Track Listing

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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1515 in Music
• Released on: 2008-07-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

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

CD 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

The Hold Steady are back on fine form.
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.

Best album of 2008 so far!
I just wanted to say that I am flabergasted by the 2 reviews whcih rate this as 2 stars. I would say that if anything, the first 2 albums are a band finding their feet, Boys and Girls in America sees them finally perfect the early sound and this is something else entirely.
Craig Finn's voice is definitely at it's best on this album as is Tad Kubler's outstanding guitar (check the J Mascis' esque solo on 'Lord I'm Discouraged.)
Elsewhere, banjo and harpsichord add an element never heard before and if you're looking for a Chips Ahoy! look no further than the title track itself. I literally have not stopped playing this and have recommended it to most of my mates, who also have been won over (even my old man who is very sceptical of hype!)
In short, ignore the second and third review and indulge in a true classic.

Finn de siècle
The Hold Steady's last LP, Boys and Girls in America, was a masterclass in how to produce the perfect classic rock record. Stay Positive is a more punk offering than it's predecessor, rawer in production and less poppy in execution, and it wears that fact on it's sleeve, with Finn referencing Iggy Pop and Joe Strummer on the opening number then giving shout outs to Youth of Today and 7 Seconds on the title track.

Not that the classic rock touchstones have gone anywhere. The parched psychedelia of Both Crosses recalls Led Zep, while Tad Kubler tears through a guitar solo worthy of Slash on power ballad Lord I'm Discouraged. They even channel a new wave vibe on Navy Sheets, though the charging aggression of the synths and guitar bring to mind The Cars being chased down a dark alley by Black Flag.

The band further broaden their horizons on One for the Cutters, where 'boards man Franz endearingly drops in and out of time on a baroque harpsichord part, and Yeah Sapphire, where chiming guitars replace chugging riffs.

It's also a darker record than anything the band have done before, with Finn interweaving the tale of a brutal murder into his usual tales of debauchery and youthful indiscretion, with typical lyrical verve.

The one element where this is a smoother production is in Finn's vocals. He's actually singing here, (apparently he took lessons) really for the first time, backed by the gravelly harmonies of Lucero's Ben Nichols and Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood.

I don't think this is quite as strong an album as Boys & Girls, for me the riffs and melodies haven't lodged in my cerebral cortex in quite the same way. But anything would suffer in comparison. This still rocks.