The Hold Steady

Even as the sound of the Hold Steady continues to swell, they don't abandon rock's simplest and most reliable inspirations: chasing girls, chasing the party and fighting the disillusionment that follows both. Stay Positive can get too self-aware for its own good -- be it the Frampton jam-out to end "Joke About Jamaica" or the sentimental ivory tinkles that sometimes make boozy anthems feel bloated -- but when the big-hair guitar solo rips through the center of "Lord, I'm Discouraged," it upholds their reputation as the most painfully earnest fellows at the party.

Right now, no band displays the ranting soul, haunted heart or diseased liver of the
American rock myth with more truth and empathy than the Hold Steady. The Brooklyn
band's fourth set — their most adventurous yet — shows their loser-outlaw storytelling and
classic riff propulsion in full flower. It's a punk-weaned, 21st-century version of The Wild,
the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle. Per the title, Stay Positive is remarkably o... More >