growing on me. I think I would prefer it if it were even heavier and/or groovier, but the general atmosphere of the song is great.
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Post by doctoracula on Feb 1, 2021 7:51:12 GMT -5
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Post by mycoversblown on Feb 10, 2021 13:47:14 GMT -5
Nice capsule review from AllMusic: The Hold Steady returned to action in 2019 with Thrashing Thru the Passion, an album that functioned as a clearinghouse of sorts as it featured several songs originally released as digital singles and EPs in the years prior to the LP's release. Its swift sequel, Open Door Policy, is another beast entirely. Written and recorded as a cohesive album, Open Door Policy feels like the Cinemascope cousin to Thrashing Thru the Passion: the Hold Steady take full advantage of their larger canvass. Often, this amounts to vigorous splashes of color and muscular flexes from the sextet, their ebb and flow following the dense yet openhearted narratives from Craig Finn. The individual songs on Open Door Policy don't quite add up to a cohesive story. Rather, they're a series of connected sketches and portraits, all addressing individuals adrift in an age of alienation. Finn's words deserve concentration, but the key to Open Door Policy is how it plays as an operatic rock & roll record, where the emphasis lies more on the melodrama than the grit. Perhaps this slowing pace is the inevitable side effect of middle age -- it's harder to rant and rave than it was two decades earlier -- or perhaps it's a conscious decision to mirror the material. Either way, by focusing on bringing light and shade into the margins, the Hold Steady wound up with an album that feels vivid and alive; it's as if the songs themselves have a life outside of the recording.
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Post by mycoversblown on Feb 10, 2021 13:50:57 GMT -5
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Post by star18 on Feb 10, 2021 16:35:04 GMT -5
Skepticalatfirst:
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Post by actslapless on Feb 11, 2021 0:08:09 GMT -5
Slant gave Punisher 4 stars, so based on that this album is an 11/10
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Post by muzzleofbees on Feb 11, 2021 2:29:37 GMT -5
"“I no longer see the romance in these ghosts,” Finn sings on “Unpleasant Breakfast.” With its skeletal verses, which ride on a simple, blunt beat, and a rollicking bridge that comes out of nowhere, the track serves as a deconstruction of what the Hold Steady has been doing since the start of their career. The song’s individual pieces—including horns and a repetitive siren—feel like they’ve been torn from the band’s classics and collaged together to form something that’s both familiar and new"
Yes! The weird, different, but yet so familiar centerpiece.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Feb 11, 2021 7:51:36 GMT -5
Skepticalatfirst: She said it more succinctly than I could have :-) But yeah, we know Shepard is back, and I figure we'll see what else is there soon enough. Good times!
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Post by actslapless on Feb 12, 2021 11:25:22 GMT -5
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Post by kayfaberaven on Feb 12, 2021 13:47:24 GMT -5
Oh, man, skepticatfirst ain't gonna like this from Craig, when talking about SepSun: "I came up with the overarching concept, which I had done before a little bit on the last Lifter Puller record, so I knew we could pull it off." -a little bit on the last Lifter Puller record -a little BIT on the last Lifter Puller record -a LITTLE BIT on the last Lifter Puller record -a LITTLE BIT on the LAST Lifter Puller record -etc.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Feb 12, 2021 14:10:39 GMT -5
Oh, man, skepticatfirst ain't gonna like this from Craig, when talking about SepSun: "I came up with the overarching concept, which I had done before a little bit on the last Lifter Puller record, so I knew we could pull it off." -a little bit on the last Lifter Puller record -a little BIT on the last Lifter Puller record -a LITTLE BIT on the last Lifter Puller record -a LITTLE BIT on the LAST Lifter Puller record -etc. Hahaha, come on man! I admit, that's funny. I'm not too worried about Craig downplaying what he's up to in interviews ... he's on record lots of places as having bigger projects in mind, both for LP and THS. If anything, he should avoid burning the openly deprecating tics --- "a little bit," "pretty much," "sort of," "kinda" --- and save em for when he really wants em. :-) I just finished reading the interview (thanks actslapless for posting). Always love hearing Tad interviewed, the guy is just so fucking smart and funny, and this: has really got me psyched.
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Post by star18 on Feb 12, 2021 14:32:52 GMT -5
At this point, I feel like CF's constantly deflecting/downplaying of his overarching theme/characters is more or less a defense mechanism so that every interview doesn't turn into "but what REALLY happened to Holly?"
He's made a few offhand mentions about moving away from the main characters over the years, but even if you use the absolute strictest bar of looking for their literal names, the "Heaven" bonus tracks shut that idea down.
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Post by doctoracula on Feb 12, 2021 23:29:07 GMT -5
It was cool to hear those names in “wonderful struggle” but also made me wonder if that song was cut from the album specifically for that reason
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Post by skepticatfirst on Feb 13, 2021 8:38:27 GMT -5
At this point, I feel like CF's constantly deflecting/downplaying of his overarching theme/characters is more or less a defense mechanism so that every interview doesn't turn into "but what REALLY happened to Holly?" He's made a few offhand mentions about moving away from the main characters over the years, but even if you use the absolute strictest bar of looking for their literal names, the "Heaven" bonus tracks shut that idea down. That's a really good point about the bonus tracks. I think you're right about him playing defense, and not just for interviews; I think he's trying to protect the living mystery of the thing, which suffers at a certain point if you're too direct about who's doing what. (There was never a time when he didn't use a lot of ambiguous pronouns; you could argue that he's just gone from doing that most of the time, to all of the time.) I also believe him when he says (and I can't find a quote, but he said it in a few different interviews back in the Teeth Dreams era) that dropping the character names makes it easier for listeners to read something of themselves into the songs; it's a way of opening things up to a wider audience.
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Post by star18 on Feb 13, 2021 16:08:08 GMT -5
It was cool to hear those names in “wonderful struggle” but also made me wonder if that song was cut from the album specifically for that reason "Beer on the Bedstand" also gives us "Hallelujiah," "Mother Mary," and an unnamed-but-c'mon-it's-Charlemagne ("sweet stuff in his socks"). But yeah I agree with that take. Really, ever since the beginning, it seems like some of the most important/obvious "story" songs get left off each album. Thinking about Holly's trip in "Curves," the reason why Charlemagne is in money trouble, in "You Gotta Dance," etc. Makes the story even more obscure/unknowable if you don't go past the studio releases.
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Post by doctoracula on Feb 14, 2021 8:14:34 GMT -5
The first time I heard “Curves” a long long time ago, I was floored. Partially because it’s an amazing song that I hadn’t heard yet, but also because it added new elements to the story!
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Post by thehudsonsteady on Feb 15, 2021 4:49:28 GMT -5
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Post by blackoutsam on Feb 16, 2021 8:28:01 GMT -5
Anyone have an idea of when the vinyl will start shipping out? I will obviously be streaming ODP as soon as I wake up on Friday but I am way more excited to get it on the record player!
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Post by actslapless on Feb 16, 2021 9:52:14 GMT -5
Latest insta post on the band page says; *If you’ve already ordered Open Door Policy directly from The Hold Steady merch store, all vinyl and CD’s are on schedule to ship this week
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Post by star18 on Feb 16, 2021 9:58:44 GMT -5
Anyone have an idea of when the vinyl will start shipping out? I will obviously be streaming ODP as soon as I wake up on Friday but I am way more excited to get it on the record player! I got an alert yesterday that mine has shipped. Looks like it's coming from (hopefully not too hostile) MA.
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Post by actslapless on Feb 16, 2021 10:52:36 GMT -5
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john k
Midnight Hauler
Posts: 2,035
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Post by john k on Feb 16, 2021 15:18:21 GMT -5
Just got a mail to say mine has shipped. Doubt it will arrive this week what with Brexit, covid and an imminent alien invasion
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Post by muzzleofbees on Feb 16, 2021 16:09:30 GMT -5
I can see Unpleasant Breakfast dividing opinions. I’ve had a little sneaky listen, and have to say I absolutely love it. And totally agree on Lanyards and Riptown being among the best tracks.
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Post by star18 on Feb 16, 2021 17:15:19 GMT -5
I can see Unpleasant Breakfast dividing opinions. I’ve had a little sneaky listen, and have to say I absolutely love it. And totally agree on Lanyards and Riptown being among the best tracks. "We had some sneaky little listens . . . we had those all-ages hardcore matinee shows." (I'm at the point where I've mainlined so much THS in the last few years that my brain just makes everything a CF lyric)
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