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Post by dmwhalen on Apr 16, 2021 14:31:22 GMT -5
#7, spot on. This will be a stalwart closer at the rock shows.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 17, 2021 3:03:42 GMT -5
#6: MOST PEOPLE ARE DJS
As we’re approaching the very top of this list, the songs turn into something more than songs, but rather symbols of all the things that make me love Hold Steady. I’ve written so much about Almost Killed Me already, but I think this might be the pinnacle of the free-flowing, rocking, careless sound of Tad and Craig watching The Last Waltz together, and deciding to start a band.
Cause that’s what Most People Are DJs is to me: An exhibition of how amazing it can be, being in a room with your friends, playing loud music together. Just the sheer thrill of creating sound and noise together, finding the right groove, connecting. DJs isn’t an impressive compostion, it’s a thumping rock song, but it has this euphoric vibe in it that turns it into not ony a great song, but a testament to what ideas who make up the core of this band. And it shines through in almost every little part: The exact moment when the massive intro turns into the sweet riff, that little part where Tad’s guitar kind of descend into the riff, before the needle hits the groove for real, the little crack in Craig’s voice when he starts off (mind you, THIS is how he starts this song off) with “Hold steady, Ybor City!”, all the way to the blazing solo at the end, who’s just as thrilling as it is dumb.
On a more intellectual level, DJs conveys several themes we’ll get to know well later on: The idea of people being DJs, putting on their own records in opposite of being the passive listener to other people’s music, is pretty much the same as “we are our only savious/ we’re gonna build something this summer”. The image of kids looking into the abyss, bloody, druggy and with broken bones, but still feeling “pretty sweet”. The positive spin on bad events, through the metaphor of “hot soft spots on a hard rock planet”, who effectively is about being a good force, even if the world is a tough place.
Final points:
- Though I think the whole "coregraphy" of this song on stage is pretty cool (the way Craig break up the solo duelling, the little speech, the fast clapping) I would very much like to - for once - just hear this as a coherent piece of music. To just be in it for 6 minutes. That would be great. - I can't go through them all, but reading the lyrics once again, I'm just baffled of how much of this is mirrored (directly or indirectly) in the rest of the lyrics. Spend some time with it, think it through. It's very rewarding.
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Post by thehudsonsteady on Apr 17, 2021 5:56:33 GMT -5
I always think the guitar solo at the end of 'Most people...' is almost laugh out loud funny, it's so over the top, and the way the song just ends like the tape ran out adds to the daftness. Love this one, for a hard confrontational song I'm surprised you've put it this high, Muzzle!
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 17, 2021 13:28:07 GMT -5
I always think the guitar solo at the end of 'Most people...' is almost laugh out loud funny, it's so over the top, and the way the song just ends like the tape ran out adds to the daftness. Love this one, for a hard confrontational song I'm surprised you've put it this high, Muzzle! Haha, yes, I agree. It's just so comical. I think this is the solo they talk about in the aforementioned podcast series. Tad came back to the studio after a break from the sessions, drunk out of his mind, and could barely stand up while he did the solo. I think he went on for minutes. And, yeah, it might be a break with what I've said earlier. But it don't feel that hard/heavy/cold to me - rather the opposite. Musically, it's pretty hard, but there's just something about the playfulness, both in Tad's guitar and Craig's singing, it's like they do the entire song with big smiles on their faces. I also feels there's a little joke in the hard-ness here, like they signal that they know they push the Big Rock thing a bit to far, but with love and joy. And that transmits to the song itself too, in a way.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 17, 2021 13:43:35 GMT -5
#5: BANGING CAMP
Getting older makes it harder to remember, but when I try to think back to spring 2007, I think this one stands out for me. I fell in love with Boys And Girls late in 2006, and spent the winter getting to know Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday. It wasn’t very hard to get it, and pretty quickly I adored them just as much as Boys And Girls. It was like breaking a code. This wasn’t just about the thrill of each song, it was something deeper, like Craig Finn was on a mission. I didn’t managed to wrap my head around any of the narrative stuff, it was more a sense of the aforementionend ideology, the project, what he tried to communicate on a deeper lever.
Separation Sunday pretty quick stood out as the singular, perfectly balanced masterpiece it really is. And while it starts off extremely strong, everything is taken a notch up with Banging Camp. It adds another level of drama, and the feeling of something-at-stake, while once again draping it in this sentimental, romantic sense of looking back at something lost. The piercing riff is simple, but so damn effective, and when the rest of the band kicks in, it turns into a joyous rock-out with several level of emotions in the mix. The bridge is the pinnacle of the song, where everything ascends into something bigger. The worn-out party people seeking redemption and salvation, getting drowned and then born again - all over the course of a few lines. The band keep on building the drama and momentum, with the climax arriving in form of a full stop. And as with other songs, when the riff makes a comeback, it sounds twice as strong.
It’s a song who’s almost hard to describe my love for, and why I love it so much. It could be lack of imagination or words on my part, but I really think it boils down to the amount of Hold Steady-ness in the song. I’m not sure if it would have won me over as a radio listener, or introduced to the song by someone else. But turned on the right frequency, familier with what this shit really is about, it hits all the right buttons. The rush when I hear the band kick into the intro on stage, is pretty close to the best thing I know about this band.
Final points:
- It literally took me years to discover the "Lalalala"s in the instrumental part between the verses: I think I might discovered it in a live video on Youtube, and thought "wow, that's cool", and when returning to the album, I suddenly heard it - I absolutely love the "half naked and three quarters wasted" line. So simple and clever at the same time - Once again, Hold Steady show that a pause in the music can be so damn effective
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Post by thehudsonsteady on Apr 17, 2021 14:26:29 GMT -5
You've made my day putting BC so high! As you so rightly say, it's THS at their most THSiest, a simple riff, shouty vocals and some great lines. I think "I grew up in denial and went to school in Massachusetts" is my favourite line ever. You're so right about breaking a code, I first heard THS on 2006 when BAGIA was getting great reviews but I just couldn't find my way in, it was 4 years later that I 'got it' and like you I really fell hard for SS. You're on the final stretch and running strong, if you were a horse I'd put $900.on you.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 17, 2021 14:57:59 GMT -5
You've made my day putting BC so high! As you so rightly say, it's THS at their most THSiest, a simple riff, shouty vocals and some great lines. I think "I grew up in denial and went to school in Massachusetts" is my favourite line ever. You're so right about breaking a code, I first heard THS on 2006 when BAGIA was getting great reviews but I just couldn't find my way in, it was 4 years later that I 'got it' and like you I really fell hard for SS. You're on the final stretch and running strong, if you were a horse I'd put $900.on you. I can tell you: It was pretty close to wind up a couple of places higher too. I don't think I've found a good way of separating the first three songs of the top five. They are all on a separate tier just below, well, God mode, or something like that. I love that line about denial/Denial and Massachussetts too, it's just so well written. You'd think writers do that general/specific wordplay all the time, it just seems so obvious. But it's really hard to do well.
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veon
Cityscape Skin
Posts: 19
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Post by veon on Apr 17, 2021 21:23:54 GMT -5
#7: UNPLEASANT BREAKFASTYeah, I know, it might be premature. But I honestly think Unpleasant Breakfast is one of the very best songs Hold Steady have ever made. On a brand new album filled with elborate, complex and very organic music, this is the undisputed centerpiece, the emotional anchor and purest manifestation of the confidence and inventiveness in the band at this point in time, and also how they’re able to execute it with a finetuned fingerspitzgefühl.
There’s two major things at Unpleasant Breakfast’s core: Mystique and a strong feeling that this really matters. There’s just something in the slow burning arrangement who lays the fundament for Craig’s very speficic, yet very vague tale about someone who meant a lot to him once. Exactly what constitues this close relationship, and where it goes wrong, is hidden somewhere between the lines. But even when he puts the magnifying glass over the mundane, like coffe turned cold, you can sense the deep and conflicting emotions about the romance (of some kind) who now’s gone.
This is one of the musically most brave songs Hold Steady ever put to tape. The drum machine, the sparse needles of guitar who pokes holes in the monotony, and then the slow and very organic buildup. The accordion is a perfect companion to the maritime oriented lyrics, and the way they take it up a notch in the “chours” is so subtle and perfect. Suddenly we’re in a groovy but also sort of trippy mix of Primal Scream on Screamdelica and Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones. What the woo’s are supposed to signal (I’m pretty sure it’s seagulls, my 4 year old daugher thinks it’s horses, and we can both rely on the lyrics), but there’s both something ghost-y and a suggestion of the sea being the scenerey.
There’s a couple of lyrical masterpieces in here. The first one is the incredibly long sequence that starts with “That summer at the shoreline….” where we get dragged through an entire short story before the sentence even and. The last one is the eerie, yet funny part about the woman walking out into the water, turning around, and then getting photographed. Like this little scene is so life-changing and important that it warrants an entire verse.
Then, the music shifts, and we’re in for yet another surprise, as the song ends in a blazing (but also subdued) finale. In one way, it seems out of place, for a steady banger like to this, to change it up so late in the tale. On the other hand, it sounds like it just had to erupt into something like this. And when we finish off where we started - at the breakfast table - but everything’s changed, it’s like we’ve been to the moon an back in five minutes. Final points: - Reading the tracklist for Open Door Policty, it felt like a silly title, and I was a little afraid it would be a bit cocky rock-out. Turned out I was pleasantly wrong - Talking about heroin again, burn marks (from a spoon?) on the window sill, and being crazy about horses, is so straight forward drug talk that I almost wonder if it's about something else - I mentioned Screamadelica, and to be a little more specific, this reminds me of large parts of Come Together. There's even some of the horns in there who sounds like a reference to that. It might be a weird influence for the band, but not completely unlikely either, since Stone Roses are referenced in The Most Important Thing Open Door Policy wrapped upI guess it was a minor surprise that we weren't done with Open Door Policy already, and there's not much left too say. After all, it's a pretty fresh album, and when we've been through the songs, I feel a little done. For now, at least. There's not much extra material or tracks to mention here either, but there's two song for the album who didn't make it on the list: The first one is The Prior Procedure, and I think it was pretty close to make it on the list. I like it, but there's something a little off about the melody to me. Something in the same category as T-Shirt Tux or Navy Sheets. I think it's a cool album track, but it won't ever be a favourite of mine. The other one is Me And Magdalena, who I appreciate intellectually, but who doesn't get my heart beating. It's a little in the same style of the hectic/hard songs, some melodic warmth I miss. But it also picks up great energy throughout the song, and I like the latter part better than the first. Both of these song are remarkably well written, performed and arranged - there just this emotional component who doesn't sit quite right with me. I sure hope there's more songs from these sessions, that eventually will surface. The fact that Parade Days was left out due to not fitting the concept (I still don't quite get what that means) and being so damn good, gives hope for anything left in the vault. It sure feels good sitting here with a eight album from the band, and being able to add nine of the eleven songs on this top 100 list, though. I'm so glad it exists. I’ve had thoughts about this song kicking around in my head since it was first released. I wasn’t sure where to post, but I’ve decided to park my impressions here- hopefully the content of my post isn’t redundant or hasn’t already been posted... has anyone speculated that the woman in this song is the clairvoyant from Chips Ahoy and The Weekenders? There are no less than three references to horses in the song (‘says she’s crazy about horses still’, ‘so much power and grace’, ‘cover it with sawdust’). Plus one of the biggest hidden references is buying in ‘for a three for two’. In horse racing lingo, a three for two is a trifecta a type of bet that can be placed at the track. So that alludes that the characters in the song are betting on horse races. Now it appears that this song takes place in Miami (as referenced in the ‘South Ocean View’ line). There’s a horse track in Miami called Gulfstream Park West (GPW). The GPW horse racing season is from May to September, which would account for the line ‘first it’s April, than it’s August/it’s the cost of doing business’... right before racing season begins and then right before it ends. This would totally make sense if the woman in the story is indeed the clairvoyant we came to know and love and is making a living by betting on horses races in season. Now onto the other aspect of the story, the mental health aspect of the female character. It’s established early on that she is on anti-psychotic medications and she subsequently feels like a shell of herself (there are two lines that allude to this by the narrator). My guess is that her clairvoyance was mistaken for mental illness (e.g. delusions, auditory hallucinations, etc.) and she was subsequently prescribed said medications. The concept of clairvoyance is awesome as a story telling mechanisms, but I think Craig may have postulate what the female lead would have encountered in the reel world if she claimed to be psychic... being labeled as having psychosis and put on medications. As a result, she loses a significant part of her identify and self, feeling ‘marooned’ and like a ‘shell of what I once was. I think it may have even dampened her clairvoyant. I work in the mental health field and a common complaint of anti-psychotic medications are fogginess, feeling somewhat detached, lethargy, etc. The last thing: if in fact they three songs are linked, I’m not convinced the narrator is the same person as the narrator from Chips and Weekenders. That’s all, thanks for letting me purge my crazy theory... I’ll take off my tinfoil hat now!
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 18, 2021 1:38:45 GMT -5
I’ve had thoughts about this song kicking around in my head since it was first released. I wasn’t sure where to post, but I’ve decided to park my impressions here- hopefully the content of my post isn’t redundant or hasn’t already been posted... has anyone speculated that the woman in this song is the clairvoyant from Chips Ahoy and The Weekenders? I'm not sure if it's been widely discussed, but I think you're right. That makes her the same woman as in Yeah Sapphire too, which also features horse references ("You were feisty at first, but I broke you and I showed you the tempo"). And I'm pretty sure this is Mary. There's been some lyric/narrative chat in the Open Door Policy thread on the front page. And if you haven't yet, and have some spare time to dedicate, I would give a warm recommendation to Skepticatfirst's two eqaully huge as amazing threads.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 18, 2021 1:46:53 GMT -5
#4: HOW A RESURRECTION REALLY FEELS
There’s plenty of Hold Steady songs that rock out, and there’s plenty who’s wrapped in warmth and empathy. And there’s songs who tell a singular story, songs with snapshots spread out like polaroids on a table, and songs who ties the big picture all together. Resurecction is all of these things at one. It’s not so much the archetypical Hold Steady song as an amalgam of them all, if not musically, then most definitely emotionally. It’s a massive closer on a massive album, but it’s not braggy or capital B big. It’s just there: Near, emphatic and understanding, while still building the mystique, the romantiscism and the ever-returning bittersweet taste of triumph and defeat, all at the same time.
The band have once talked about how this was dubbed “The Southern Song” during the sessions. And while I can understand why, at least compared to the other songs out of the Separation Sunday sessions, I’d argue that it’s most of all The American Song. Not a cliché of a particular sound, genre or style, just a pretty pitch perfect sort-of-big midtempo song based on a little bit americana, some classic rock’n’roll, the vastness of the Midwest, the ambitions of the big cities, the everlasting dream of a idealized past and a brighter future. Damn right you’ll rise again, all right.
When they close out the shows with this song, a special vibe spreads in the audience. I get the impression that people go into a certain mode of gratitude and admiration, eager to be in the moment, to just feel the song. I could project own feelings onto my fellow fans here, but it brings a certain atmosphere that few songs does. And even though it’s a brilliant song in its own right, it probably wouldn’t be this near the top of the list if it didn’t have this special position in the mythology of Hold Steady. I said at the start of this ranking that I would try to evaluate each song as a Song, and not bring in too much context. But in this case, a lot of the context is so embedded in what it feels like listening to the song, that it’s pretty much two sides of the same coin.
And that reflects on how this band feels to a lot of us too, I would guess. The amazing music were obviously the starting point, but I would guess anyone dedicated enought to go to multiple shows, register on a message board like this, spending time actually reading lyrics, can agree that what Hold Steady have created outside the mere music, contribute to how, and how much we love the band. Resurrection is a very important part of that package for me.
Final points:
- I rarely consider Hold Steady as a "soulful" band, musically speaking, but that "walk on back" part certainly brings them close - The little glockenspiel (?) near the very end is a pretty perfect way to close a record like this. It reminds me a little of the very end of Be Here Now by Oasis, for anyone familiar with that
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Post by skepticatfirst on Apr 18, 2021 9:29:14 GMT -5
#4: HOW A RESURRECTION REALLY FEELSThere’s plenty of Hold Steady songs that rock out, and there’s plenty who’s wrapped in warmth and empathy. And there’s songs who tell a singular story, songs with snapshots spread out like polaroids on a table, and songs who ties the big picture all together. Resurecction is all of these things at one. It’s not so much the archetypical Hold Steady song as an amalgam of them all, if not musically, then most definitely emotionally. It’s a massive closer on a massive album, but it’s not braggy or capital B big. It’s just there: Near, emphatic and understanding, while still building the mystique, the romantiscism and the ever-returning bittersweet taste of triumph and defeat, all at the same time.
The band have once talked about how this was dubbed “The Southern Song” during the sessions. And while I can understand why, at least compared to the other songs out of the Separation Sunday sessions, I’d argue that it’s most of all The American Song. Not a cliché of a particular sound, genre or style, just a pretty pitch perfect sort-of-big midtempo song based on a little bit americana, some classic rock’n’roll, the vastness of the Midwest, the ambitions of the big cities, the everlasting dream of a idealized past and a brighter future. Damn right you’ll rise again, all right.
When they close out the shows with this song, a special vibe spreads in the audience. I get the impression that people go into a certain mode of gratitude and admiration, eager to be in the moment, to just feel the song. I could project own feelings onto my fellow fans here, but it brings a certain atmosphere that few songs does. And even though it’s a brilliant song in its own right, it probably wouldn’t be this near the top of the list if it didn’t have this special position in the mythology of Hold Steady. I said at the start of this ranking that I would try to evaluate each song as a Song, and not bring in too much context. But in this case, a lot of the context is so embedded in what it feels like listening to the song, that it’s pretty much two sides of the same coin. And that reflects on how this band feels to a lot of us too, I would guess. The amazing music were obviously the starting point, but I would guess anyone dedicated enought to go to multiple shows, register on a message board like this, spending time actually reading lyrics, can agree that what Hold Steady have created outside the mere music, contribute to how, and how much we love the band. Resurrection is a very important part of that package for me. Final points: - I rarely consider Hold Steady as a "soulful" band, musically speaking, but that "walk on back" part certainly brings them close - The little glockenspiel (?) near the very end is a pretty perfect way to close a record like this. It reminds me a little of the very end of Be Here Now by Oasis, for anyone familiar with that For the last batch of flawless songs you've done an amazing job of analyzing them in their entirety, sound, mood, storytelling, effect, the whole works. The Unpleasant Breakfast writeup was pretty groundbreaking, and now you've even made me go back and listen to Banging Camp and HaRRF again, which I wouldn't have thought I'd ever *need* to do. Great job. I'm sure I know what the final three songs are and I'm *really* curious now what you'll have to say about them. A few random reactions: - Pretty shocked to see UB so high but you make a great argument for it. I'm curious, when the dust settles on ODP, whether it'll still be above Entitlement Crew, or on a different axis of comparison, Heavy Covenant, in your estimation. - Banging Camp is a colossal song but for me it gets lost a little bit in the unreal stretch between YLHF and Stevie Nix, making it just slightly less of an anchor. Oddly, if there's a thing that makes its claim to off-the-charts greatness, in my mind it's probably the hold-your-breath moment, the silence in the middle of the music. So many other great moments in that song, though ... it's always going to live in the shadow of "denial/Massachusetts," but the whole verse about the black and tans, oh my god. "we don't got time to mix it all together/ I'm a very busy man, man ..." - I haven't actually done the ranking exercise for myself, but I'm pretty sure MPADJs is in my top 5. You really put it all together perfectly. You also hit on something with the handclap and break-it-up theatrics, about just wanting to be in the song all the way through, that I strongly agree with. Going back a long way, THS was often praised for refusing to engage in irony, and whether the praise was framed this way or not, the thing about that that seemed important to me was that they refused to lean on irony as a cheaply available defense against the cost of sincerity, if that makes sense. The problem with the live antics is that they kind of do the same thing. Stay Positive is a really, really heavy song; I'd like to get a chance to plumb the depths of that without Mosh Pit Josh stepping into the middle to ham it up. And MPADJs is so fucking joyful; maybe Tad on an unstoppable drunken guitar solo is as direct a channel to God as any of us are likely to hear in our lives. Why get in the way of that? Well, I've just said that it costs a lot; maybe it costs too much? I don't know, but like you I wish they'd let it all go once in a while. - Objectively, I think there's an argument to be made that HaRRF is their True #1. It's not my #1, and obviously not yours, but anybody who'd want to contend strongly that it's #1 isn't going to get any protest from me. I think you've done a really beautiful job of explaining why that is here. I'll add, and this is partly related to my comments on theater above, that Killer Parties, great as it is, has lost a good deal of its power as a show closer for me; HaRRF is a different deal and, as you say, really special. Greatest possible end to the greatest possible album. Looking forward to the rest.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 18, 2021 13:44:11 GMT -5
For the last batch of flawless songs you've done an amazing job of analyzing them in their entirety, sound, mood, storytelling, effect, the whole works. The Unpleasant Breakfast writeup was pretty groundbreaking, and now you've even made me go back and listen to Banging Camp and HaRRF again, which I wouldn't have thought I'd ever *need* to do. Great job. I'm sure I know what the final three songs are and I'm *really* curious now what you'll have to say about them. Thank you, it means a lot, coming from you. I've tried too steer away from the narrative implications in these texts, and focus a little more on the music, the emotions and words-as-words. But it's no secret that you have made me think new stuff again and again about these new songs, and a lot of that influence is in between the lines here. I'm really glad you like it. - I haven't actually done the ranking exercise for myself, but I'm pretty sure MPADJs is in my top 5. You really put it all together perfectly. You also hit on something with the handclap and break-it-up theatrics, about just wanting to be in the song all the way through, that I strongly agree with. Going back a long way, THS was often praised for refusing to engage in irony, and whether the praise was framed this way or not, the thing about that that seemed important to me was that they refused to lean on irony as a cheaply available defense against the cost of sincerity, if that makes sense. The problem with the live antics is that they kind of do the same thing. Stay Positive is a really, really heavy song; I'd like to get a chance to plumb the depths of that without Mosh Pit Josh stepping into the middle to ham it up. And MPADJs is so fucking joyful; maybe Tad on an unstoppable drunken guitar solo is as direct a channel to God as any of us are likely to hear in our lives. Why get in the way of that? Well, I've just said that it costs a lot; maybe it costs too much? I don't know, but like you I wish they'd let it all go once in a while. Yeah, this is a tough one for me to completely settle on. I really like some of the theatrics that have crept into the show (and feel obliged to mention that there was some of this going on all the way back in 2007 as well - Craig doing the little dance in Massive Nights, cutting his throats during Killer Parties, "so much joy", the speech in Hoodrat), but I think it has became more of it, and that it's a lot more visible now due to everything going online and people attending four nights in a row. I give than band a lot of slack on this. I know they're there to entertain people who don't see them all the time, and maybe once every other year. And I kind of accept the slight movement towards a legacy act, even if they keep on releasing new music, their shows are very much a celebration of the idea of Hold Steady. And when we talk about it, I seem to remember that the third shows of the London residencies, have been more straight up rock shows. I've been to two of them, at Oslo in 2019 and Bush Hall in 2020. Small, tight, intense shows, where the size of the stage doesn't give much room for some of the regular in-show acts. But it could also be that I was so drunk, and the crowd was so hectic and tight, that I just didn't catch it. We're soon at #1, so hang tight!
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 18, 2021 14:12:07 GMT -5
#3: SWEET PAYNE
It’s weird how easy it is to put 100 songs on a list, and then, 25 000 words later, struggle to actually justiy the entry of the third best song Hold Steady have made. But Sweet Payne is maybe the single song in the top 100 who’s mostly a feeling to me. Now, I’m forced (well, not really, but you know) to think through what that feeling actually is, and put it into words. So if this is sprawling, it’s because these thoughts are pretty new to me.
Sweet Payne feels pretty unique to me because of how fragile it sounds. There’s so much confidence in what Hold Steady usually put on, and I wouldn’t say they seem particulary shy here, but there’s a fumbling shakiness, like the song is being constructed right in front of our eyes. And this is underlined by Craig’s not exactly weary, but kind of tired, almost defeated delivery. There’s a surrender going on here, a resigned sigh grounded in history repeating itself - your father worked at the mill till he died, and you, you’re gonna work at the mill untill you die. And you know, Payne Avenue isn’t even trying to hide what it has to offer, it’s right their in the freaking name of the street. There’s a sense of predetermination here. He wanted some rock’n’roll problems, now he’s got what he wanted, and I sense the tired, almost ironic layer in the way he describes it.
Then, there’s this guitar sound or -effect, I wouldn’t know anything about what it’s called or what’s creating it, but this warm buzzing sound feels so at the right place here. And maybe I’m overstating this, and that the real difference in the sound actually is Franz and his piano? Thinking of it, I don’t think he was supposed to play on Sweet Payne, but when brought in for Certain Songs, he took at shot at this one too. That could explain the kind of practice like feeling of the first part of the song. Still, Tad. That tiny little solo he does before the finale, feels like a precursor to Resurrection, and has huge value of its own.
The last part of a song signals a shift, though. It’s more confident, a lot more hopeful, allthough the dreams of a Unified Scene seems more like a dream (in more than one sense) than something who’d ever turn into reality. It makes the verses building up to it feel like a tease, like warming up for the finale - but the parts still fit perfectly together, and the power brought after the break, doesn’t in any way diminish the opening part of the song. But anyway, that final part, it’s ridciously good. Everything opens up, and Craig steps out of the world he’s allready built fair portions of, and take the role as the singer, the preacher. And if Positive Jam was the mission statement, then this is where the missionary enters for real.
When we’re at the end of the song, I think what sticks with me is how human Sweet Payne is. This is very much the sound of real people making real shit together in real room, telling some real life truths. Through the cracks, in the music, in Craig’s voice, in the air between these real people, that’s surely where the lights get in. And Sweet Payne shines SO bright.
Final points:
- For a very, very long time, I had some trouble with the last trio of songs before Killer Parties, and it's only in recent years (like post Teeth Dreams, I think) that Sweet Payne and Hostile, Mass have grown into massive favourites. It might be a natural evolution as a fan, and it might even be something of a cliché ("their deep cuts from their debut album is actually their best!"), but I can live with that. - I could (and should?) have dived a lot deeper into all the amazing, evocative lines in this song ("motorcycle chain", "cowboy on the crosstown bus", "reach into the speaker, try to hold on to the quarter notes", "look nothing like Jada Pinkett"), but there's just too many of them. A beautifully written lyric, in any way.
Almost Killed Me wrapped up
We're at the very last Almost Killed Me song, and to my slight surprise, this actually IS the last Almost Killed Me song. Every single one of them made the list. I admit that Modesto Is Not That Sweet as #100 was pretty close, but it's in there. So is every other b-side and every single album track. The only one I've left out is the Led Zeppelin cover on the b-side of the Milkcrate Mosh 7", but we don't do covers here. If we did, the Dylan cover from I'm Not There would stood a chance, and maybe even Atlantic City. But it feels weird comparing them to original compositions.
I've grown to really, really love Almost Killed Me, and by now, I think it's my #2 on a ranking of the studio albums. It's been a slow burner for me, and getting to know the b-sides so late in my fanship might revitalized stuff. But I truly think it's an amazing album, and that it capitalizes greatly on the raw and joyful playing. I won't say it lack amibtions, cause I think you can already tell that they're not fucking around. But it feels free of pressure and conventions, and that feels liberating as a listener too. In some way, I think it's a little similar to Open Door Policy, in that sense - full circle.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Apr 18, 2021 17:50:08 GMT -5
#3: SWEET PAYNESweet Payne feels pretty unique to me because of how fragile it sounds. There’s so much confidence in what Hold Steady usually put on, and I wouldn’t say they seem particulary shy here, but there’s a fumbling shakiness, like the song is being constructed right in front of our eyes. And this is underlined by Craig’s not exactly weary, but kind of tired, almost defeated delivery. There’s a surrender going on here, a resigned sigh grounded in history repeating itself - your father worked at the mill till he died, and you, you’re gonna work at the mill untill you die. And you know, Payne Avenue isn’t even trying to hide what it has to offer, it’s right their in the freaking name of the street. There’s a sense of predetermination here. He wanted some rock’n’roll problems, now he’s got what he wanted, and I sense the tired, almost ironic layer in the way he describes it. You've said a lot that is well said, but I think this part in particular is really insightful. Leaving aside my huge attachment to Sweet Payne for personal reasons, it's always seemed to me like the THS mirror image of Viceburgh, and in talking about both the fragility and the resignation in the song you captured the reasons for that perfectly. This tentative, strange description of being trapped in a world gone wrong, meandering through melodies that shift through unfamiliar changes, for an effect that nevertheless ends on an unaccountable high note above the sadness. The double upshift in the last four verses of the song always gets me. Everything from the Unified Scene through Jada Pinkett is breathtaking. And then, up it goes again, for those last two crazy verses. "Gideon was living up in South Minneapolis" always puts chills down my spine. And to me, that "We got tangled in electrical fences/ We got wrapped up in the indian fringes" is somehow the most final statement of loss in the THS catalog if you don't look at Oaks, which I try not to. Something about the music, something about the statement makes these lines seem to hit harder that way than anything else I can think of. It's very strange to me that Sweet Payne has deep cut status. Per setlist.fm (https://www.setlist.fm/stats/the-hold-steady-bd64946.html), it's tied with Knuckles for the 53rd-most-played THS song (both have been played 40 times), which is pretty far down there. But Knuckles, which I seem to remember reading once was a song that Tad didn't even like much in retrospect, is on the way up, played 16 times since 2015. Sweet Payne seems to be going the other way, having only been played 5 times since then. I care of course because I really want to see it live, but apart from that it's just really surprising to me, like you I think it's one of their greatest songs ever.
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Post by tableinthecorner on Apr 18, 2021 18:35:54 GMT -5
I have so much love for this one. Listening to Sweet Payne was the first time I really realized that these songs were part of a much larger world. At the same time, though, it still makes me feel like I'm part of that world, if that makes sense. Tying this back to the specific-ness/universality conversation earlier, the "Gideon ... cowboy on the crosstown bus" lines are describing a very specific person that I've never met in my life, but every time I listen to the song I feel like I've been in that exact situation before. (I should've brought this up earlier, but the conversation in the car in Esther makes me feel the exact same way.) Like Skeptic mentioned, a big part of this could be because of the musical build over the course of the second half, but this might be Craig's most underrated song, lyrically. This one means a lot to me — glad you have it so high.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 18, 2021 23:33:21 GMT -5
The double upshift in the last four verses of the song always gets me. Everything from the Unified Scene through Jada Pinkett is breathtaking. And then, up it goes again, for those last two crazy verses. "Gideon was living up in South Minneapolis" always puts chills down my spine. And to me, that "We got tangled in electrical fences/ We got wrapped up in the indian fringes" is somehow the most final statement of loss in the THS catalog if you don't look at Oaks, which I try not to. Something about the music, something about the statement makes these lines seem to hit harder that way than anything else I can think of. Hah, that's weird, I almost forgot about that part entriely. When we've come this far up the list, I have a sort of confession to make: I haven't re-listened to one single song during the writeup. Part of it is because it's been done while my kids watch TV, my partner watching TV or late at night when everyone's sleeping. But it was in some ways a conscious decision too. I know these songs well enough to form an opinion of them, and if I put them on again for the sole purpose of a writeup, I think I might had focused too much on the things that struck me there and then, when I really wanted this to be a list of how I not only feel about these songs now, but how they've felt to me since 2006/2007. But you are SO right, those final verses takes it up another notch, and adds so much more of that feeling of subdued drama and weary defeat. The music is on its toes here, but there's a finality to it all, in some sense. Glad you brought that up.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 18, 2021 23:43:49 GMT -5
I have so much love for this one. Listening to Sweet Payne was the first time I really realized that these songs were part of a much larger world. At the same time, though, it still makes me feel like I'm part of that world, if that makes sense. Tying this back to the specific-ness/universality conversation earlier, the "Gideon ... cowboy on the crosstown bus" lines are describing a very specific person that I've never met in my life, but every time I listen to the song I feel like I've been in that exact situation before. (I should've brought this up earlier, but the conversation in the car in Esther makes me feel the exact same way.) Like Skeptic mentioned, a big part of this could be because of the musical build over the course of the second half, but this might be Craig's most underrated song, lyrically. This one means a lot to me — glad you have it so high. Yes, good point! That "cowboy at the bus" thing is very evocative, and something I'm able to imagine happening, even in the Norwegian town I grew up in. And, yes, Esther too. Not just the conversation in the car, but this girl you pop into in the kitchen, drinking something blue, able to shake, not really that good of a singer. It's just very intelligent character studies, within very few lines. The music plays a big, big part in Sweet Payne, but I think it's fair to give Craig a big part of the credit, when we know that he put the words to the music after the music is (in some sense, at least) done. Try to imagine putting the Soft In The Center chours, or some version of it, over the same triumphant music, and it would lose it's appeal pretty quickly. The interplay between words and music matters, but it's clear to me that Craig's a guy who writes amazing lyrics, but also is someone who thinks musically. It's not a random task of putting words on top of music, they obviously fit very well at many points. And then I have to add that I really get what Tad said in a couple of interviews a few years back: That it's hard to write all this music, and then reading reviews that praise Craig as the ultimate leader and brain behind everything going on here. I just went back to the Pitchfork review of Boys And Girls In America to check up on something the other day, and it's focusing in on Craig to the point of the bizzarre. It paints him as the one who's calling every single shot in the process of writing and recording the songs, and it's not hard at all imagining how it must felt to the rest of the band, Tad especially. My take on all of this is that Hold Steady is an amazing band, and would have been if Craig sung in a languague I couldn't understand a single word of - but that it's his keen eye for details, godly pen and (underrated, really) perfect intuition for delivery and details, that lift them from one of 15-20 bands I love, to the best thing I've ever heard.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 19, 2021 0:03:04 GMT -5
#2: YOUR LITTLE HOODRAT FRIEND
Okay, we're down to the last two, and I’m sure everyone who’s followed this coundown allready have guessed which two songs remain. I’m gonna start this off by a little meta observation. And I don’t exactly know what it tells about the band or the fans, but it’s pretty clear to me that there’s an enourmous consensus on which two or three songs that are the bands absolutely best. And even the most hardcore fans rarely stray away from this perception, the “hits” are widely regarded as their very best songs too. Sure, we all have deep cuts we cherish, and that we might consider among the top five or ten best songs. But few fans I’ve met would disagree on Hoodrat and the-yet-to-be-named-#1-who-you-all-know-the-name-of being among the absolutely finest songs the band ever made.
When I came into Hold Steady, they were an “indie” band to me. Not in the sense that they made music who sounded very much like other indie stuff I was listening too in 2006, but they came to me through that perspective. I’m pretty sure the first review I read of Boys And Girls, were the 9.4 rated Pitchfork review. I saw the record on the shelf at the record store next to Arcade Fire, Shins and Modest Mouse. The first time I saw them at a festival, they played the main stage slotted between Cansei De Ser Sexy (anyone remember them?) and Arcade Fire. And maybe that’s why they stood out so much as they did, cause even if there’s a counter-culture thing going on in their music, they’re not really indie in any meaningful sense of the word.
I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but when I look back at their career in hindsight, and also see more clearly which tradition they placed themselves in, it makes more sense that their most popular, most straight-forward and most radio friendly songs, also are ranked as their very best by their own hardcore fans. I wouldn't consider Radiohead or Oasis indie bands either, but think of this: How many Radiohead fans consider Karma Police their very best song? How many Oasis fans would consider Wonderwall their absolute peak? There's obviously a difference here, cause these songs were REAL hits, but I hope you catch my point, when comparing to how the Hold Steady fans feel about their very most popular songs.
I would say that in spite of how I was introduced to Hold Steady, the broader culture that made them interesting to me, they never really were an indie band making indie music, they were traditionalists - with an edge and an identity and all that, but still - who were more concerned about making music for as many people as possible than pleasing some alternative ideal of what a band should be. They wanted to make big music that people connected to. I don't think they made all that many compromises, or that this was a market plan or something like that. I just feel this is the core of their identity as a band, their idea of making music. Just being a big rock band, and then explore how real-life-big that thing could become.
And Hoodrat is such a perfect rock song. Like, perfect-perfect: Flawless, perfectly constructed, pushing all the right buttons. Textbook rock’n’roll, with enough identity that the song stands out, and makes you crave more. The dynamics of it, the extreme control of all the parts of the song, when to push forward, when to take a step back, seamlessly creating what can’t be described as anything other than a hit song, a ready-made single. It doesn’t matter if it didn’t turn out to be a world conquering rock song - it’s still constructed like one, and to me that says something about ambition, approach and what they wanted to be as a band too. Listening back to it fifteen years down the line, I find myself in awe of just how good of a song it is, on paper, and also admiration of the courage it took for the band to invest fully in this kind of sound. It might sound silly to call it that, to say that it’s couragous to write a straight-forward perfect rock song, but I sort of think it is.
Still, describing it like this leaves me a little cold. It’s like analyzing what makes Hoodrat so fucking great feels kind of meaningless. Both to me and to you. We all know what this song is, how it makes us feel. It’s both a familiar place to revisit, but also a living reminder of what happens in a crowd when Craig yells “there was just to many kids!”, the band erupts again, and you’re suddenly drained in lukewarm beer and confetti.
Hoodrat is what it is. It’s simple, but clever as hell. Rocking, but not that fast. Euphoric, but very much drained in sadness and defeat too. Just a pretty much perfect, singular rock song, encapsuling a large part of a amazingly good band in just under four minutes. Hoodrat means the world to me, in so many ways. And I still love to put it on, to hear it at a show, to just be in it.
Final points:
- I've read countless times online how people discovered Hold Steady through Hoodrat on the soundtrack to one of the Tony Hawk games, and I think that goes far in underlining the schisma between indie/shot-at-the-mainstream. - For all it's rock greatnes and at-surface simplicity, it's a lyrically extremely complex song, at least brought into the narrative discussions. It's so hard to pinpoint who's who in this love triangle - Franz' organ is doing wonders here, adding this comforting, but emotion erousing blanket. And it comes to full frutition in the bridge, and especially live
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Separation Sunday wrapped up
As the final song coming from another album, it's time to add some final words about Separation Sunday.
I've only left out one track from the album proper, and that's Crucifixion Cruise. It's the only track in the Hold Steady catalog (with a possible exception for Spectres) who's more of an interlude or a bridging device than a song-song. And that's the only reason why it's not included here, cause I (obviously?) think it works to perfection as a part of Separation Sunday. It's just not a track I think of as a song per se.
It's surprisingly few outtakes from this era - the reiusse contained two unreleased songs, and 212-Margarita was allready very well known to all of us. The extremely short span between Almost Killed Me and Boys And Girls might be an explination, and some of the songs they started off with during these sessions, could have been used on later albums. Tad have talked about Slapped Actress being a part of the Separation Sunday sessons, discarded, and brought back for Stay Positive, with new lyrics.
Separation Sunday have been my absolute favourite album for some time, and still is. It's all the way up there with Blood On The Tracks, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Abbey Road or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot for the top spot of my all time favourite records too. At this point I don't put it on that often, it feels more rewarding to revisit Heaven Is Whenever or Teeth Dreams, diving into b-sides or giving Open Door Policy yet at another spin. But it's always a huge thrill when I actually do put it on, and it has this completeness and grandeur who's really undisputed. A classic, in every sense.
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Post by thehudsonsteady on Apr 19, 2021 2:11:05 GMT -5
"That "cowboy at the bus" thing is very evocative, and something I'm able to imagine happening, even in the Norwegian town I grew up in."
I came late to AKM and Sweet Payne was never a favourite until I heard it live. That line about the cowboy on the bus is a great example of an almost throwaway line, no context to it, that says so much. It conjures up this picture of being somewhere and seeing something unusual and it just being barely worth mentioning because the rest of your life is just as weird. Also one of many songs on AKM where it sounds like everyone is trying to be louder than everyone else, and succeeding!
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Post by dazzlefrazzle on Apr 19, 2021 4:40:30 GMT -5
Loving all of the comments throughout this whole thread and it's completely taken over my whole morning. So much so that I've collated a Spotify playlist for anyone who wants to listen along whilst reading your posts. Unfortunately #74 - Saddle Shoes and #38 - Records and Tapes aren't on there but you can jump to YouTube or something for those two little gaps! Looking forward to reading the conclusion! Great work.
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mafee
Clever Kid
Posts: 94
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Post by mafee on Apr 19, 2021 5:36:05 GMT -5
I think I said this on the Twitter Listening Party, but that breakdown, and specifically the bit that comes out of the break down (I think it's an effect of dragging the pic up the guitar string) if my favourite part of any song ever. Hoodrat is probably my #1 but agree with the comment above that there's about 10 songs I would accept an argument about being #1. Now, if only I could figure out what your #1 is.... Loving all of the comments throughout this whole thread and it's completely taken over my whole morning. So much so that I've collated a Spotify playlist for anyone who wants to listen along whilst reading your posts. Unfortunately #74 - Saddle Shoes and #38 - Records and Tapes aren't on there but you can jump to YouTube or something for those two little gaps! Looking forward to reading the conclusion! Great work. Wow - thanks for this!
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 19, 2021 5:53:37 GMT -5
Loving all of the comments throughout this whole thread and it's completely taken over my whole morning. So much so that I've collated a Spotify playlist for anyone who wants to listen along whilst reading your posts. Unfortunately #74 - Saddle Shoes and #38 - Records and Tapes aren't on there but you can jump to YouTube or something for those two little gaps! Looking forward to reading the conclusion! Great work. Awesome, man! Thank you. I had a plan to do this after the countdown was done, but I'm more than happy that you beat me to it.
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Post by dazzlefrazzle on Apr 19, 2021 8:01:21 GMT -5
Loving all of the comments throughout this whole thread and it's completely taken over my whole morning. So much so that I've collated a Spotify playlist for anyone who wants to listen along whilst reading your posts. Unfortunately #74 - Saddle Shoes and #38 - Records and Tapes aren't on there but you can jump to YouTube or something for those two little gaps! Looking forward to reading the conclusion! Great work. Awesome, man! Thank you. I had a plan to do this after the countdown was done, but I'm more than happy that you beat me to it. No worries at all. Sorry if I'm stepping on your toes or anything but I just read the first 10 and thought "I'd really like to listen to these right now". I did have to find a new jpeg of Terry Butcher for the playlist for consistency! (also had to do a reverse image search to work out who it was in your avatar). Excellent work again
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 19, 2021 11:42:34 GMT -5
As you all know what song who'll end up on top of this list, I've decided to switch things up for the finale. We know head into
Boys And Girls In America wrapped up
This album will always have a special place in my heart, and when I visualize Hold Steady in my head, it's this album cover who springs to mind. Over time it has faded a little bit for me. Mostly because other albums have crept up on it, and turned out to be just as good and better, but also cause some of the inital thrill of the album itself have worn off.
I've talked about the production issue before, and while it isn't a huge problem, I think some of the songs would have benefited a lot from a cleaner production with more air and space. Just imagine a song like Hot Soft Light with the knife sharp sound of Spices. Or Party Pit with the breezy, yet very meatful sound of Heavy Covenant. But Boys And Girls is what it is, and over half of the songs on it still signifies The Real Hold Steady to me.
All the original tracks from the album made the list, and there really isn't a huge amount of bonus track. One gets dismissed based on it being a cover (American Music), and that leaves us with Girls Like Status, Arms And Hearts and Teenage Liberation, who all made the list - and For Boston. It's very much a counterpart to Teenage Liberation to me. Piano heavy and bright sounding songs with Franz' hands all over them. I think I find a little more Hold Steady-ness, a little more drama, in Teenage Liberation, and while For Boston is a fun song, it doesn't quite hold up to the rest of the material.
A final word on that stretch from Almost Killed Me to Boys And Girls In America: What a fucking massive production with such high average quality. It's impressive in itself to chug out 40-45 songs in the span of two and a half years. But to turn them into three albums who still is 10/10 to me, is remarkable. To put out lots of albums isn't a goal in itself, but when a bad are on such a red hot streak like Hold Steady were, it's pretty impressive.
As I said: This album will always mean something special to me. It was the entry point, where I initally fell in love, and then went down the rabbit hole. No Boys And Girls, no London or Brooklyn, Dublin or Cologne, Amsterdam or Dorset. No frenzied message board activity, friendships all over the world or hours of digging into bootlegs and live clips. My life is significantly richer cause of this album.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 19, 2021 14:25:37 GMT -5
#1: STUCK BETWEEN STATIONS
Right from the opening seconds of Stuck Between Stations, it feels like the song’s always been there. And I don’t mean that in a Hold Steady context, but in a universal sense: It sounds like a song who’s been around literally forever, that a world without it is unimaginable. That’s how good it is.
The guitar riff who kicks everything off is so beautifully tuned to perfection - it’s straight rock’n’roll, with an emphasis on “straight”, but it just carries so much weight, confidence and attitude, with a soft edge to it. Professional, in a way, in the best sense of the word. The piano arrives to underscore the grandeur of it all, once again signaling how this is significant and important, but not in a pure fist-pumping, anthemic way, more like it teasingly suggest that there’s both triumph and heartbreak on the horizon. Then the full band kicks in, and everything turns cinematic. There’s open roads, fast cars, sun in your eyes and wind in your hair. But in a weird way, it doesn’t sound or look like the cliché it should. It just feels real.
I’ve never thought about it like this before, but Stuck Between Stations feels like it has just the perfect temperature. It’s never red hot, never edgy or cold, it’s just comfortable to the point that you never want to leave. It’s not still water to float in, it’s more dynamic and progressive, like a wave, a force of nature in total equilibrium.
And after paragraph after paragraph praising Craig, I have to say that Stuck Between Stations is so musically perfect that it might be the only song who might would be just as good with another decent singer on top of it. The constant forwardness, but never any rush, the balance between a whole bunch of separate parts, and they way the entire band seems in such total control of the blistering arena attack they’re executing. The piano break is a signature move, and I love it. But I’m even more impressed of what follow it. The sllent/loud/silent dynamics in the “We drink and we dry up…” section of the song, but not only that, also what comes after it, the true finale of the song. It’s a slow and subtle eruption here, but in the end, the song actually reach those euphoric heights the weighty intro suggest. And Tad is acting like a silent and persistent ringleader, just portioning out the energy to a perfect degree all the way to the end.
That said, I (obviously) love the lyrics too. All the way from the Kerouac borrowing hawk eye on American youth, culture and ideology, through the tale about John Berryman’s last flight, the clicks and hisses, creation and creatues sinking into disrepair, to the far cry for the blessed radio. On Almost Killed Me, Craig was the frantic and blissful representative of an entire scene, on Separation Sunday he became the preacher on the corner, a man on a mission. But within the first four minutes of Boys And Girls In America he becomes something larger than life, bigger than both the song and the band: A manifestation of the redemptive power of music, and how it’s able to act as a medium between the body and the blood, and the world at large, and how it creeps into our souls to change us forever.
It’s just a magnificent piece of art, and it’s perfect in the way that it is so singular, so everlasting, and still function as one of the purest representations of Hold Steady as a band. What more can you ask for?
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As a final hommage to the band and their songs, and also as a testament to the personal touch to the entire thing, I shamelessly close this off with a video that somehow summarize my relationship with Hold Steady. From Minneapolis via Brooklyn to a basement bar in Oslo. It sure doesn't have to be perfect, but at least, my love for this band is pure as hell.
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