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There’s no mention of Nightclub Dwight
or the Nice Nice, or any Lifter Puller
drama. Lead singer Craig Finn is still a storyteller
though, and he recounts tales of debauchery. It’s
like he ended the Lifter Puller series and
is starting new volumes for The Hold Steady.
There’s plenty of Twin Cities location
dropping, so anyone who has spent time in the Cities
will completely groove on the fact that he lived out
on 66th and Nicollet and spent time in sleazy parts
of the St Paul suburbs and basically got around
all over the cities.
There’s also the recurring theme of the dark
storytelling. Anyone who has listened to Lifter
Puller and The Hold Steady will always
talk about the lyrics, the debauchery, the deadpan
stories of reality in a drug-addled, non-reality based
world of music and counterculture. This guy has spent
more time on the wrong side of the tracks than most
of us spend on the right side of the tracks. The stories
always sound real, interesting, stomach turning, and
addicting in themselves. Anyone who has heard them
would be lying if they said it was not one of the
most interesting part of the band’s offering.
Here’s what I’m having a hard time with
– I can’t agree with the music as much as
I agreed with Lifter Puller. I don’t want
to turn this into some sort of LP hommage,
but their music had a sort of immediacy to it, that
was combined with an urban punk feel while still maintaining
some sort of innovativeness. It was so right now while
still being so real with lots of integrity. The
Hold Steady sounds more like straight ahead rock
and roll that could have been made in the 70’s,
with Randy Newmann on Hammond keys and the
band recanting a tale of being out on a score at 5:00
AM. The whole thing seems to look back in time - most
of the lyrics are in the past tense, like a recounting
of tales from a time past.
I’ll still give it good marks though –
an off day in the world of the Hold Steady is better
than some band’s best offerings.
Best quote from the album: "He came into the
E.R. drinking Gin from a jam jar."
The Hold Steady: Separation
Sunday track list: 01 Hornets! Hornets!
02 Cattle and the Creeping Things
03 Your Little Hoodrat Friend
04 Banging Camp
05 Charlemagne in Sweatpants
06 Stevie Nix
07 Multitude of Casualties
08 Don't Let Me Explode
09 Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night
10 Crucifixion Cruise
11 How a Resurrection Really Feels
Creative Commons Copyright, 2012. Some Rights Reserved.
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