“Stay Positive”, was the bands 4th studio LP, was released 15 years ago today. We wrote a lot of the songs during the touring for “Boys and Girls in America“. It was a very busy time and we made the most of downtime in backstages, hotel rooms, etc. We recorded it with the fantastic John Agnello and used the same studios as we had for “Boys and Girls“. In some ways, those records feel like companion pieces. It also features some cool cameos by Patterson Hood, J Mascis, Ben Nichols and Doug Gillard. The day it came out we were in the UK and did a show at Rough Trade East to celebrate.
Released in 2008, “Stay Positive” is the most sophisticated The Hold Steady have ever sounded, Where every song on previous sets felt unfinished and open-ended, these tracks are sheen-polished and almost slick. These 12 songs are full of near-cinematic rock dynamism and expertly rendered sonic effects. The insider jokes are abundant in both lyrics and music, and the E Street Band’s Darkness on the Edge of Town epic rock is channelled to alternately stunning and irritating degrees.
Craig Finn’s words and melodies have grown in depth without losing their immediacy. On album opener “Constructive Summer,” has huge guitars there’s a twist: the protagonist is an American adult male trapped in adolescence, living in nowheresville; he seeks something worth remembering from all the blackouts and wasted life — the romance of myth is displaced by false promises dictated by fear and self-deceit. He raises a toast to “…Saint Joe Strummer/I think he might have been the only decent teacher/Getting older makes it harder to remember/We are our only saviors/We’re gonna build something this summer.” The chorus offers a confusing, jokey chanted chorus (à la the Adolescents) that adds dimensionally to the loss here.
“Navy Sheets” references four tracks on Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” “Dy’er Maker,” “The Ocean,””The Crunge,” and the song itself from “Physical Graffiti“.
But the piano in the wonderful “Sequestered in Memphis” channeling the E Street Band pianist Roy Bittan — is very effective; it introduces the tune before a B-3 and a tenor saxophone move against the guitars to create an unholy union between story-song and mid-level punk anthem.
After hearing “Sequestered in Memphis” on Later… With Jools Holland, I was hooked.
“Constructive Summer” is one of the best summertime songs ever written
But Finn and company save two of the best tunes for last in “Joke About Jamaica” and “Slapped Actress.” Their drama, raw and incessant energy, and musical sophistication all come together in two songs that are less studied and calculated. There is an uneasy balance between “finished” big-time rock and the wily, playful freedom of “arena rock in my basement”; humor is maintained amid the darkness and Finn’s self-referential mythology unwinds itself into even greater insight. Irony abounds, finally, in that even if it’s the Hold Steady’s least enjoyable recording, “Stay Positive” will break this band big time.
The Fat Angel Sings 