I adored The Hold Steady in my twenties. The band had three different focal points – guitarist Tad Kubler was a classic rock riff machine, emulating the bar band rock of Thin Lizzy. Vocalist Craig Finn was inspired by hip hop, weaving interlocking narratives of Catholic teenagers in sin and redemption in Minneapolis. Keyboardist Franz Nicolay added an extra layer to their sound, his piano and organ drawing comparisons to Springsteen’s E Street Band.
The Hold Steady peaked with three great records in the 2000s; 2005’s Seperation Sunday featured their densest narratives, 2006’s Boys and Girls in America was their most accessible, while 2008’s Stay Positive was their most eclectic. Nicolay left the band before 2010’s Teeth Dreams, and I lost interest – without Nicolay, and as Finn moved from shouting to singing, they lost some of their identity and critics started comparing them disparagingly to Weezer and Counting Crows.
Nicolay rejoined The Hold Steady in 2016. Thrashing Thru the Passion is their first album since his return, and it’s been hailed as a return to form. It clocks in at a brief thirty six minutes, and it feels less conceptually ambitious than their early records, a collection of songs rather than a grand statement. The second half of the album will be already familiar to fans, already released as advance singles.
Despite the lack of thematic weight, Thrashing Thru the Passion is fast-moving and fun. Finn’s still playing with words, throwing in rapid-fire cultural references like this couplet from opener ‘Denver Haircut’.
On a spaceship shaped like a Gibson Marauder
The pilot kinda looked like Kirk Hammett
Elsewhere the band sound great, whether they’re crunching rock and roll like ‘Confusion in the Marketplace’ and ‘Star 18’, or drifting closer to Van Morrison territory than you might expect with Nicolay’s classy piano and horns of ‘Blackout Sam’.
It doesn’t feel as significant as their earlier masterpieces, but Thrashing Thru The Passion is a tight, fun record that captures more of The Hold Steady’s past glories than you might expect.
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Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
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Denver Haircut reminds me a lot of Bruce Springsteen and Confusion in the Marketplace sounds like a good straight forward rock tune. Never heard of these guys before but I’m interested.
Boys and Girls in America from 2006 is my favourite record from them – might be worth checking out. Once I listened to the first song on repeat for two hours by mistake.
I’ve heard of them but never heard them. Denver Haircut has some nice pop hooks going on. All three have good melodies to them.
It’s worth checking out Boys and Girls In America – lots of big hooks and memorable tunes.
I will because I liked all three…but Danver Haircut I really liked.
I’m still working my through this one but what I’ve heard, I’ve liked a lot.
It’s much better than I was expecting, especially if didn’t know they were getting Nicolay back on board.
By the way, I accidentally deleted your comment on the rap quiz last week – I was on my phone and messed it up. From memory I don’t think you were threatening first place.
Haha. Not at all. My rap skillz are weak.
I think you steered me to this band earlier. I like this new one . Will be spinning it more. Thanks.
I’m pretty sure you’d enjoy them – you like bar-band type stuff, right?
I am enjoying them. The proof is always in the listening. I enjoy your history on bands plus your essenceing it down the the albums you dig. Gives me a place to start. Then i take it from there. Yes I do like a good bar band. Can you say J Geils?
I’ll listen to them. I love the album artwork.
They did some terrific stuff last decade IMO.
A group I’ve been meaning to explore beyond Stay Positive – always loved that line, Subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis!
Apparently he asked a lawyer friend to check whether that line was correct. Boys and Girls in America has lots of great anthems.
I’ve seen this one keep popping up on my New Releases but haven’t delved in yet – I’m only three albums in on my Hold Steady exploration – but may do so if it’s getting the thumbs up here
It’s more like unexpectedly enjoyable comeback than total classic, but it’s definitely worth hearing.
a great live band and I am lucky living in Nottingham Craig Finn and the band have played here a lot, very Springsteen Influenced I always thought, Check out the solo albums of Craig Finn too….
love your site great reviews
Cool – I keep meaning to fill in the gaps on this page, but haven’t got to it yet.