When it works, it is great unashamed good time music. Unfortunately it doesn’t work often enough.
The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
http://www.roughtraderecords.com/ http://www.theholdsteady.com/ http://www.konkurrent.nl/
I keep telling myself that I am going to write this review without mentioning Bruce Springsteen. Oh bugger. OK, I’ll write it without mentioning him again. Actually that really isn’t going to work. If it wasn’t for the fact that he still going strong I would swear that Craig Finn and friends were channelling the spirit of The Boss. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. The album opens in fine style with the one two of Constructive Summer and Sequestered in Memphis, the latter driven along by a great use of horn. This is unashamed straight-ahead rock perfect for a night of boozed-up meanderings. There are other flavours here, although not many. There is the occasional bit that reminds one of later Hüsker Dü, others which recall The Band. But for the most part it feels like a ride down that memory lane called ‘E Street’.
Unfortunately en masse the songs here pall somewhat. Navy Sheets is about as much of a departure as they take with new wave synths replacing monolithic guitar riffery. It feels somewhat leaden however, particularly after the fine piano-led One For The Cutters, which is richly atmospheric.
“Hold Steady” is perhaps one of the most suitable names in the whole of rock. They are fully paid up adherents to the school of the ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ school of song-writing. Which is all fine and well, but one can’t help but feel that they should take the occasional risk. On this evidence I can’t imagine them coming up with something as politically or emotionally daring as, say, Springsteen’s American Skin (which is disappointing in a band who once produced an album around the loose concept of a girl looking for balance between the drugs and sex of rock and her Catholic upbringing).
Here they aren’t just focused on The Boss, but on a particular part of his career when he was focused on pure blue collar rock. When it works, it is great unashamed good time music. Unfortunately it doesn’t work often enough.
Words: Stuart Crosse