Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 14/07/08
Label: Rough Trade

The thorny and vexed issue of age is one that's held sway over rock'n'roll for many a decade but with the original baby boomers reaching a pensionable age, there's a case to be made that this is an area no longer the preserve of the young. While much of popular music is churned out with a production line mentality and positioned in the market as a rite of passage - something to enjoy on a superficial level before the real world comes a-calling - there's also a compelling case to be made for the life-changing powers of music at all of life's stages.

While the late and much lamented Earl Brutus posited that pop is wasted on the young, the fast-approaching middle age The Hold Steady is a band as much for those on the wrong side of 30 as those for whom Pete Doherty represents some kind of Year Zero. For the former group, frontman Craig Finn and his cohorts have, with "Stay Positive", moved away from the small town concerns of its predecessor, 2006's "Boys & Girls In America", to tackle and embrace the wider issues of modern living.

For the latter, The Hold Steady offers - at the very least - the sheer power of rock, an alternative to the smacked-out solipsism that snuffed out the flame of anger, joy and emotion to replace it with self-serving navel gazing and minor seventh chords with too much emphasis on the treble. This is an issue that Finn is acutely aware of when he sings on the title track: "'Cause most kids give me credit / For being down with it."

As guitarist Tad Kubler's twenty tons of heavy duty riffage explode from the speakers on opener "Constructive Summer", it becomes manifestly clear that The Hold Steady's arduous touring schedule has paid dividends. Lean and without carrying an ounce of flab, its fusion of Springsteen's passion and the electrical energy at the heart of Husker Du heralds the band's intent as Finn invokes the name of Joe Strummer with a delivery that borders on the divine.

Having had barely time to catch breath, the dynamism of "Sequestered In Memphis" finds the pedal pressed firmly to the metal as The Hold Steady up the ante and the notion that Finn's lyrics are taking wider panoramic sweeps is palpable. So too is the concept that rock'n'roll is no longer the preserve of younger generations but a force that'll remain from the moment its powers of redemption are absorbed until the end of one's days.

By the time the messianic fervour of "Slapped Actress" is reached via the resignation of "Lord, I'm Discouraged", The Hold Steady have not only touched upon universal truths with a pertinence that crosses the generational divide. They've also resurrected with this, their fourth album, the seemingly outmoded concept that with enough nurturing and faith, a band - and by extension it's audience - can grow into a beautiful thing. Stay positive? There's no other option.

    by Julian Marszalek