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We're Not Who You Think We Are

Archives for July 2016

Certain Songs #598: The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations”

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Hold Steady+Stuck+Between+Stations+-+Clear+399660 Album: Boys and Girls in America
Year: 2006

Welcome to my favorite album of this century.

Actually, (and yes, I’m “actually”ing myself), welcome to my favorite album since Nevermind & Achtung Baby!, which makes Boys and Girls in America my favorite album of the past quarter-century.

And if I could somehow prorate the age I was when this album came out against the age I was when I first discovered all of the albums I would otherwise put into my all-time top 20, it would definitely be in the conversation.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #598: The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations”

Certain Songs #597: The Hold Steady – “How a Resurrection Really Feels”

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Hold Steady Separation-Sunday Album: Separation Sunday
Year: 2005

Despite putting out their records in the era of shuffled playlists, The Hold Steady have had a tradition of ending their albums with an epic, multi-part song.

And given that it was concept album, Separation Sunday is no exception, capping off with the haunting “How A Resurrection Really Feels,” which kicks off with a lengthy curlicue guitar riff as Craig Finn lets us know what’s up with one of the major characters, Halluejah, who the kids call Holly.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #597: The Hold Steady – “How a Resurrection Really Feels”

Certain Songs #596: The Hold Steady – “Stevie Nix”

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Hold Steady Separation-Sunday Album: Separation Sunday
Year: 2005

While The Hold Steady usually get described as being somewhere between Bruce Springsteen and The Replacements, there is a surprising amount of Led Zeppelin in their music.

And while in retrospect, that should be somewhat obvious — the b-side of their first single was a cover of “Hey Hey What Can I Do,” — in 2005, I was totally surprised by the big-ass Zep riff that Tad Kubler unleashed for the epic “Stevie Nix,” which they could have easily titled “In My Time of Living.”

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #596: The Hold Steady – “Stevie Nix”

Certain Songs #595: The Hold Steady – “Banging Camp”

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Hold Steady Separation-Sunday Album: Separation Sunday
Year: 2005

It starts with that riff: just a couple of Tad Kubler power chords, banging from speaker to speaker until they create a third one and the drums kick in.

And suddenly, the snare drum appears in between those chords for an infinitely infinitesimal moment at a time, and “Banging Camp” is already near perfect before Craig Finn opens his mouth.

But you know that Craig Finn always opens his mouth.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #595: The Hold Steady – “Banging Camp”

Certain Songs #594: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”

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Hold Steady Separation-Sunday Album: Separation Sunday
Year: 2005

So like most people who have a writing bent, I’ve tried my hand at writing fiction.

I’ve written a couple of unpublished short stories, and I started a novel in the early 1990s that had I been able to somehow finish then (ha!) would have been a contemporary novel about being young and if I would be able to finish now (double ha!) would now be a pure nostalgia piece.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #594: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”

Certain Songs #593: The Hold Steady – “Hornets! Hornets!”

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Hold Steady Separation-Sunday Album: Separation Sunday
Year: 2005

“She said ‘Always remember never to trust me.'”

“She said that the first night she met me.”

“She said ‘There’s gonna come a time when I’m gonna have to go with whoever’s gonna get me the highest'”

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #593: The Hold Steady – “Hornets! Hornets!”

Certain Songs #592: The Hold Steady – “Killer Parties”

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hold steady Almostkilledme Album: Almost Killed Me
Year: 2004

“There is so much joy in what we do up here!!”

That’s what Craig Finn would exclaim at some point during live versions of “Killer Parties,” when the massive anthem that closed Almost Killed Me would close their live shows in the early days.

Like, for example, the first time I ever saw them, at the Troubadour in 2006.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #592: The Hold Steady – “Killer Parties”

Certain Songs #591: The Hold Steady – “Barfruit Blues”

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hold steady Almostkilledme Album: Almost Killed Me
Year: 2004

One of the ironies of Certain Songs is that the song “Certain Songs” isn’t a Certain Song.

While the sentiment — “certain songs, they get so scratched into our souls” — is the ethos that powers this entire project, honestly compels me to point out that it’s not one of my favorites musically.

So just in case one of you other Hold Steady fanatics was waiting for the collision of Certain Songs and “Certain Songs,” my deepest apologies.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #591: The Hold Steady – “Barfruit Blues”

Certain Songs #590: The Hold Steady – “The Swish”

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hold steady Almostkilledme Album: Almost Killed Me
Year: 2004

I don’t recall 2005 all that fondly.

While it never came close to killing me, I was stuck in a job that I absolutely hated, and we were either dealing with or had just dealt with some terrible neighbors that made even going home from work almost as bad as dealing with work. Hell, I might have even been developing an ulcer.

So I was not in a good place at all. That was about the time that “The Swish” came into my life, and through it, the affection I had already developed for The Hold Steady through Separation Sunday turned into full-out love.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #590: The Hold Steady – “The Swish”

Certain Songs #589: The High – “Box Set Go”

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The High+Box+Set+Go+401054 Album: Somewhere Soon
Year: 1990

Along with Ambulance Ltd’s “Stay Where You Are,” The High’s “Box Set Go” is pretty much the only non- Stone Roses song that gives me the same buzz as “She Bangs The Drums” or “Waterfall.”

It’s a shameless rip-off, of course, but in 1990, outside of the Stone Roses themselves, songs that were my platonic ideal of a jangly guitar jam were few and far between, give or take a “There She Goes,” of course.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #589: The High – “Box Set Go”