Record review: The Hold Steady, "Stay Positive"

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By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO

5 stars

The Hold Steady went to Brooklyn by way of Minneapolis, so there’s something about their Springsteen-meets-the-Replacements all-American rock ’n’ roll that’s always made sense. After 2006’s brilliant “Boys and Girls in America,” The Hold Steady has become a known commodity, passionate believers who turn out anthemic, literate, bar-room rock about lovers and losers, dopers and drinkers.

“Stay Positive” (on iTunes now, in stores Tuesday) is the band’s first record since they became famous, and the title cut is as honest and sincere a song about that phenomenon as I can remember. It’s also a song about being in a band in your 30s and looking to the future, when “kids at the show, they’ll have kids of their own and the singalong songs will be our scriptures.”

That’s the kind of writing that pervades the record — and the entire Hold Steady catalog, for that matter. Singer/songwriter Craig Finn, a chunky guy with glasses, isn’t your typical rock ’n’ roll star but he’s a great storyteller and verbose as they come, cramming lots of smart kid words into the hook-filled songs.

“Stay Positive” touches on Catholicism with “Both Crosses,” delivers a haunting mystery about a girl who cuts herself and the death of a townie in “One for the Cutters,” raves on about being “Sequestered in Memphis” and even pulls out a bit of Peter Frampton talking guitar on “Joke About Jamaica,” which also references Led Zeppelin while telling a sad story about a lonely girl.

The Hold Steady is just as good live as it is on record, one of the few bands today that create the kind of community that Springsteen is known for, and never less than highly energetic.

Unfortunately, there are no Hold Steady shows announced for anywhere near here. So, for now, we’ll have to make do with “Stay Positive,” another great record from a great band that really gets it.