The Hold Steady – albums ranked

A few years back a good friend was raving about The Hold Steady, a Brooklyn, NY based rock-n-roll band made up primarily of Minneapolis, MN natives who articulate their love of killer parties, getting high, and most of all the Twin Cities in a spoken word sung manner over layered rock-n-roll gold. He said Separation Sunday was one of the best albums of 2005 and who was I to argue, not knowing much of anything about the band? So I took his advice and grabbed the album. That was one hell of a decision.

The Hold Steady is led by a thirty-something frontman named Craig Finn who looks like the neighbor down the hall in your building that incessantly plays Thin Lizzy too loud, is always carrying in tallboys of cheap beer, and who smiles far too suspiciously when he sees you. Strange noises come from his place at all hours of the day and instead of being turned away, you want to hang with this guy, as it’s obvious he’s getting his kicks one way or another. That you know for sure.

1. Separation Sunday – Separation Sunday was released May 3rd, 2005 and is a light concept album telling the story of Holly (a sometimes addict, prostitute, and born again Catholic), Charlemagne (a pimp), and Gideon (the skinhead). Singer, Craig Finn, narrates this Twin Cities’ tribute and shows why many critics consider him the best storytelling rocker out there with his direct in-your-ear delivery that forces a listen. Once one listens it’s easy to realize his brilliance is not in how he is saying it, it’s in what he is saying. The opening track on Separation Sunday is a ridiculously rocking tune called “Hornets, Hornets” and from there the intensity never regresses as Finn tells stories of drug casualties, desperation and lost innocence as kids do their best to get off. The music is riff heavy and completely awesome. I love “Hornets, Hornets”, “Cattle and the Creeping Things, “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”, “Banging Camp”, “Stevie Nix”, and “Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night”.  Separation Sunday needs to be listened to from beginning to end to fully appreciate.
2. Boys and Girls in America – How’s this for starting off an album? “There are nights when I think Sal Paradise was right. Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together.” Craig Finn is a master of mixing both subtle and direct literary and biblical references into his lyrics and this album title itself is loaned from Kerouac’s cult classic On the Road as the above lyrics to the opener “Stuck Between Stations” suggest. Boys and Girls in America was released in 2006 on Vagrant Records to much critical acclaim and it picks up where Separation Sunday left off while leaving the concept album idea behind. Although still hitting hard on Twin Cities’ references, Boys and Girls in America stems from all of suburbia collectively. It is more accessible than Separation Sunday with indirect lyrics that allow the listener to attach their own experiences to the stories Finn tells so well. Tad Kubler’s guitar-work is way underrated, as the music on this album is unashamedly slick with classic rock stylings of layered guitar hooks and a driving bar-band rhythm similar to that of Separation Sunday. Some of my favorites are the opening track “Stuck Between Stations”, “Hot Soft Light”, the raging partier “Massive Nights”, and the finale “South Town Girls”.
3. Almost Killed Me – I am sure there are many that would say Almost Killed Me is The Hold Steady’s best. They would have many points to argue with this album being an incredibly original debut that shook the indie rock scene (those that actually heard it right away) with a new sound blending the best of Hüsker Dü and early Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. The opening track is “Positive Jam”; a history lesson on America taught by Craig Finn. It ends with the following just before the drums, bass and guitars all hammer in together:
   
   “tripped right through the 60s with some blissful little hippie. some Kennedy’s got shot while you were screwing San Francisco. the 70s got heavy we woke up on bloody carpets. got tangled up in gas lines. i guess that’s where it started. the 80s almost killed me, let’s not recall them quite so fondly. some Kennedy o.d. while we watched on MTV. in the 90s we were wired and well connected. put it all down on technology and lost everything we invested. we got to start off with a positive jam!”
   
   I mean damn! “Positive Jam” was the first song I saw them perform live, and I can state with all honesty that it almost killed me (with joy). Song #2 is “The Swish”, a Hold Steady rocking masterpiece and a fan favorite. The rest of Almost Killed Me is raw with Craig Finn’s dense lyrics and intricate story-telling leading the way over Kubler’s guitar prowess that would make even Slash shed a grin. The album also introduces the characters Holly and Charlemagne who help define Separation Sunday, and who also pop up in Boys and Girls in America. It’s a fantastic debut.
4. Stay Positive – Stay Positive was released July 15th, 2008. Singer/guitarist Craig Finn admitting the album is, “the idea of ageing gracefully, keeping going, perseverance, and how to stay true to the ideals and ideas you had when you were younger.” There is an enduring optimism about this release as the album title suggests, but it is optimistic in The Hold Steady way which allows for plenty of trip-ups and misdirections. The opening track “Constructive Summer” is one of the best songs the band has ever written with a driving rhythm and Finn squalling out the chorus, “We’re gonna build something this summer!”, as the rest of the band returns, “Get hammered!”. That’s The Hold Steady’s fist pumping, punk influenced, rock-n-roll way. This album produced the terrific singles “Sequestered in Memphis” and the rock anthem title track, “Stay Positive”, both of which get better with every listen. Also great is the harpsichord led “One for the Cutters”, and the final track “Slapped Actress”.
5. Teeth Dreams
6. Heaven in Whenever