From 2004 to 2006, The Hold Steady put out three of the best albums this decade. If I was to make a top 25 list, all three would be on there. If I were to do a top 50, a fourth (
Stay Positive, 2008) might land right at number 50. Simply put, they were one of the best bands this decade, melding their Springsteen-infatuated style with the gung-ho attitude of a bar band (and I mean all those things as a compliment). While staying true to their core sound, they evolved from a brash brand of hard rock with poetry to Springsteen for the bookish indie crowd.
In 2004,
The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me came out with little to no fanfare. The album holds up, though, as their best guitar album. Fills and riffs sear and stomp on "The Swish," the second track. Frontman Craig Finn is in full form, lyrics dense with allusions and their own internal logic "She said my name is Rick Danko but people call me one-hour photo... She said my name is Robbie Robertson but people call me robo/I blew red white and blue right into a tissue/I came right over the counter just to kiss you." It's hard to discuss the band without quoting lyrics - one of the things that sets them apart is Finn. His lyrics on this album set a standard for the band in terms of detail, and his half-sung drawl is one of their most recognizable noises. But that's not to say the band doesn't tear it up elsewhere - the coda for "Most People are DJs" rips something fierce, too.
But
Almost Killed Me would be a prelude, seemingly limited compared to their followup;
Separation Sunday suffers no kind of sophomore slump. While the former is mostly a party record, about parties and their hollow good times ("Killer parties almost killed me," goes a lyric towards the end of it),
Separation Sunday fully establishes Finn's voice as a songwriter and marks a shift in their sonic makeup. Organ, courtesy of Franz Nicolay from here out would be increasingly dominant, but their second album finds the best balance between organs and guitars. It's a concept album, but in the sense that
Dark Side of the Moon is a concept album: there's a story, but not at the expense of songs.
It traces the story of a girl named Holly, whose downfall into a dirty world ends with a spiritual awakening. The band sings from a distinctly Christian perspective without being preachy. The characters are full of doubt and contradictions. But more than that,
Separation Sunday marks the moment that The Hold Steady's discography has its own mythology. Ybor City: the scene of the hardest parties. Holly: The hoodrat with a Christian kind of conflict. Charlemagne: a pimp. The characters continue to appear on the next album (but not as frequently) and were present on the last. It creates a thematic consistency that becomes its own language.
When it comes to judging which of the band's albums are the best, it's either their second or their third.
Boys and Girls in America ditches a full concept, but is thematically centered on, well, boys and girls in America. Its thesis is laid out from the start: "Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together." Or: "Sucking off each other at the demonstrations/Making sure their makeup's straight/Crushing one another with collosal expectations/Dependent, undisciplined, sleeping late." The key is that the music's nearly always rowdy (exceptions: "Last Night," "Citrus"). The organs are expanded. A glockenspiel sweeps the intro of "Stuck Between Stations" into a grandiose statement of purpose. "Citrus" marks the first acoustic song the band had done to that point. While the band gets more diverse, Finn's songwriting becomes more structured. No less nuanced, his words finally seem to fit into the context of hooks and melodies.
If pressed, only The Drive-By Truckers could run with The Hold Steady as the best band of the 00s. I think I may have short-changed the music here, but it's a muscular kind of torrent or classicist rock that owes its richness to Springsteen, but clearly has some roots in the 80s punk scene. Like The Rolling Stones in the 60s, they don't do anything revolutionary - they just do it better.
