Customer Reviews

Separation Sunday

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a highly original and suprisingly inventive (*gasp*) quasi-concept album that is full of brilliance. Once you get over the fact that the lead singer doesn't sing as much as speak the lyrics (which never bothered me- its a classic rock and roll voice, and the music is all about the rock instrumentals and the witty lyrics, anyway) you'll find one of the best albums of the year.

The album basically follows Halleluiah, or Holly, who finds herself strung out, drugged out, and tries to become a born again christian. Most sentiments from any song will be seen again later in the album, and lyrically, it's brilliant.

For example, in "Cattle and the Creeping Things" (one of the best songs on the album) lines include "silly rabbit, trippin' is for teenagers" while having the craziest, simply complex Bible interpretation with "I heard the one about original sin/ I heard the dude blamed the chick/ I heard the chick blamed the snake./ And I heard they were naked when they got busted/ I heard things a'int been the same since"

Simply put- this is a good, catchy Rock album with a lot of meaning and humor behind it.

This album is definately worth a look.

The songs on this impressive album reminded me of an unusual combination of Jonathan Richman, early Bruce Springsteen and the Replacements.

The CD is especially noteworthy because of main man Craig Finn's thoughtful, funny, and sometimes even poignant lyrics. His motifs tend to be about Catholicism, drug use, and street angels, and are good enough to be read and enjoyed separately from the hard-hitting music. (Speaking of which, I especially appreciated the excellent arrangement of the backing hard rock as the backdrop to the intentionally clumsy phrasing of Finn's vocals.)

This is good stuff; bracing and original.

used the E. Street Band as backing band then you start to get the idea..
Brooklyn Guitar Band pull off amazing rock opera / concept album in the vien of Born to Run
but with a more Jim Carrol / Lou Reed grittier vision of life than Bruce's idealized take on street life. Whats amazing is the wall of blazing guitars slashing out power chords coupled with heavyweight punches thrown by the rythm section. Go find the free mp3s on their site, and realize that they are hitting it out of the Ball Park with *every* track. On my best-of-year list and would travel to see these guys. Would have gone to recent Philly gig but that was sold out.

The first Hold Steady album (Almost Killed Me) didn't do it for me. There was too much flicker of Lifter Puller coming from the voice of lead singer/songwriter Craig Finn, and the remainder of the band lacked the heft to live up to his off-kilter style. I heard the voice and the stories were just a good as ever, but the vibe the band was putting out-we are just a bar band, baby-was never something I fell for. They are not a bar band. They are a tour de force that, given the opportunity, will suck you in and hold your imagination hostage for days on end.

Finn's personality and voice demand attention. He would be someone you would want to spend a long car trip with just to hear the stories (and perhaps because he knows where to find all the good substances). He is the Stephen King of rock 'n' roll. His stories are just dangerous enough to be tempting, yet a wee bit on the fable side: kids, don't let this happen to you.

What has changed and improved on this album is the music. Somebody cranked them up from a '70s Journey cover band to something that has balls...no, not even balls: this has heart. The music matches the desperation of the losers in the songs. These songs make you feel what it is when life is a lost night, chances are taken at a desperate attempt at "love," and we are all going on a ride to 15th and Franklin (a notorious drug corner in the Finn's hometown of Minneapolis).

The Hold Steady adhere to what is great in rock. They follow a tradition of Bruce Springsteen, which they have dragged through the ragged mind of The Fall's Mark E. Smith. What comes out of my speakers is a celebration of life-even if life sucks. "We mix our mythologies, we push them out through PAs/we dictate our doxologies, and try to get these clever kids to shut up and listen," sings Finn. Let's hope they do. | Jim Dunn

with a familiar cast of characters.

Much like their debut album, this is the height of hyper-literate bar band/classic rock. But the bar (not the drinking kind) was set so high (not the druggy kind) on the first album, it is only natural the Hold Steady doesn't equal it. Still, this album is another winner. Pick it up too! Fave track: "Banging Camp"

Having not heard their first release, I was a little put off at first with the narritive, boozy, lyrics. But as I got into the meat of the album they began to wear on me and now after a couple of full listens, they are infectious. It reminds me of what Thin Lizzy would sound like if they were fronted by Bruce Springsteen after having downed a six pack. The guitar hooks and hammond organ licks fill in perfectly behind the narritive lyrics. Don't expect any choruses here, and that's specifically part of the charm.

NPR made me buy this album. No joke: driving home one afternoon, they ran an extended review of "Separation Sunday" that included an interview with Craig Finn and Tad Kubler. I thought to myself, What an idea! An old-fashioned indie rock band, playing out the tensions between punk and purity in the conscience of a teenaged Catholic girl, over a boozy musical backdrop of sounds cribbed from Thin Lizzy and Bob Seger. A rock album that deals honestly and intelligently with some heavy themes, in place of the facile vapidity that passes for highbrow stuff among the pop-elitist crowd - that's what I've been waiting for, a rock album with moral weight and emotional resonance.

'Separation Sunday' is not that album. It's good, don't get me wrong, and its best moments capture the giddy rush of getting outside a Midwestern city and seeing the wide-open promise of a space with no limits for the first time. But too often, the songs just don't catch fire. Kubler and the rest of the instrumentalists tend to sound tentative, almost as though they're afraid of drawing attention away from Craig Finn's lyrics. Not that they have anything to worry about; Finn's voice is distinctive enough that you can't help but notice it. And his lyrics, too, draw attention to themselves - I found myself counting the number of times he uses "hoodrat," "skater" and "high as hell," and a few other signal phrases. Still, the writing is generally very good, which unfortunately makes it that much more distracting when it's bad.

In spite of its flaws, I enjoy listening to 'Separation Sunday.' The highs aren't as high as I'd like, and Finn & Co. don't do much to sustain them, but in the end I can't regard the record as anything worse than semi-successful. I wish more bands had the courage and ambition to challenge themselves the way the Hold Steady do. Maybe next time out, I'll get that apocolyptic record I'm waiting for.

Listen to the album more than once. As soon as you accept Craig's voice you begin to absorb the genius of his lyrics and storytelling

I happened to stumble upon the Hold Steady by some accident that I wish I could remember; but I don't. However, it was the greatest accident I've ever had. This was the first Hold Steady album I listened to, and on the first listen I was very intrigued. I sometimes find myself listening to rock music and often ignoring the lyrics, which is something you cannot do with the Hold Steady. Craig Finn is one of the finest lyricists alive, with the ability to combine the problems with Catholicism, drugs, and literature all into one album. I constantly find myself finding new things in the songs that I somehow missed before. This was the bands first album with Franz Nicolay who adds a great aspect to the group that is even more apparent in Boys and Girls in America. I would recommend this album to absolutely anyone.

THIS IS A GOOD BAND. It so hard to find a band that writes good lyrics and totally rocks out at the same time. The Hold Steady combine what was best about the Replacements with a whole lot of Springsteen. Craig Finn,vocals and guitar, is a great storyteller. This album is a theme album about Holly the Hoodrat. Finn talks about the streets of Minneapolis,Minnesota and the Mississippi River and this girl Holly who was a hood rat, being a bad Catholic, Resurrections, banging camp, Charlamange in Sweatpants, and a whole bunch else that allow the Hold Steady to look straight into a mirror at their reflection and call themselves a ROCK BAND. These guys are the real thing. Really good Guitar band plus a little organ and keys to. Feels like the Lyrics of Westerberg but with the Boss's energy. If you like Bruce Springsteen or bands like the Replacements, the Drive By Truckers, the Whigs, or even a jam band like Widespread Panic, this band is for you.