July 18, 2008

"our songs are sing along songs"

the hold steady don't really have many casual fans, you're either all in or you probably haven't spent enough time with their music (& definitely haven't seen them live)...the only problem with being all in though, is that sometimes you tend to get a little too attached to the songs, the ones that you've sung along to countless times, & when new ones come along it might be kind of hard to accept them as easily as the old favorites...at least that's how i felt the first couple times i listened to stay positive, which officially came out earlier this week...while there were certain tracks that immediately struck a chord, i couldn't help sizing up almost everything on the album to the band's previous work, & was actually sort of let down...but for some reason, when i came back to it a few days later, i was completely blown away...every song sounded better, tracks i had dismissed as weak retreads like "one for the cutters" & "yeah sapphire" had taken on new life, while standouts like the title track, "constructive summer", & "lord, i'm discouraged", now sounded like absolute classics...i've been playing this album into the ground for about a month now, & it seems to get better & better, the songs have all resonated & i'm starting to get pretty attached to them...& when the band takes the stage at union park tomorrow evening, you can bet i'll be there...singing along.

download: the hold steady - stay positive
download: the hold steady - slapped actress

related: vbs vs. the hold steady

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

my feelings EXACTLY! boys and girls was just so... classic... this one sounded formless by comparison. slowly but surely, though, the songs are growers. i'm still a ways away from declaring it equal or better than prior efforts, but given their track record of absolute awesomeness, i'm giving them some leeway here. it was the same way with REM in their prime. never instant grabbers, but slow burns that end up having more staying power. i'll let some time pass on stay positive, we'll see what happens.