Stay Positive (Limited Edition Special Package)

Product Details

Artist : The Hold Steady
Format : Limited Edition
Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0883870146029
Label : Roughtrade
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 2008-07-14
UPC : 883870146029

ASIN : B001AMG7MM

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. Constructive Summer
2. Sequestered In Memphis
3. One For The Cutters
4. Navy Sheets
5. Lord, I'm Discouraged
6. Yeah Sapphire
7. Both Crosses
8. Stay Positive
9. Magazines
10. Joke About Jamaica
11. Slapped Actress
12. Ask Her For Adderall
13. Cheyenne Sunrise
14. Two Handed Handshake!

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

The Hold Steady's ascent and eventual breakthrough with 2006's Boys & Girls in America was never pre-ordained. If anything they did it without the tastemakers' consent. Their shtick is old-fashioned through and through, beginning with Thin Lizzy and ending with Bruce Springsteen, performed by men advanced enough to have experienced those touchstones first or second hand. And look at them--not exactly The Strokes, are they? But it was precisely their enthusiastic unoriginality, the fact that the clichés were piled on so thick and so fast, that they triumphed. And placed next to that unapologetically feel good record, that Stay Positive sounds so immediately brighter and more muscular is undoubtedly a great sign. Production is really cranked up--see the horns wedged into "Sequestered in Memphis", the REM mandolin texturing of "Both Crosses" and the surprising harpsichord flagrancy of "One for the Cutters". They're clearly determined to not be so easily pegged this time around, though admittedly they never exactly go that far off-piste. "Our songs are sing-along songs," announced Craig Finn semi-helpfully, and though the spirit is right, with such a conversational lyrical style that is rarely the case. It's more about the rock gestures and knowing when to punch the air. And there are instances aplenty, from the Pete Townsend-esque windmill power-chords in "Constructive Summer", to the overblown solo in "Lord I'm Discouraged" that is so "November Rain" it's practically going through Stephanie Seymour's trash (those not watching MTV in the mid-90s, hit Youtube). --James Berry

Description

'Stay Positive' is the fourth studio album from The Hold Steady and follows their hugely popular 2006 release 'Girls And Boys In America'. Working once again with producer John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.) the album sees the band continue in the same direction their previous release took them, mixing classic bar-room style rock with Craig Finn's halfspoken/half sung lyrical tales of drinking, partying and love. The single 'Sequestered In Memphis' is also included.

Customer Reviews

One of the best rock albums for 20 years (2008-08-01)

Great stories, great musicians and great songs!Up there with NEVERMIND,BORN TO RUN, JOSHUA TREE, SOFT BULLETIN and DESERTERS SONGSsublime! BUY NOW

Don't mention Tampa... (2008-07-18)

After the brilliance of Boys and Girls and Separation Sunday and seeing them on tour, I've been more excited about Stay Positive's release than a five year old kid on Christmas Eve. Thankfully, this album doesn't disappoint one bit. I just kinda wonder if it's even healthy the amount I love these guys' music. True, the mix is pretty raw, and they're obviously leaning towards a more punked-out sound than the smoothly produced Boys and Girls. But they've not forgotten the melodies, and most importantly the fun. Lots of reviews will talk about brilliant lyrics packed with intellectual reference points, but more important for me is the fact that The Hold Steady put the fun back into Rock. The genuine euphoria of their live sets shines through on this album, with the band as ever rejecting the trendy brooding battle-of-who-could-care-less that blights so much modern music - The Hold Steady are the next best thing to seeing The Boss himself live. And while the Springsteen comparisons linger, there's plenty more in the melting pot of their influences on this record. Anyone suggesting they're a one-shot wonder is pretty wide of the mark here, with songs as varied as Lord I'm Discouraged and Stay Positive on one album. I'm torn though. Part of me has an evangelical zest to me about The Hold Steady. I just can't see why some of the dirge that gets into the mainstream could be favoured over this by anyone with a brain and two ears. But then, as another reviewer says, this record does take effort to get the utmost reward. Perhaps that's its attraction for me - music nerd, snob or whatever.

Positive Negative (2008-07-16)

I love this band and yet this album just hasn't got the big tunes that made Boys & Girls in America such an aural delight. You won't find a Chips Ahoy, Party Pit or Chill Out on here. Maybe Stay Positive is a grower, but at this point in listening time it's pretty disappointing. Sure there are few better lyricists in rock at the moment than Craig Finn, but the spark seems to have gone missing from the band's tunesmiths resulting in bluster and rock cliché of the kind that discerning listeners got bored with many years ago. I repeat I love this band, but maybe they need time off the road to find the spark that so lit up Boy & Girls in America.

Buy this (2008-07-15)

Just playing as I'm writing this,it's amazing possibly my album of the year so far.not one duff track, even the three bonus tracks should be credited on the album proper or put on an ep themselves.BUY IT.

The Hold Steady are back on fine form. (2008-06-20)

After the success of `Boys & girls in America' Hold Steady's new album is hotly anticipated by fans and I have to say they don't disappoint. They are hardly the stuff of chart material, old and wise enough to have been around the block a few times but that is maybe what makes them so special, they have made it based on great music and a reputation for raucous but brilliant live shows. Here the sound isn't that far away from what you'd expect, they are just doing their thing, happens that they are just very good at it. The album opens with the born in the USA style riff laden `Constructive Summer' all attitude and business as usual and at just under three minutes it's another perfect slice of guitar pop. Next up is `Sequestered in Memphis' catchy as cold in an office environment and it gets instantly under your skin with its trumpets and Hammond belting out a basis for the lyrics to sit `subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis'. `One for the Cutters' is a speeded up `Golden Brown' and the first song here to let the guitars sit back and relax while a honky tonk piano does most of the work. `Navy Sheets' seems to have embraced the new wave culture with its rave keyboards sharing duties with the familiar guitar. `Lord I'm Discouraged' takes the pace down to a Spiritualized level and wouldn't sound out of place on a Willard Grant Conspiracy record, it's a dusty Eagles-esqe story topped of with a guitar solo worthy of Slash. `Yeah Sapphire' is another typical tune with duelling guitars and crazy lyrics. `Both Crosses' sees the pace down again and R.E.M. comparisons seem inevitable as a mandolin and acoustic guitar gives it a cowboy feel reminiscent of `E-bow the Letter'. `Stay Positive' is the closest thing I've heard to a Jonathan Richmond song since the Modern Lovers and it comes complete with a whoo ho ho sing along chorus. `Magazines' is more Springsteen than the album opener while retaining all the classic elements of the band and is a natural successor to last albums `Chips Ahoy!'. `Joke about Jamaica' has nice little time changes and another cracking guitar solo, its starts with a `Life on Mars' style piano which builds into a heady mix before stopping dead and ushering in final track `Slapped Actress' a five minute song that halfway through breaks down `sometimes actress's get slapped, sometimes fake fights go bad' they sing before building up again into an Americana `Mr. Blue Sky' and after 43 glorious minutes its over. A charming, uplifting and positive record which should do nothing to harm The Hold Steady's reputation, a little experimentation, a lot of passion and twelve great songs make this one of the albums of the year.

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