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Music
Jul 17, 2008, 09:15AM

The Hold Steady Take Their Band Name Too Literally

The Hold Steady, on a quest to bring America all the talk-singing you'll ever want to hear, keep the energy up but don't deliver anything new on their album Stay Positive.

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If it's not broken, don't fix it.

That seems to be the motto that the Hold Steady has employed on its fourth album, "Stay Positive." The Brooklyn-based quintet utilizes all of the tools that gave it initial success - bright guitar riffs, pounding drums, and frontman Craig Finn's trademark growling/singing/speaking vocals - but occasionally tweaking the formula, creating a few darker, more theatrical tracks.

The rest of the album is full of energetic and predictable Southern rock-influenced jams. The title track's "ooh ooh" hook is catchy, and first single "Sequestered in Memphis" makes many a toe tap, but they're nothing that hasn't been done before. It's obvious that the Hold Steady is having fun playing the music, but that doesn't save the remaining tracks from being pretty forgettable.

"Stay Positive" is not groundbreaking by any means. It is a decent album, but not for listeners who are thirsting for something unique and exotic.

Discussion
  • Mellencamp is nowhere as bad as Billy Joel, but he's close to the Piano Man than to Neil Young (on the subject of old-timers). "Small Town" was a pretty good song, kinda catchy, but Mellencamp ought not be forgiven for selling his "This is Our Country" as a commercial that permeated the airwaves a year ago even before it was released as a CD.

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