A People’s Tour of B-Sides: The Hold Steady
“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. Read More…
Craig Finn: Clear Heart Full Eyes (a review)
In retrospect, the last Hold Steady record was the exact opposite of a sleeper – it sounded great on first listen, all hooks and guitar fire, but in the end felt paper thin, an album of an idea rather than of ideas, and outside of a couple highlights (“Sweet Part of the City,” “Barely Breathing”), I haven’t gone back to it frequently, preferring Separation Sunday or Stay Positive or even b-sides.
Which is why this new Craig Finn record is such a pleasant surprise – it doesn’t sound unlike a Hold Steady record any more than an Extra Glenns (Lens) record sounds unlike a Mountain Goats record (i.e. not much at all) as much as it sounds like an interesting sidestep from the pressure of making a record under the appellations of those bands – the pressure to make something that SOUNDS like a Hold Steady record. Read More…
The Hold Steady: “Cattle and the Creeping Things”
This might be the best song ever (thought I on my 100th or so listen).
LFTR PLLR vs. Being Awesome
LIfter Puller's masterpiece, Fiestas and Fiascos.
I can’t claim that I loved Lifter Puller back when they were still around. Like most people who’ve heard of them (probably), I first checked them out after falling in love with the Hold Steady. And it took a while for them to grow on me – unlike the Hold Steady, they’re a lot more angular, not nearly as melodic, and generally not musically hooky at all.
But Craig Finn fronts them, so like the Hold Steady, there are recurring characters, locations, and events threaded throughout the songs. Nightclub Dwight, his nightclub the Nice Nice (that he won rolling dice dice), Katrina, the Eye-Patch guy – taken song by song, it doesn’t make a ton of sense, but over the course of 3 records and one EP, it all sort of gels and wins you over.
This is in large part because Craig Finn is either the best or second best lyricist in pop music (John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats being his only real competition for the title). His songs are riddled with drugs and alcohol and sex and people doing unwise things for unclear motives, but you can tell he loves them and wants everything to turn out all right.
Anyway, all the albums are out of print, though there are promises of some sort of box set to come, but you can still get them from Emusic and/or Amazon MP3. I couldn’t think of a better use for like 20$ worth of your money (other than, you know, food and stuff). Here are a few songs to whet your whistle.
Lifter Puller: “Plymouth Rock” (right-click to download)
- The best 49 second song ever.
Lifter Puller: “Space Humping $19.99″
LIfter Puller: “Nassau Coliseum”
Lifter Puller: “The Flex And The Buff Result”
- The final Lifter Puller song.
