THE HOLD STEADY – A POSITIVE RAGE

THE HOLD STEADY – A POSITIVE RAGE

The Hold Steady have always bucked trends. With little regard for fashion or favour they released three acclaimed albums of guitar-driven, passionate, old school rock’n’roll before last year’s more polished but less satisfying fourth album Stay Positive. So a live album capturing them in their natural habitat seems a logical next move to sure up their fans. Seventeen songs recorded in one night at the Metro in Chicago in October 2007, in the words of singer songwriter Craig Finn “It ended up being a fantastic suburban blow out…” Undoubtedly this live “best of” presents all the classic The Hold Steady tunes, Chips Ahoy, Stuck Between Stations, Ask Her for Adderall and of course Girls Like Status. Big guitars blow it out in the best fashion, unafraid as they are of the old fashioned lead guitar solo and stadium grand-standing. While seventeen songs is a stretch for the uninitiated (try Boys and Girls in America as a better starting point), for those who have stashed away their Cheap Trick records as a guilty pleasure to be enjoyed in private, Stay Positive allows you to come out in public. In their own words, “you gotta dance (with who you came with)”.

*** 1/2

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