Uncut Reviews the New Hold Steady Album

John Mulvey over at Uncut talks about listening to his advanced copy of the Hold Steady's follow-up to 2006's Album of the Year (says me), "Boys and Girls in America". The new disc is called "Stay Positive" and will get a Stateside release on July 14th. I haven't been this excited for a new release since Hootie and the Blowfish blessed us with "Fairweather Johnson".

Mulvey teases us with the following:

I’ve spent the weekend, amongst other things, bewitched by “Stay Positive”, and a few details are starting to come into focus. On the second play, it becomes apparent that this is another superb and compelling album by The Hold Steady, one whose complexity and anthemic punch might yet surpass “Boys And Girls In America”. An initial hunch that this is a record about being in a band in your late thirties – a hunch backed up by some of Finn’s early pronouncements about the album – proves to be only partially true. “Stay Positive” is a whole lot more complicated than that.

He then goes on to reveal that DBT's Patterson Hood appears on album cut "Navy Sheets."


Doing a little digging on the relationship between Patterson and The Hold Steady, I stumbled upon an interview with Pitchfork published in January of this year, where Mr. Hood had the following to say about The Hold Steady:

Pitchfork: You're a band that really works hard and sweats for the crowd. Not many acts are guaranteed to kick your ass, no matter what. The Hold Steady are like that...

PH: I'm hoping we get to tour together. I'm pen pals with [guitarist] Tad [Kubler].

Pitchfork: Craig Finn once told me he's such a big fan of you guys that he once had someone take his picture walking past you so that it looked like you were in the frame together.

PH: [laughs] It's not like I'm unapproachable!

Pitchfork: I think he's said the Drive-By Truckers helped inspired what that band's up to.

PH: I really hope we get to tour together. That's my personal mission. Their road manager is a dear friend of mine from Athens, and this tells more than almost anything about a band: when someone's worked for them for a year, comes home, and all they talk about is what great guys they are. I mean, the road does not always bring out the best in people. [laughs] I'm hoping that will happen. We're not booked for fall yet...

Please god, let this happen!!