The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
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CD Details
Artist: The Hold SteadyEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-05-03
Music Label: French Kiss
Soundtracks:
- Hornets! Hornets!
- Cattle and the Creeping Things
- Your Little Hoodrat Friend
- Banging Camp
- Charlemagne in Sweatpants
- Stevie Nix
- Multitude of Casualties
- Don't Let Me Explode
- Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night
- Cruxifixion Cruise
- How a Resurrection Really Feels
Music reviews of Separation Sunday
Music Review: "I think I might have mentioned that before"
Rating: 2 Stars
When I reviewed The Hold Steady's vomit-inducing debut album (Almost Killed Me), I said that its follow-up - Separation Sunday - was a major improvement. I hadn't listened to it that much, but it had to be, right? I mean, even a solid BM is an improvement over diarrhea.
Now that I have really listened to it, I find that I was partially right: it is an improvement, but not to the point of being a very good album.
At the very least, Separation Sunday isn't as excruciatingly annoying as Almost Killed Me. It doesn't make as many references to the same things as often as the first album did. However, it still makes too many. In the course of eleven songs, we get treated to eight references to getting high. The name-dropping of cities is scaled back significantly. As opposed to seventeen on Almost Killed Me, I count ten different cities being mentioned on Separation Sunday. These include Denver three times, Ybor City once (as opposed to three on Almost Killed Me), and the "Twin Cities" once, as well as one time each for Minneapolis and St. Paul. Some place called "Penetration Park" - Google it - is mentioned three times, and "the banks of the (usually Mississippi) river" come up seven times. Charlemagne, who was mentioned several times on the debut, gets his own song on Separation Sunday, and he is mentioned twice in the song "Don't Let Me Explode". FINALLY, "hoodrat" is mentioned four times outside of the song called "Your Little Hoodrat Friend."
In addition to the significantly fewer instances of what made Almost Killed Me so insufferable (oh yeah, no one is described as looking like anyone else on this album!), there are some genuinely good lyrics. "She said `I won't be much for all this Humbert Humbert stuff'." "It burns being broke, and it hurts to be heartbroken, but being both must be a drag." "Youth services always finds a way to get their bloody crosses into your druggy little messed-up teenage life." "They did `She's Got Legs' into `Ain't Too Proud To Beg' into something by The Dixie Dregs. They faked their way through `Fairytale of New York'."
There are also some pretty dumb ones, like a reference to a lame song from their first album: "That song got so scratched into her soul." Another one is a failed attempt to be clever: "When they say killer whales, they mean they whaled on him until the killed him...." There is also the self-congratulatory, back-patting lyric "At least in dying you don't have to go through new wave for a second time."
Moreover, "I kind of dig the(se) awkward silences" pops up in two songs, and there is one obligatory Bruce reference: "Tramps like us and we like tramps." The most appropriate lyric on the album, however, appears in "Cattle and the Creeping Things": "I think I might have mentioned that before." (I think that Craig Finn uses Magnetic Poetry to write his lyrics.)
On most tracks, the music is pretty basic. However, there are many fine moments as well. Among these are cool fade-outs ("Hornets! Hornets!", "Cattle and the Creeping Things", "How a Resurrection Really Feels"), strong guitar and bass ("Your Little Hoodrat Friend", "Banging Camp", "Charlemagne In Sweatpants"), and colorful keyboards/piano/organ ("Banging Camp", "Stevie Nix", "Multitude of Casualties"). Craig Finn's voice is, well, Craig Finn's voice. This album won't change how you feel about it.
Yes, Separation Sunday is an improvement, even if this means simply that it is less bad. I hadn't heard of The Hold Steady until their third album, Boys and Girls In America, was released. I listened to it, and I felt that the hype was mostly justified. Had I heard and reviewed their albums in the order that they were released, I would like to think that my review of Separation Sunday would end something like this: "Harsh criticism aside, they are getting better. Hopefully, their next release will improve upon Separation Sunday as much as it improved upon Almost Killed Me. Then they will be on to something."
Alas, I feel that I can say that only with knowledge that they did, in fact, improve so exponentially. Had I heard Separation Sunday when it first came out, I expect that I would have greeted Boys and Girls In America with trepidation at best, and disdain to the point of not bothering with it at worst.
Description of Separation Sunday
It's only natural that the Hold Steady singer Craig Finn receives all the attention. After all, he's the one with the big mouth. And while his odd and humorous rants are essentially compelling, they wouldn't be half as engrossing if his backing group, especially fellow ex-Minnesotan and Lifter Puller guitarist Tad Kubler, didn't smack up such a glorious din, scabrous punk rock swagger dolled up with classic hard rock power chords. "Separation Sunday" is the NYC-based group's second album and it's every bit as sassy and city wise as their 2004 debut "Almost Killed Me." Finn doesn't know the meaning of the phrase 'hold your tongue' and rudely shouts down the opposition on a number of romantic and religious matters, underscoring his contempt with touching moments of true pathos. Finn's surrounded by self-mutilators, abused lovers and deluded characters desperately chasing faith. It's a good thing he has such a crack band to keep them all in check. -- Jaan UhelszkiGeneral CDs
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