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No Holding Pattern For The Hold Steady

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By CURTIS ROSS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 17, 2008

There's almost no way to write about The Hold Steady without mentioning Bruce Springsteen, and probably no reason to try, either. Lead signer Craig Finn's phrasing is straight out of E Street, and his knack for creating beautiful losers to populate his lyrics smacks of Springsteen's earlier, wordier work.

The difference, of course, is their respective eras. Springsteen made Spanish Johnny and Puerto Rican Jane larger than life, while Finn's girl in a rented Mustang and his druggy, skinny kids are cemented into place as faces in the crowd, not quite losers but a long way from winners, too.

Finn's is a world of antidepressants, sports bars and all-ages venues. It's a world where glory days are a bad joke but no one has suffered enough to be heroic, although the protagonist of "One for the Cutters" might beg to differ.

Like Springsteen's world, though, rock 'n' roll provides a shot at redemption in Finn's. Youth of Today and the early 7 Seconds/Taught me some of life's most valuable lessons, Finn sings on the title track of "Stay Positive," echoing Springsteen's sentiments in "No Surrender."

Like Finn's lyrics, though, The Hold Steady play music that's rooted in the past but decidedly of its time. Arena rock power chords and punk vibrancy surge through the performances, and if Franz Nicolay's piano fills echo Roy Bittan's, it's just because both know how to raise the dramatic stakes with a handful of notes.

"Stay Positive" is Hold Steady's fourth album but its first since breaking through to a wider audience with 2006's "Boys and Girls in America." Finn and company surely knew the new album would have a huge critical spotlight fixed on it, with the inclination of some fans and writers to knock the band off its perch at a fever pitch.

"Stay Positive" charges forward rather than cautiously consolidating the gains of "Boys and Girls." The band pulls off daring hard rock moves in "Navy Sheets," then slips effortlessly into waltz-time for the near-ballad "Lord, I'm Discouraged."

Need more? "Sequestered in Memphis" is joyous and funny the way "Chips Ahoy" was on "Girls and Boys." "Both Crosses" has enough Catholic imagery for Springsteen or Madonna, and something bad happened in Ybor City in "Slapped Actress." You need this.

Download this: "Sequestered in Memphis"

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