The mantle of being The Next Big Thing has crushed many a band. So it has been with some trepidation that I'd been reading the early media reports on The Hold Steady's new album. After getting a copy of 2006's Boys and Girls in America I devoured all of this band I could get my hands on. But this new album came with worry. Would the weight of critical expectations cause them to put out a watered down crap fest? Would Craig Finn start to believe his own press clippings? Would a grab for a more mainstream audience ruin the fun?
Well, the band put up all of Stay Positive on its MySpace page and at first listen the fears were unfounded. Simply put, it rocks just like a Hold Steady album. The early E Street influences are there musically and lyrically-- driving guitar and piano, rapid-fire lyrical delivery-- with a healthy dash of glam rock thrown in. Finn remains America's reigning poet laureate of getting fucked up -- there are plenty of images of pills and booze and Led Zeppelin and god knows what else. And the lyrics are full of nods to the old fans-- references to other songs and characters that appear throughout The Hold Steady catalog (one example "Ybor City Almost Killed Us Again").
What remains an open question is if this will be the album that makes the Hold Steady "The Next Big Thing"-- the rock act that everyone is listening too. I'm not sure this will sell millions of copies and garner huge airplay. I'm not sure such a thing is possible anymore for anyone. But it will garner legions of new fans and more critical acclaim. And of course lead to some epic drunken concerts, at least one of which I hope to attend.
As an aside you can listen to a concert from last November on NPR's website of all places. And the site is sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon, because of course so many Volvo driving suburbanites drink PBR with their fondue. Okay maybe that's steroetypical of me, but still it's like bizarro NPR.
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