Boys And Girls In America - The Hold Steady Album Review

Boys And Girls In America - The Hold Steady Album Review

Photo By:Marina Chavez

Album Review

Three buzz words this year – The Hold Steady.

Big things are expected of The Hold Steady in 2007. One audience member on Later.. with Jools Holland – Hootenanny 2006 predicted Mika would be a hit and he is already. Another said 2007 was THS’s time too. So what’s all the fuss about then?

Well, this Minneapolis-bred / Brooklyn-based quintet – Craig Finn ( vox ) , Ted Kubler ( l /guitar ), Bobby Drake ( drums ), Franz Nicolay ( keys etc ) and Galen Polivka are basically a no - nonsense band of rustic rockers. There’s something refreshingly old-fashioned about them too. In many ways this is a kind of ‘tribute’ to The Boss – Bruce Springsteen, especially his sonic outfit the E-Street Band.

The Hold Steady certainly know how to kick up a storm, though it’s not what can be called gratuitous rock, as such – they’re far more subtle than that. Banging –it- out from the off, rusty chords and splashes of clunking piano turn Stuck Between Stations into their calling card, and it’s cool stuff as well – with Finn’s equally Boss-like vocals being the icing on the cake. Chips Ahoy -more dirty chords and rippling organ boosted by some “ Oooah Oooah’s” make it a firm concert favourite. It rolls neatly into more of the same on Hot Soft Light, another stomping rocker, this time layered by whistling guitar picks by Ted Kubler, with the pedal –on- the metal for a blistering Same Kooks as Kubler goes ballistic with some fine bluesy solos. Strewth…. the PC’s burning up already!

After a near exhausting 13 minutes, things calm down, nicely. First Night, a Bob Seeger type ballad shows they can really mix it too, with the pace picking up again rapidly on Party Pit, going even faster with anthemic rocker You Can Make Him Like You. Now comes the clever stuff – awesome funky basslines and 60s tinged organ with plenty of chanting could make Massive Nights their breakthrough track – a great single in the making. It’s not a complete white knuckle ride either – a gentle acoustic guitar leads us into Citrus, a bar-like Irish sing-along. Penultimate Chillout Tent is again, more like the Boss than the Boss himself. Blimey, it’s an a capella intro for the their first Americana song - Southtown Girls, but we’re soon back into dirty riffs ( a la AC/CD), blues breaks, , organ, and harmonica, making it the classiest track of the lot.

Tracks include violin, viola, tenor sax, trumpet, trombone and lap steel. See if you can find them. The Hold Steady are as hot as hell – watch them burn up 2007 quite soon!

Elly Roberts

Gigs

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