The Hold Steady 'Stay Positive'

The Hold Steady were the toast of TracksandGigs last year, with 'gig of the year' and second best album of the year, in what was, admittedly, nowhere near as good as a year for new records as 2008. The last three Hold Steady albums contained stories largely based on the characters of Gideon, Charlemagne and Holly with scenes and memories from Finn's past thown in as well. It was the literacy as much as the big anthems that made them three great albums. In the last year though, the Hold Steady have become big news and expectation for this album was high, from fans and from a record company who must be expecting a big seller and some radio-friendly singles. In response, they seem to have aimed for something between the conceptual storytelling of 'Separation Sunday' and the feel-good anthems of 'Boys and Girls In America'. The results are hit...and miss.

'Constructive Summer', which starts proceedings, is a big celebratory rocker declaring an agenda for the summer and "(raising) a toast to St Joe Strummer". It alludes to the band's success and to the fact that they are getting older while at the same time identifying with kids who "work at the mill until you die". Aiming to give people something to believe in and enjoy through their music are worthy sentiments and this is a nice opener, which will work well in a similar slot at this Summer's gigs, the sound is rather stodgy though.

From here on, 'Stay Positive' focuses largely on a story involving murder, drugs, drink, religion and death - all the usual Hold Steady themes. The story is told through the voices of several of the protagonists- possibly Holly, Gideon and Charlemagne, they are never named so this is left to the listener's imagination. 'One For The Cutters' , making imaginative use of the harpsichord, is a dense murder ballad based around the story of a girl who goes to college and ends up partying with townies and discovering the differences between them and the college crowd. Great lyrics from Finn here and one of the best and most challenging songs THS have written. Likewise for 'Lord I'm Discouraged' a couple of songs later. The star of this song is surely Holly, who has got herself into yet another bad situation with visitors from the "north side" whose visits "only take five or six minutes". This is a superb, crushing, epic ballad with a guitar solo to die for from Tad Kubler.

Skip forward a few tracks and you have 'Both Crosses', a ballad in the Led Zepellin tradition and a dark tale with religious imagery and yet another murder. Another adventurous, imaginative track. Around all this are some fairly straight-forward rock tracks with a recurring theme revolving around being an ageing rock star. The title track is the worst of these. With lyrics half cobbled together from previous albums and half faintly embarrassing ("we couldn't have done this without you") and a "woah-oh" chorus that is pure Bon Jovi, it all sounds like a contrived, rushed attempt at an anthem. 'Slapped Actress', which is an otherwise interesting song referencing John Cassavettes and looking at the relationship between movies and music, ends with another "woah-oh" singalong part that is so obviously intended to be sung by the audience at a gig. These are examples of the band being influenced by the reaction to their last album and these moments don't sit comfortably with the rest of the record. Far better is 'Joke About Jamaica', a pop-rock number with at least three hooks, a great talkbox solo and bittersweet lyrics that sound like they were written the morning after a 'massive night'.

The CD comes with three bonus tracks and the vinyl with one. This seems the wrong way round to me, but.....'Ask Her For Adderall' is 'Constructive Summer' with better lyrics, 'Cheyenne Sunrise' is excellent, a piano-led bar-room ballad with good singing from Finn and 'Two Handed Handshake' is ok, a catchy enough pop-rock number.

So much of this record is good, challenging material, it is a real pity that it is let down by a couple of songs that seem to have been written with gigs and/or fans in mind...and a line like "most kids give me credit for being down with it", should never have been recorded. There is also a problem with production and mastering, the record is very loud and 'in your face' and subtlety is lost at times. For all the criticisms that I have, there are some great songs on this record and it will keep the momentum going. In fact, judging by pretty much every other review of this record, 'Stay Positive' may take The Hold Steady to previously unchartered commercial territory. Looking forward to the next album already....

8.0