In our summer mix tape posts, I pay special attention to the Hold Steady and their latest release, Stay Positive. There’s a pretty good reason — the band fucking jams.
Their previous release, Boys and Girls In America, was a flawless album filled to the gills with Craig Finn’s trademark vocal delivery and lyrical storytelling, the latter of which is on par with the best in the business. Even better, his tales of drunken, drugged-out debauchery among his country’s youth finally got him the acclaim he deserves as a songwriter thanks in part to a significant media push from new label Vagrant Records.
Still with Vagrant and still amazing songwriters, Stay Positive sees Finn’s bandmates continue to increase the impact of their presence. In particular, where Boys and Girls served as a coming out party for new member Franz Nicolay (keys; also a driving force behind NYC’s World/Inferno Friendship Society and the resurgence of god-awful mustaches), Stay Positive sees him exert even more presence in the songs. Finn’s no-frills rock, perfected over the course of the band’s first three albums (and his time spent in the punkier Lifter Puller), is expertly-countered by Nicolay’s ear for throwing additional instrumentation into the mix — namely harpsichord, talkbox, horns, and strings. Heck, talk about expanding your palate: Finn has even taken some vocal lessons and you might even call some of his vocals singing on this record.
But either way, odds are good that a lot of Hold Steady fans are in it for the lyrics. “Constructive Summer” gets things off to a great start, encapsulating all the band’s talking points: drinking, partying, and, er, staying positive. Finn’s good taste shines through in lyrical nods to punk rockers Dillinger Four and the late, great Joe Strummer. The subtle allusion is one of Finn’s greatest tools, used throughout the album. Long-time fans will pick up a full-circle nod to Almost Killed Me’s “Positive Jam” on the title track, when Finn insists, ‘it’s one thing to start it with a positive jam/And it’s another thing to see it on through.’ Indeed, part of the fun of this album is picking up those nods to influences and characters from past albums.
I’d encourage old fans and interested newbies alike to go pick up the ‘limited edition’ digipack version of the CD, which includes three bonus tracks on a 12th track. In true Hold Steady fashion, even the leftover material is every bit as good as the main album. While the record as a whole doesn’t best Boys and Girls In America, it comes close. Seriously folks: you’ll find no better than this in 2008.
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