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| Artist: The Hold Steady
Label: Roughtrade
Category: Music
List Price: £13.99
Buy New: £7.98
You Save: £6.01 (43%)
New (36) Used (7) Collectible (1) from £7.04
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 1544
Format: Limited Edition
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 0.4
UPC: 883870146029
EAN: 0883870146029
ASIN: B001AMG7MM
Release Date: July 14, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-8 of 8
 Buy this July 15, 2008
Alan Geddes (Arbroath Scotland)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Just playing as I'm writing this,it's amazing possibly my album of the year so far.not one duff track, even the three bonus tracks should be credited on the album proper or put on an ep themselves.BUY IT.
The Hold Steady are back on fine form. June 20, 2008
M. K. Sutton (Nottingham, England)
16 out of 21 found this review helpful
After the success of `Boys girls in America' Hold Steady's new album is hotly anticipated by fans and I have to say they don't disappoint. They are hardly the stuff of chart material, old and wise enough to have been around the block a few times but that is maybe what makes them so special, they have made it based on great music and a reputation for raucous but brilliant live shows. Here the sound isn't that far away from what you'd expect, they are just doing their thing, happens that they are just very good at it. The album opens with the born in the USA style riff laden `Constructive Summer' all attitude and business as usual and at just under three minutes it's another perfect slice of guitar pop. Next up is `Sequestered in Memphis' catchy as cold in an office environment and it gets instantly under your skin with its trumpets and Hammond belting out a basis for the lyrics to sit `subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis'. `One for the Cutters' is a speeded up `Golden Brown' and the first song here to let the guitars sit back and relax while a honky tonk piano does most of the work. `Navy Sheets' seems to have embraced the new wave culture with its rave keyboards sharing duties with the familiar guitar. `Lord I'm Discouraged' takes the pace down to a Spiritualized level and wouldn't sound out of place on a Willard Grant Conspiracy record, it's a dusty Eagles-esqe story topped of with a guitar solo worthy of Slash. `Yeah Sapphire' is another typical tune with duelling guitars and crazy lyrics. `Both Crosses' sees the pace down again and R.E.M. comparisons seem inevitable as a mandolin and acoustic guitar gives it a cowboy feel reminiscent of `E-bow the Letter'. `Stay Positive' is the closest thing I've heard to a Jonathan Richmond song since the Modern Lovers and it comes complete with a whoo ho ho sing along chorus. `Magazines' is more Springsteen than the album opener while retaining all the classic elements of the band and is a natural successor to last albums `Chips Ahoy!'. `Joke about Jamaica' has nice little time changes and another cracking guitar solo, its starts with a `Life on Mars' style piano which builds into a heady mix before stopping dead and ushering in final track `Slapped Actress' a five minute song that halfway through breaks down `sometimes actress's get slapped, sometimes fake fights go bad' they sing before building up again into an Americana `Mr. Blue Sky' and after 43 glorious minutes its over. A charming, uplifting and positive record which should do nothing to harm The Hold Steady's reputation, a little experimentation, a lot of passion and twelve great songs make this one of the albums of the year. br /
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