The Hold Steady by Mark Seliger

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

- John Lennon

If a band’s albums are the musical path they choose to chart, their b-sides are often the unexpected detours that, I’d suggest, reveal a bit more about their tendencies than the thoughtfully recorded and carefully sequenced documents they release every two years or so. (Except for the White Stripes, who seemed to care not too much at all about being careful or deliberate.)

In the case of the Hold Steady, their debut is the hard-charging introduction, Separation Sunday is the ambitious mission statement, Boys and Girls in America is the beginning of the party, Stay Positive is the start of the come-down, and Heaven is Whenever is a band trying to figure out what to do next. The contemporaneous b-sides and ephemera, however, paint a different picture.

The oddest detour comes right at the beginning, with the 5 tracks included on the Australian edition of Almost Killed Me. I don’t know which songs were written when – it’s possible that all 5 of these songs predate the songs written for Almost Killed Me, hence their exclusion. Either way though, almost all of these songs, with the possible exception of “Milkcrate Mosh,” are superior to most everything on that album. They’re catchier, more fun, and arguably more lyrically deft. They’re also prescient, in a way, projecting much of the band’s future direction – “You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came to the Dance With)” would fit in perfectly on Boys and Girls and “Modesto is Not That Sweet” would slide in pretty nicely to replace a weaker number on Stay Positive (maybe “Magazines”). Meanwhile, “Curves and Nerves” is more of a look back at Lifter Puller than a look forward, and “Milkcrate Mosh” really deserves a proper spot on Almost Killed Me.

The Hold Steady: “Curves And Nerves”

Separation Sunday is the only Hold Steady record to be free of non-album tracks, which makes sense considering how carefully crafted it is.

Boys and Girls is the complete opposite of Almost Killed Me in that it’s the weakest crop of b-sides by far. Every song here makes total sense as a b-side and would displace something stronger on the album, with the possible exception of “Girls Like Status,” which enjoyed a bit of live exposure as well. All in all, the b-sides here are the lazy cousins of what is otherwise the Hold Steady’s strongest album and most purposful distillation of what they do – good time party rock with amazing lyrics.

The Hold Steady: “Girls Like Status”

Stay Positive is a rebound in the ephemera department, with one of their strongest songs so far in “Ask Her for Adderall,” even if it is a bit of a rewrite of “Same Kooks.” The other two are pleasantly boozy and right in the band’s wheelhouse.

The Hold Steady: “Ask Her for Adderall”

It’s a hopeful sign that the band’s weakest album would also spawn the best b-sides, collectively, since their debut – “Ascension Blues” is a speedy, riff-driven banger that would fit nicely between Separation Sunday and Boys and Girls, “Touchless” is textured and fantastic, and “Separate Vacations,” from the band’s iTunes Live EP is the best slow song they’ve done since, well, ever.

The Hold Steady: “Touchless”

In a way, Heaven is Whenever seemed to kind of close a circle – the Hold Steady have done everything that you could imagine being in their mission statement. And so the next step is maybe a little uncertain from a fan’s perspective – do they stretch out, make a throwback record, go full concept… who knows. In the meantime, we have the songs that didn’t quite fit in, but that are, collectively, as fun and satisfying as anything they every committed to LP.