CD-Charts Position 1
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Stay Positive (Limited Edition Special Package)

by: The Hold Steady

Release Date July 14, 2008
The title 'Stay Positive' is a bit of a risky one - what is conceived as a rallying call could end up sounding like a desperate plea if the album falls flat - and this release has a lot to live up to. 'Boys & Girls' was a fun listen and carved out a niche for the band as the feel good rockers who boasted untypically clever lyrics.

The band appear very much aware of this on the opening two tracks which follow the blueprint established on 'Boys & Girls' a little too closely. The next two songs throw a lot of new ideas in the mix but aren't 100% successful. At this point on my first listen I was a little worried - not one of these songs is a patch on the first 4 songs that opened the last album. 'Lord I'm Discouraged' marks ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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Separation Sunday

by: Hold Steady

Release Date April 30, 2007
This is an album that has a lot going for it, and is something slightly different that attracts me to it. As an entire album it is sublime, each track leads into another convincingly. Definitely an album and band that is very easy to fall in love with and for me the best of The Hold Steady's 3 albums to be introduced to.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Boys & Girls In America

by: The Hold Steady

Release Date November 06, 2006
I have just listened to this album on the headphones in Virgin - and i was very excited by it.

I dont know much of springsteens work and this 'E- Street band' everyone keeps referring to - so maybe as one clever reviwer pointed out - i am the type of person approahcing it with out any preconceptions.

well i love alt rock music - from Dino jr to pixies to sugar to sloan - and am bored by all the flat sounding supposed 'indie' music by bands called "the ......'s" - so hearing this energetic riff laden fusion of pure rock and roll love and soaring guitars is a breath of fresh air!

with so many psuedo serious self indulgent bands like the editors and arcade fire around - its great to hear some rollocking loud pop/rock ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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Boys and Girls in America: Special Edition

by: Hold Steady

Release Date November 12, 2007
...that's what Craig Finn - singer and lyricist with The Hold Steady - proclaimed with preacher-like rhetoric to the heaving crowd of York Fibbers on Tuesday 20th February, 2007. Dripping with sweat and drunk on (equal parts) alcohol, air-punching guitar riffs and complete hero worship, Craig could have divulged his belief that badgers are our intellectual superiors and are just biding their time until the inevitable takeover, and we'd have all agreed with him. Woodland-based conspiracy theories aside, at that point - if we hadn't already - everyone one of us in that room also believed in the power of rock and roll.

Such is the passion and conviction of this, The Hold Steady's third album, that they'll make you believe almost anything. NME called ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Almost Killed Me/Separation Sunday

by: Hold Steady

Release Date October 27, 2008
...that's what Craig Finn - singer and lyricist with The Hold Steady - proclaimed with preacher-like rhetoric to the heaving crowd of York Fibbers on Tuesday 20th February, 2007. Dripping with sweat and drunk on (equal parts) alcohol, air-punching guitar riffs and complete hero worship, Craig could have divulged his belief that badgers are our intellectual superiors and are just biding their time until the inevitable takeover, and we'd have all agreed with him. Woodland-based conspiracy theories aside, at that point - if we hadn't already - everyone one of us in that room also believed in the power of rock and roll.

Such is the passion and conviction of this, The Hold Steady's third album, that they'll make you believe almost anything. NME called ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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Almost Killed Me

by: Hold Steady

Release Date April 30, 2007
The first step on the climb up to the mighty peak that is Boys And Girls In America. All Rick Nielson riffs, Phil Lynott basslines with the ramshackle beauty of The Replacements, the Hold Steady's first album seems to appear fully formed. The lyrics tumbling out over themselves, sometimes at odds with the music the band is playing, sketching out the dramas of Charlemagne and Holly et al that would be more fully fleshed out in the street-opera of their next album Separation Sunday. This is brilliant stuff only kept to 4 stars instead of the maximum because Franz Nicolay's keyboards only appear infrequently and because the next two albums are EVEN BETTER. Once you've listened to it and immersed yourself in its world it's also fun to count how many times Craig Finn ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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Stay Positive [VINYL]

by: Hold Steady

Release Date July 14, 2008
Writing this review I don't mean to sound judgemental or condecending, but I feel I must take a moment to vent my rage.

The Hold Steady are a band who along with many other great American artists(Richmond Fontaine and The National to name two) who are continually ignored by the general public in the UK.
This is the band's 4th album and I firmly beleive it to be their career high-point to date.

If you are yet to hear the dlights of Craig Finn and co, then let me take a second to discribe their sound.
Imagine if you will Bruce Springteens's E Street Band having grown up listening to 80's punk legends Husker Du and Fugazi, then decideing to bring in a poetic literate (much in the same vein as our own home-grown genius Mark E Smith) ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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Boys and Girls in America

by: The Hold Steady

Release Date March 19, 2007
...that's what Craig Finn - singer and lyricist with The Hold Steady - proclaimed with preacher-like rhetoric to the heaving crowd of York Fibbers on Tuesday 20th February, 2007. Dripping with sweat and drunk on (equal parts) alcohol, air-punching guitar riffs and complete hero worship, Craig could have divulged his belief that badgers are our intellectual superiors and are just biding their time until the inevitable takeover, and we'd have all agreed with him. Woodland-based conspiracy theories aside, at that point - if we hadn't already - everyone one of us in that room also believed in the power of rock and roll.

Such is the passion and conviction of this, The Hold Steady's third album, that they'll make you believe almost anything. NME called them "classic ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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Sequestered in Memphis [7" VINYL]

by: Hold Steady

Release Date July 07, 2008
...that's what Craig Finn - singer and lyricist with The Hold Steady - proclaimed with preacher-like rhetoric to the heaving crowd of York Fibbers on Tuesday 20th February, 2007. Dripping with sweat and drunk on (equal parts) alcohol, air-punching guitar riffs and complete hero worship, Craig could have divulged his belief that badgers are our intellectual superiors and are just biding their time until the inevitable takeover, and we'd have all agreed with him. Woodland-based conspiracy theories aside, at that point - if we hadn't already - everyone one of us in that room also believed in the power of rock and roll.

Such is the passion and conviction of this, The Hold Steady's third album, that they'll make you believe almost anything. NME called them "classic ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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Stay Positive

by: The Hold Steady

Release Date July 14, 2008
Writing this review I don't mean to sound judgemental or condecending, but I feel I must take a moment to vent my rage.

The Hold Steady are a band who along with many other great American artists(Richmond Fontaine and The National to name two) who are continually ignored by the general public in the UK.
This is the band's 4th album and I firmly beleive it to be their career high-point to date.

If you are yet to hear the dlights of Craig Finn and co, then let me take a second to discribe their sound.
Imagine if you will Bruce Springteens's E Street Band having grown up listening to 80's punk legends Husker Du and Fugazi, then decideing to bring in a poetic literate (much in the same vein as our own home-grown genius Mark E Smith) to bring ... Read More: