They all take English, then either philosophy, religion or history. Eric Eble and I are the English tutors and Zac Stinetorf is the philosophy tutor. Then there's Anna for history and Kat for religious studies. The students seem pretty good, I'd say. Most are ready to work and don't seem too upset about going to school during the summer.
So here's the story today: I got The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me, which is the first album from The Hold Steady, about five months ago from Tony. It's pretty ridiculous.
The vocals are definitely the first thing you notice. Craig Finn doesn't bother singing--he just sort of barks out his lyrics, which focus completely on the stories of his friends and his own story. Usually these are riddled with drug use and regret in its various forms. I can't do justice to his lyrics with one example, but I do especially like "Tights and skirts, baby, skirts and tights. We used to shake it up in Shaker Heights," since Shaker Heights is up near Cleveland. The amazing thing is that the lyrics fit together, both within songs and between songs. All of the album fits together to create a sort of picture of his recent history, which he explains in this way: "Some nights we got so high that Michigan looked just like a mitten. Some nights we got fried." Not a message for the young and impressionable, maybe, but very fascinating, I think. Also, this wouldn't be a complete description of the singing of Craig Finn without a mention of his absolute disrespect for rhymes and equal line lengths.
Here's a way to explain the lyrics of The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me:
PERSONS OF THE PLAY
Craig Finn: a deep-voiced drug user, member of the Cityscape Skins (whatever they are)
Halleluiah/"Holly": drug user and apparent prostitute
Ellen Foley: possibly also a prostitute in the harbor bars
Charlemagne: Finn's friend and maybe dealer, probably deceased
Gideon: Finn's friend, member of the Cityscape Skins, now works in Michigan
Others: drug users, indie kids, bar crowds, bartenders, kids on the corner.
LOCATIONS
Ybor City, Florida
St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota
Hostile, Massachusetts
Lowertown
East Coast
West Coast
The Middle West
Bay City, Michigan
Virginia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pensacola, Florida
Somewhere behind Finn's mumbling is the music, which is really very good--a sort of alternative hard-hitting rolling sound. They throw in a saxophone in my favorite, "Hostile, Massachusetts," and an organ or keyboard appears in a few others. Generally, though, the band just rips through four-minute rock songs and provides a sort of backdrop for the drama of Ybor City, the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and mysterious Lowertown.
Anyway, I loved the album, and I soon discovered that The Hold Steady had produced a second, Separation Sunday. On their website only one track was available, so I downloaded it and pronounced it acceptable. A little repetitive, maybe, compared to the chorus-less "Swish" on Almost Killed Me, but definitely good.
Lyrically, Finn is much more focused on Separation Sunday. As far as I can tell, it's the story of Halleluiah/Holly, his friend? girlfriend? acquaintance? lover? sister? whatever. The album opens with Finn meeting Holly ("She said always remember / Never to trust me. She said that the first night that she met me.") and continues through Holly's fall into drugs and eventual rise through religion to a resurrection (the final track is "How a Resurrection Really Feels"). Mixed in are a few other characters and situations, as the lyrics again refer to other songs, both on this album and the previous one.
So:
PERSONS OF THE PLAY
Halleluiah/"Holly": a prostitute in Minnesota who lost her faith, struggled with drug addiction, and eventually left parties for religion
Craig Finn: still deep-voiced, he doesn't seem to love Holly but probably respects her
Charlemagne: definitely a drug dealer, apparently dead from a cocaine overdose
Your Little Hoodrat Friend: possibly Holly; Finn is emphatic that his relationship with this person is platonic
Stevie Nix: the singer of Fleetwood Mac gets a song title all her own, except she is not mentioned in the song
Gideon: apparently had sex with Holly in Denver
LOCATIONS
the banks of the Mississippi River
Penetration Park
Upper Midwest
Ybor City, Florida
St. Paul, Minnesota
confessionals
Denver, Colorado
Chicago, Illinois
New York City
I think I would give the edge to The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me in terms of lyrics, but just by a bit. At times Separation Sunday is a little forced, I think, because he tries to tell a more coherent story. They're still way, way better than anything anyone will ever sing in Top 40 songs. Hahahaha, I just made myself think of someone doing a Hold Steady song on American Idol. "If you don't get born again, at least you'll get high as hell!" on FOX. I would love that person forever.
The music, though, is notably different. This album is more blues-based, with distinctive guitar riffs and a lot, lot more keyboard. Usually "bluesy" would be a death sentence from me, but it works very well, especially in the second track, "Cattle and the Creeping Things." The whole album has a coherence and arc that I think works better than the lyrics. I wish for more bass (as the name of the blog indicates, bass is the most important instrument in rock, followed by drums and guitar. Vocals are optional and thus not included.), but it's still really good. See the strangely addictive "Charlemagne in Sweatpants" for an example of blues-influenced rock with good bass.
I'm trying to keep this one short, so I'll leave you with this:
Advantages: very solid rock songs; good use of organ/keyboard; fascinating lyrics--good enough that I sometimes read them without listening to the music; extremely catchy at times; anyone can sing along, if they get atonal and crazy-sounding enough.
Disadvantages: some people will hate Craig Finn's voice, and it's a big part of The Hold Steady; can very occasionally get repetitive, lyrically and musically; songs are not cheerful and treat some subjects, like religion and drug addiction, rather roughly.
Grade: B+. It could do just a little better sometimes, with its occasional slow out-of-place song ("Don't Let Me Explode," despite its awesome title, comes to mind). Overall, it just rocks.
The Hold Steady website
The Hold Steady lyrics page
Buy Separation Sunday on Amazon.com
That's today's story. Listen to The Hold Steady.
Love,
Steve
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