Separation Sunday

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

July 20, 2016 by Jim Connelly

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.

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

July 19, 2016 by Jim Connelly

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.”

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

July 18, 2016 by Jim Connelly

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.

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

July 17, 2016 by Jim Connelly

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I’ve written a couple of unpublished short stories, and I started a novel in the early 1990s that had I been able to somehow finish then (ha!)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.

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

July 16, 2016 by Jim Connelly

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'”