We have a release date, a track list, and a tour.
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The Hold Steady's 'Stay Positive' Set For Release July 15

The Hold Steady -- the Brooklyn based band lauded for "scope and depth
that are all too rare in contemporary rock-- indie or mainstream"
(Pitchfork), recently put the finishing touches on 'Stay Positive,'
their new album set for release July 15 on Vagrant Records. The album
was produced by John Agnello and recorded at Water Music in Hoboken, NJ
and Wild Arctic Studios in Queens, NY, with mixing at the Magic Shop in
Soho in Manhattan.

Singer Craig Finn defines 'Stay Positive' as an album, musically and
lyrically, about the attempt to age gracefully. Incorporating
harpsichord, banjo and talk box, on "Stay Positive" the band's gift for
literate, anthemic songwriting finds a new focus Finn calls "more
musical... more dynamics, different instrumentation, more complex
arrangements, and not always hiding behind raw volume."

The songs came together on the road, as the band was touring the world
behind 2006's breakthrough 'Boys and Girls in America,' a run that
found the band playing well over 200 shows in 2007 alone. Says Finn,
"possibly the most exciting aspect of our band is the community of fans
that have followed us around the country. In talking to them, we have
found that no matter their ages, they are so much like us as people,
that they seem at times an extension of the music. A great American
philosopher named D. Boon once said 'Our band could be your life.' I
think that is true. But 'Your Life could be Our Band' is also a true
statement. I know this because we have lived it. These are our lives.
These are your lives. This is our fourth record. Stay Positive."

The Hold Steady is: Craig Finn, Tad Kubler, Galen Polivka, Bobby Drake,
Franz Nicolay.


"Stay Positive" track listing:

1. Constructive Summer
2. Sequestered in Memphis
3. One for the Cutters
4. Navy Sheets
5. Lord, I'm Discouraged
6. Yeah Sapphire
7. Both Crosses
8. Stay Positive
9. Magazines
10. Joke About Jamaica
11. Slapped Actress


The band will perform a sold out show Friday, May 2 at Webster Hall in
NYC as part of the Tribeca Film Festival, and kick off a major tour
this summer following a free hometown show at JELLYNYC's Pool Parties
at Brooklyn's McCarren Pool on June 29.

Confirmed US summer tour dates below (full list of US and UK dates can
be found at http://www.theholdsteady.com/shows.php ):

May 2 - New York, NY - Webster Hall (Tribeca Film Fest)
May 7 - Middletown, CT - Andrus Field @ Wesleyan University
June 8 - Chula Vista, CA - 94/9 Independence Jam
June 27 - Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head Live!
June 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Festival Pier - The Paul Green School of Rock Music Festival w/ Devo
June 29 - Brooklyn, NY - McCarren Pool
July 19 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Festival
July 26 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party

'Stay Positive" will be released in the UK July 14 on Rough Trade.

Can we just go ahead and call it? Album of the Year, baby.

I heard them play two of these songs last October. They've probably changed a lot since then, but, at the time, "Sequestered in Memphis" was a roaring, Led Zep-style stomp, and "Lord, I'm Discouraged" was a slow-burning, bluesy ballad. Both were excellent.

How's this for an early review?

Wow. If this is true, look out.

In what may be a sign of the impending apocalypse, I will be writing about this album in an upcoming issue of Christianity Today.

Ummm... me too, actually. (Mine might be an online-only thing-- I forget.) But do you actually have a copy yet, Andy? The publicist keeps telling me it isn't ready yet, but I've already seen some early reviews, so...

Josh, I don't yet have a copy, although I should have the album within the next couple days.

I don't know about the CT double booking. I'm fairly certain my article will be in the print magazine. Maybe CT is adopting the Pro/Con approach that Paste sometimes uses. Although, given the band's track record, I can't imagine that I'll be writing a "Con" review, nor do I imagine that you will be. In any case, I look forward to reading your review.

A song from the new album, "Sequestered in Memphis," is up on their MySpace page. It's pretty damn good.

Any early thoughts, Andy? I'm on my first listen right now.

The full album is streamed on the Hold Steady's MySpace page.

I'm not too far into it, but...it's unstoppable so far.

I've had it for a week or two now.

My wife thinks it's their best album ever. I don't quite agree with her-- at least not yet-- but I think it does a lot to advance the case that The Hold Steady is the greatest band in the world. It's their fourth album, and it's their fourth knockout, 4.5 or 5-star classic-in-the-making.

It certainly finds them continuing the trend of Boys and Girls in America by broadening and expanding their sound. There's horns, synths, banjo, harpsichord, vibes, and more acoustic guitar than ever before.

And Craig Finn continues to grow as a songwriter; this is their most complicated and intricate set of songs yet, a theme album that isn't nearly as conceptual as the last couple but is no less a unified statement. In fact, this album does more than any of their others to go beyond the drugs/booze/sex imagery to explore much deeper, weightier themes.

It's also their most spiritually complex album; what do we make of it when Finn sings on the first song that "we are our only saviors," then, a few songs later, declares "I was a skeptic at first but these miracles work"?

There's one song, "Navy Sheets," that strikes me as a rather disappointing, lukewarm Hold Steady rocker, but the rest of these songs are winners, and there are several standouts that immediately deserve full-time placement in the band's live set, and on any future greatest hits album: "Constructive Summer," "Sequestered in Memphis," "Lord, I'm Discouraged," "Both Crosses," "Stay Positive," "Joke About Jamaica," and "Slapped Actress." (Those last two are he album highlights, actually-- is this the first Hold Steady album that's stronger on the back end than on the front?)

I wish I could comment on this album. I can't, at least not yet, although rest assured that I will when I can. But I am sworn to secrecy, even though the album is out there streaming for all the world to hear. Welcome to the weird world of the music industry, circa 2008. But since the lives of my children are threatened, and since daddy doesn't want to wind up as the subject of a lawsuit, let me just say that Josh has said some things that I might agree with. Or I might not. Wouldn't want to say anything definitive at this point. :-)

I agree with all of the above, particularly the notion that this is their most spiritually complex album. I've noticed that I have such an emotionally strong connection to THS; I watched the video of them doing "Stuck Between Stations" on Letterman the other day and actually got choked up thinking about the fact that Craig Finn is *one of us*, just a normal guy, and that he made it. The fact that he's doing what he's doing and doing it so well gives me so much hope for my own work as a writer. He is one of the few musicians that I can truly say I love.

So it makes it hard to hear him sing "We are our only saviors" in "Constructive Summer" with such conviction. And "Slapped Actresses," in particular, seems to be a reapplying -- maybe a grounding? -- of those same themes, particularly the line "we all make our own movies." Compounding/confounding that is the fact that it's the best track on the record, probably. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to review something that I'm absolutely in love with but whose general message I'm in utter conflict with.

Musically, they take all the right risks and stay at home at all the right places. "Constructive Summer" may be a bit too similar to "Stuck Between Stations" in its arrangement, but, um, I don't really care. There's so much going on here, and Finn seems like he's honing it in on every record, learning better and better how to be a concise and precise writer. Nothing bangs as hard as "Stuck Between Stations," but neither has anything else by anyone in the last two years. Still not sure if it's as good as Boys and Girls, but it definitely solidifies CF as one of -- if not the -- best and most compelling storytellers we have in music today.

I'm not trying to be a relativist here, but I'd say it depends on how much conflict is included in the phrase "utter conflict." I understand the dilemma. I face it all the time. Personally, I'd resolve it by saying that Craig Finn is a great songwriter who is not a Christian. Like Jack Kerouac in the literary world, he's haunted by his Catholic upbringing, and that Catholic upbringing (and its attendant imagery) comes up again and again, but he's currently in thrall to the twin gods of hedonism and romanticism. That said, he's also one of those non-believers who complains to God ("Lord, I'm Discouraged"). Go figure. And that's part of the conundrum that is Craig Finn.

For me, it's sufficient that he's a great songwriter and his band creates great rock 'n roll. But I'd encourage you to examine the "utter conflict." There are artists and albums I won't listen to because I find them offensive. The Hold Steady doesn't fall under that category for me, but they might for you. There are different ways to resolve this. You can look to an external authority (a church, a Christian reviews website) to tell you what to listen to, or you can be open to the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, be aware of your own temptations/tendencies to sin, and react accordingly (with "accordingly" ideally being that decision that would align with following Christ).

I also find the phrase "general message" to be an interesting one. What is the "general message" of the song "Constructive Summer"? Is it "we are our only saviors"? Maybe. If so, I'd reject that message. Is it "Let this be my annual reminder that we can all be something bigger?" Maybe, and that sounds kinda okay to me. Is it "Let's raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer?" If so, then I'll offer a hearty "Amen." Part of the fun of this process really is that we get to wrestle with the art. We hold on to some parts, and let go of others. I'm glad you're wrestling.

No, they definitely don't fall under that category for me. If anything, they do what great art is supposed to do, which is to help me appreciate people who aren't exactly like me. It's a bit heartbreaking, like I said, but it's made me love and appreciate the band more and more. So really it's been a -- wait for it -- positive jam (errrrrgggg).

This album is starting to suffer from Born in the U.S.A./Joshua Tree syndrome for me. It will probably be massively popular (or at least as popular as any rock album can be in this age of musical decentralization), but it's also very, very calculated. And the calculated nature of some of these songs is starting to get to me. On a song like "Chips Ahoy" (from the previous album Boys and Girls in America) the singalong chorus seemed to emerge almost by surprise, and it sounds about as contrived as the weather. But on songs like "Sequestered in Memphis" and "Stay Positive" the singalong choruses sound tacked on as an afterthought, almost as if Craig Finn and Tad Kubler got together and said, "Hey, let's figure out a way to get the kids to pump their fists right about here." They work -- at least initially -- as fist-pumping anthems. But after a few plays I feel like I've been sold a bill of goods. It's rock 'n roll as a marketing commodity, something I thought I'd never accuse this band of promoting.

There are still great songs -- "Constructive Summer," "Both Crosses," and "Slapped Actress" are as strong as anything the band has ever done. But for the first time I'm feeling manipulated. This is still a four-star album, as far as I'm concerned, but it's a slight step backward.

Oh, c'mon, Andy-- the band takes a lot of risks on this album, and ventures into plenty of ground where they've never gone before. In that context, I don't think it's fair to say that they're being calculated. Yes, there are some familiar sounds here, but they still do those sounds better than anyone else does them, and they're clearly not content to rest on their laurels.

... that said, I don't disagree that it's less consistent than Boys and Girls or Separation Sunday. I think there are a couple of tracks that just don't work very well. But I think it's because they stretch themselves too far and overreach, not because they're not stretching themselves far enough.

I think the general gripe i have against the Hold Steady, and holds true for Stay Positive as well, is that things always sound too polished for me and I wish like hell they would dress it down a little. The sheen on the songs makes it sound a bit like Billy Squier or some other "too-recent-and-lame-to-be-real-classic-rock" band at times. Every time i listen to them I think , "sheesh, if this was a little more ragged like the Replacements it would be unstoppable". The guitar sound is the chief offender here and it bugs me that sometimes that one silly detail keeps me from fully enjoying their music.

They do stretch in new directions on several tracks. And that's a mixed bag (although mostly positive; gotta stay positive) too. It works marvelously on "Both Crosses," not as well on "Cutters," which, in spite of the presence of that wacky harpsichord, is still a boring song. But there's formulaic music here as well, and I hear it most clearly on "Stay Positive" and "Sequestered in Memphis." I don't think they're stretching at all on these songs (and no, the presence of a couple generic horns on SiM doesn't constitute "stretching" for me). I think they're okay songs. But they've been done, and done better, on previous Hold Steady albums.

On the positive side, there are more Led Zeppelin nods and winks on this album than any album I've ever heard, from the almost note-for-note ripoff of "D'yer Maker" on "Navy Sheets" through all the D'yer Maker in-jokes of "Joke About Jamaica." One can never have too many Led Zeppelin in-jokes. And "Constructive Summer" is still the best song I've heard this year.

I couldn't agree less with this... the one-two opening salvo of "Constructive Summer" and "Sequestered in Memphis" gets this disc off to a blistering start that will probably not be bettered (IMO) on any record this year. I'm not sure specifically what constitutes "stretching" for an artist, but for THS this seems a logical extension of Boys and Girls. Tad Kubler is still coming with killer Guitar Hero-worthy leads (dig "Lord I'm Discouraged"). And those big, anthemic, fist-pumping choruses? You can never have enough of them.



I couldn't agree with this more.

I always knew that there was something that bothered me about the Hold Steady, and I think that this is it. Don't get me wrong -- they're my favorite band playing and working right now, but that guitar sound took a while to get used to. And as for the "Sequestered"/"Stay Positive" argument, I think that "Stay Positive," more than any other song here, would benefit from the guitar and overall sound being more raw. "Constructive Summer" is great, but my vote has to go to "Slapped Actress." There's so much going on in that song -- both musically and lyrically -- and they just kill it.

I don't think it's a step back in the slightest. Like I said before, I don't think that anything on this record reaches the heights of "Stuck Between Stations," and it's pretty clear that "Constructive Summer" is reaching as hard as it can. I could live without "Navy Sheets" and probably "Yeah Sapphire," but the rest of the record kills.

If I do have a serious complaint, it's that this record seems to weigh much more than Boys and Girls in America. There's more doubt, more fear, more responsibility. Less fun, I guess. That said, I'm still calling it record of the year at this point. Yes, I am a fanboy and a geek. I don't really care.

Alright, folks... here's my review.

Josh, I just read your review, and though I disagree somewhat with your conclusions and it's beautifully written, and if I were just being introduced to this band, or was a longtime fan, I'd be captivated enough to want to go and seek it out for myself. You make a solid argument, a very fine one.

I've been listening to both Separation Sunday and Boys and Girls in America this past week, and it's been worthwhile — not only did I begin to appreciate the former more (I had thought it was only OK on past listens), but I started picking up some more lyrical and musical nuances with the latter.

With that in mind, I wonder how Stay Positive will grow on me. I loved it when I first heard it streamed on their MySpace page, but took some of the criticism I read to heart. For some reason, The Hold Steady take a while to unfold in my mind — but I'm looking forward to getting it next week so I can let the unfolding begin, even if it takes a few years.

I talked to a young music critic in Los Angeles last week. He's a Christian, and he loves The Hold Steady, and he's trying to put the two together. "How can I tell people to go out and buy an album that tells us that we're our only saviors?" he asked me.

Good question. "You tell them that Craig Finn is wrong on some big issues," I told him, "and that he's the best songwriter on the planet."

And he is. And he continues to be on Stay Positive, The Hold Steady's latest album, out Tuesday. Those of you who have followed this saga know that Craig Finn, who looks like a near-sighted accountant or Charles Nelson Reilly, take your pick, wants to be young Bruce Springsteen really, really badly. You probably also know that his band features a a fantastically mustachioed keyboard player who wants to be Professor Roy Bittan, Bruce's keyboard foil, and a guitarist with a beergut who wants to be in The Who or AC/DC. These Pabst-fueled yobs play melodramatic, outsized rock 'n roll songs meant for the back row of the arena. And they also play songs that bear close scrutiny as superb writing. It's all done by regular guys, just like you and me, and that pretty much defines my heavenly house band, which will feature at least one seraph with a beergut.

There are a few new musical twists with this round -- baroque harpsichord on "One for the Cutters," some Stax/Volt horns on (naturally) "Sequestered in Memphis," a spooky theremin drone on "Both Crosses." But mostly this is more of the same, which means that it's full of classic-rock-leaning literary songs about people who are too old to be kids, who drink and drug too much, and who wonder about that brick wall straight ahead. They party on the weekends. For that matter, they party just about any night. But there are casualties this time, some kids who didn't come out on the other side of Too Much Fun, and a growing awarenesss that although growing older doesn't have much to do with growing up, it's still a bitch. "We gotta stay positive," Finn sings on the title track, and there's more than a hint of desperation in the pep talk.

Finn is about nothing if not assembling his own internal mythology and rock 'n roll hierarchy, and so we have references and in-jokes to previous Hold Steady songs, and oblique lyrical nods to Led Zeppelin and The Clash. "Raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer," he chants over the blistering punk assault of opening track "Constructive Summer," the best song I've heard this year. If he's proposing a new form of canonization, who am I to question him? I've experienced a few holy moments with The Clash frontman as well. But Finn is at his best when he's poking at the malaise, probing the disconnect between the neverending party and the hollow comedown of the wee small hours of the morning. Like Hazel Motes in Flannery O'Connor's darkly comic novel Wise Blood, he's obsessed with asserting his own autonomy, and he can't stop talking about God:

She says sometimes she sees these things
Right before they're happening
Hail Mary full of grace
Some nights she swears she feels her face
She's known a couple boys who died
And two of them were crucified
And the last one had enlightened eyes
But the first guy he was Jesus Christ
Hey Judas - I know you made a grave mistake
Hey Peter - You've been pretty sweet since Easter break
Now it's four a.m. and she's wide awake
She's shivering and smiling

That's from "Both Crosses," a harrowing little ditty about a holy wreck of a human being, and it's what Craig Finn does best. She might be Holly, the hooker from previous Hold Steady albums who shows up at Easter Mass with her hair done up in broken glass. It's hard to tell; this time she's not named. But that's what Craig Finn does. He writes about messy people, wrecked and precious.

Here's the deal: five years in, The Hold Steady apparently still adhere to the crazy notion that rock 'n roll can change your life for the better. They hold out the music as a form of salvation. It's not. From that standpoint, it's just another idol. But it's a good thing, even a precious thing when it's written this well, played as if life was in the balance. That's the great irony. The Hold Steady don't hold steady. They hold nothing back. They revel in the messiness and the power chords and the arena-thumping bombast, and they do it as well as they've ever done on Stay Positive.

Over the course of four years and as many albums, the Hold Steady have been given the knee-jerk title of America’s Best Bar Band, and, stylistically speaking, Stay Positive, the group’s latest release on Vagrant, will do little to change that. The usual big riffs (“Stay Positive”) and Led Zeppelin name-checks (“Joke About Jamaica,”) are in place, and you can take it for granted that when the Brooklyn band steamrolls through college towns this fall, beers will shoot into the air when the group collectively shout “Get hammered!” in “Constructive Summer.” But what’s always made the Hold Steady bigger, better, and more interesting than the nametag that they wear is how simply and gracefully they flip that same bar scene over onto its back and point at where its bones stick out near its belly; they know what it means to hunger for more than you’ve been given, and Stay Positive is their hungriest record yet.

By now it’s no secret that Craig Finn is one of our best poets; he shoots out stories like a mouth full of thumbtacks, and he’s always draped the back alleys in satiny sheets like a better-read Born to Run-era Springsteen. But just as the Boss showed what happens once you finally get out on Darkness On the Edge of Town, Finn gives us the confusion, the comedowns, and – in the harpsichord-laden “One For the Cutters” – the courtrooms that inevitably come with the rising sun.

Finn’s characters on Stay Positive are older than their counterparts on Boys and Girls in America, the Hold Steady’s 2006 release. These kids have grown up and outlived their expectations of what a killer party really feels like. All they’ve got left are the lessons they learned from the old rock ‘n’ rollers, and though Finn may shout that Joe Strummer “may have been our only decent teacher” in the album-opening “Constructive Summer,” by the time the curtain closes and the set’s torn down on “Slapped Actress,” we’ve seen too much – too many empty shells that once believed in the power of rock ‘n’ roll, too many claw marks left over from where temptation pulled harder – to believe him. Finn sings about the inevitable downfall that comes when fans canonize musicians in “Slapped Actress” – “Some nights it’s just entertainment / And some nights it’s worse” – and though it follows ten songs of hero-worship, its thunder rolls loudly; the fact that he literally canonizes Strummer early on is suddenly drawn into starker, more mysterious relief. This is the heaviest song in the Hold Steady’s weighty canon, with enough going on lyrically and musically to make up for three or four “Navy Sheets,” the record's only misstep.

Which isn’t to say that a listen to Stay Positive can’t be a good time; this is the Hold Steady, after all, and their version of rock ‘n’ roll has always been about having fun first and foremost. Stay Positive teaches its lessons in between fist-pumping choruses and, in the case of the heartbreaking “Lord, I’m Discouraged,” a feet-lifting guitar solo from Tad Kubler. They’re tighter than ever here, and far more willing to take chances. Sure, “Constructive Summer” is a pretty obvious reach for the great heights of Boys and Girls standout “Stuck Between Stations,” but you can’t blame the group for trying; in attempting to recreate the best song of 2006 they may well have crafted one of the best of 2008. And there are stylistic leaps here, from the obvious “One for the Cutters” to the straight-up 80s hardcore of the title track to the haunting desert soul of “Both Crosses.” But make no mistake; the group is treading in dark waters, and you can feel the Replacements grinding the gears the moment that “Slapped Actress” begins its downhill drive.

In the Hold Steady’s world – one where resurrection has always been confessed by girls with hair done up in glass and salvation tastes that much sweeter when you use it as a chaser – it makes sense that these revelations are sung from the pitchy and reflective corners of the bars; they know that it’s a dark world, the world of rock ‘n’ roll, and though the Hold Steady may not quite stand in the light, they certainly catch glimpses of it when the neon signs flicker out.

*note: sorry to steal yr line about glass in the hair, Andy, but it's too good. Let me know if you want me to change it.

I can't wait for this to be out so we can all discuss "Slapped Actress."

For the sake of testing a theory, is anyone on here who's into the Hold Steady not a music critic? Seems like everyone in this thread guarded their words pretty closely, hah.

Love the Hold Steady. Not a music critic. Not professionally anyway.

Well, if music critics ruled the world (I'm trying, but I usually have to settle for conquering the virtual universe of Age of Empires), there's little doubt about what would be the best selling album. And by royal decree, y'all would have to listen to it.

You know, every review of this album that I've read has noted that it's among the weakest, if not THE weakest album in The Hold Steady's canon, but that doesn't stop critics from going absolutely wild over the band and their continued quest for world domination. And I think that's the real story here-- sure, it's a lesser album than their last two, but it does nothing to call into question their status as the greatest rock band in the world. In fact, even its shortcomings seem to make us appreciate their ambition and their vision more than ever before.

How often does that happen?

I don't know if Stay Positive is any weaker than Almost Killed Me or Separation Sunday. I put Boys and Girls in America in a class by itself (as in one of the five best albums released this decade), but the other three are "merely" very good. And Stay Positive is definitely very good.

I think the band is certainly shooting for world domination, but they may have to play venues bigger than medium-sized dives to achieve it. :-) I don't know if any band (maybe U2?) is capable of world domination these days. The industry is too fragmented to support such a claim. Sadly, the "best rock 'n roll band in the world" is unknown to 95% of the U.S. population. It's hard to achieve world domination that way.

I am looking forward to the day when a Constantines/Hold Steady (listed alphabetically) double bill fills arenas throughout the heartland.

Let me dream, if I want to.
I haven't been in on this thread because I am still eagerly waiting to hear Stay Positive. and I am not a music critic.

I thought the Bottle Rockets were the best bar band in America . The Hold Steady are just going to have to settle for the most literate and hardest rocking....and perhaps best mustachioed.

There's no arena big enough to hold that sound.

Glad to see someone else into the Con's. I got into them with Shine a Light, but realized recently that I really only know the first few songs on that record (though those are some of my favorite songs). I just bought Kensington Heights but haven't had a chance to spend much time with it yet. I actually saw them on the Shine a Light tour in a dirty truck stop across the river from Baton Rouge; they covered "Tonight's the Night" by Neil Young and sweated profusely. Great show, but definitely the opposite of the filled arena, haha.

I noted in my review of The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive that it might just be the most complicated thing the band’s yet done– and the plot only thickens when you hear the three bonus cuts included on the deluxe edition of the album, which is in stores today.

Never mind for now that the three songs are all really stellar– in fact, had the three weakest songs on the actual album been replaced with these three new ones, it would be a much better record, perhaps even on par with Separation Sunday. What’s really interesting is what is said, and left unsaid, on these new songs. On the one hand, they’re every bit as bloody and weary as the album cuts; there are references to aging, to blood in the streets, even an acknowledgment that “we’re not getting any younger.” There are also cameos from two of Craig Finn’s favorite characters– Holly the hoodrat and Gideon the pimp– who both play important roles in Separation Sunday and Boys and Girls in America, but don’t appear on any of the Stay Positive album cuts. And Finn triples his rock and roll name-check score; while the studio cuts reference Led Zeppelin and The Clash, the new songs add nods to Barry White, The Rolling Stones, and The Ramones, and Al Green.

But even more than that, they broaden The Hold Steady’s musical palette more than ever before. “Cheyenne Sunrise,” in particular, might be the least Hold steady-ish thing they’ve yet cut, a bluesy, country-flavored piano ballad that’s wonderfully wistful and soulful. “Ask Her for Adderall,” meanwhile, is a hot Hold Steady rocker that deserves the prominent place its had in their live set, and the last of the bonus cuts, “Two-Handed Handshake,” is a mid-tempo piece that gradually builds to a finale of handbells and “Walk the Line”-style horns. All three cuts are superb, and, if there’s any complaint to be found with them, it’s that they didn’t make the regular album, while lesser cuts like “Navy Sheets” and “Magazines” did.

Post Rock:

I started my review of the Hold Steady's "Stay Positive" with a bit of a backhanded compliment. The gist of it was: This is probably the worst Hold Steady album - but that when dealing with the Hold Steady, "worst" is loosely translated to "least awesome." Because for the fourth consecutive time, Craig Finn and gang have delivered a winner. But for the second consecutive time, it can't compete with what came before.

The reviewer challenges readers to comment.

Wow-- it sounds like the critic Christian cites prefers Separation Sunday to Boys and Girls in America. I can't say that I agree, but I sure respect him for it. I've never encountered anyone who prefers Separation Sunday to Boys and Girls, though I myself didn't come to admit that Boys and Girls was the superior album until it had been out for a few months, and I still think Separation Sunday has certain charms-- its ramshackle narrative, its piledriving momentum, its truly conceptual nature-- that the band has never surpassed.

Yeah, I can't believe he thinks that Separation Sunday is better than Boys and Girls. Boys and Girls seemed to be a huge forward push. Even if it was a 7" of "Stuck Between Stations" b/w "You Can Make Him Like You," it still may have been my favorite release of that year.

I think the writing on Separation Sunday is as strong as any rock 'n roll record I've ever heard. But musically -- and it shares this quality with Almost Killed Me, the debut album -- it's querulous chanting backed by killer power chords. Nothing wrong with that, but I actually prefer Craig Finn when he's trying to sing a discernible melody.

As much as I like The Hold Steady, there are usually two or three songs per album that I could live without. That's true on the new album as well. But Boys and Girls in America is the exception. I wouldn't change a note.

Did anyone catch them on Letterman last night? Stereogum has a clip.

A professor at my school (who I have never actually had for a class incidently), just posted this great blog about the Hold Steady. It's worth a read.

I finally got Stay Positive this week. My early response is that it is great. Not as immediate as Boys and Girls but ultimately rewarding.

Here is a tour that you may not want to miss:

------------------------------------------

The Hold Steady, whose latest album 'Stay Positive' (Vagrant) has been
called "unstoppable" by the New York Times, have confirmed a string of
co-headlining Fall tour dates with the Drive-By Truckers. Pre-sale
begins Tuesday, August 19 and continues through Thursday, August 21.
Public on-sale starts Friday, August 22. The 23-date tour kicks off
October 30 in Louisville, KY.

"Seeing the Drive-By Truckers on the Southern Rock Opera tour was
instrumental to me wanting to start a band and play music again," says
Hold Steady singer Craig Finn. "That band is The Hold Steady. This tour
brings it full circle, and it will be a pleasure and an honor to be
able to share a stage with the Truckers. We're gonna have a really good
time."

'Stay Positive' has given the Hold Steady their best chart position to
date, hitting #30 on the Billboard 200. The band has recently been
featured on NPR's "Morning Edition," as well as Late Night with David
Letterman and the Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The band will grace
the stage of Late Night with Conan O'Brien on August 25.

The Hold Steady/Drive-By Truckers Fall Tour Dates

Thu 30-Oct Louisville, KY Coyotes @ City Block
Fri 31-Oct Nashville, TN Ryman Theater
Sat 1-Nov Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
Sun 2-Nov Tallahassee, FL The Moon @ FSU
Mon 3-Nov Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theater
Wed 5-Nov State College, PA The State Theatre
Thu 6-Nov New York, NY Terminal 5
Fri 7-Nov New York, NY Terminal 5
Sat 8-Nov Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
Sun 9-Nov Boston, MA Orpheum Theater
Tue 11-Nov Toronto, ON Phoenix Theater
Wed 12-Nov Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Music Hall
Thu 13-Nov Bloomington, IN Bluebird
Fri 14-Nov Chicago, IL Riviera Theater
Sat 15-Nov Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
Sun 16-Nov Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
Wed 19-Nov Boise, ID Big Easy
Thu 20-Nov Seattle, WA Showbox
Fri 21-Nov Seattle, WA Showbox
Sat 22-Nov Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
Sun 23-Nov San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Mon 24-Nov San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Tue 25-Nov Los Angeles, CA Wiltern

Hey, nothing between the east coast and Chicago... I guess nobody lives there. I'll be at the 11/8 Philly show, and also the 8/29 TLA show in Philly with The Hold Steady opening for Sonic Youth in a Converse sponsored $10.00 event. I believe my wife is officially sick of The Hold Steady.

Hey! Pittsburgh isn't 'nothing!'

There's an indie rock web site that lists Signs of the Impending Apocalypse. One of the items listed is my recent review of the Hold Steady album Stay Positive in Christianity Today Magazine.

If you're interested, you can read the review right here.

I caught your review in the newest issue, Andy, and am proud to say I know you. It was fantastic. And having found the "Signs of the Apocalypse" article you mentioned, I was glad to see it's complimentary.

My "Glimpse of God" feature on this album is now up at CT Music.

And we now have a video for the title track:

here