2008, Vagrant
Verdict: A-
Raising, shit even equaling the bar set on the best album of 2006, Boys and Girls in America, wasn’t gonna happen. I knew this, so I went into Stay Positive doing my best to temper expectations. Stupid. The Hold Steady is really that good.
“Constructive Summer,” “Sequestered in Memphis” – These songs nearly perfect the band's classic rock-meets-barroom punk craft, and “Lord I’m Discouraged” begins like a Springsteen-worthy ballad before tearing through a guitar solo as earnest, ragged and seemingly heartfelt as Craig Finn’s lyrics. Outside of The Boss, nobody in rock today sells the street corner romantic aesthetic like this guy. What could, frankly, easily come off as cheesy and contrived in the hands of even a supremely competent poser (Brandon Flowers?), is chill up your spine beautiful and as real as your high school yearbook.
In the last two years The Hold Steady have gone from a Pitchfork darling that only a handful of music nerds outside of New York City had even heard of, to the second coming of E Street. And although they still probably won’t ever move records like Coldplay, there now exists a rabid and growing fanbase hanging on Craig Finn’s fractured vocals. Count me in. The disc takes a couple of creative diversions here and there that I could live without ("Navy Sheets" and "One For the Cutters"), but they saved the best for last on Stay Positive with the thundering ode to indie film hero John Cassavetes, “Slapped Actress.” Listen to it just once and tell me you’re not with me.
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