It can be very hard to not slide down a slippery slope of cliches and second hand observations when trying to critically look at an album. It becomes much harder when the album is high own your own personal list of must haves for the year.
Can it let me down? Will I let it? Have a put too much hope behind this as my saviour of Rock and Roll? Can I really review a Hold Steady album and not mention Springsteen?
Ladies and Gentlemen, sit back and raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer - Stay Positive has arrived like a darkness on the edge of town. Spit shined with a worn interior and some blood on the headlights - Stay Positive is a ride you want to take regardless of how much gas is going to cost.
I didn’t just mention Darkness on the Edge of town for dramatic effect, but rather for a reference point for the un-initiated. Stay Positive is to the Hold Steady what Darkness was for Springsteen. The album is full of hardship, secrets and lies - seems like only the listener is having a good time. Songs like “One For The Cutters” and ”Lord, I’m Discouraged” channel “Something in the Night” and “Racing in The Streets” - creating modern tales of what happens when that love affair gets old - what happens when the born to run, run out of breath?
Real downer, I know, but the other connection to Darkness is that the rockers are loud and impassioned and off-the-chart awesome. Constructive Summer and Stay Positive are the ultimate call-to-arms songs that we need more of these days, while my personal favorite, Sequestered in Memphis, is the smartest, catchiest song released this year.
The production is great, the songs are great, frontman Craig Finn remains manic and awkward (We’d have him no other way).
I wanted this album to blow me away, I practically begged it to put a shotgun to my chest. With such a strong body of work already, I always worry The Hold Steady will run out of steam…maybe I better just Stay Positive.
Interesting Fact - This is the fourth Hold Steady album, Darkness on the Edge of Town was the fourth Springsteen album. Coincidence?
