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Stay Positive | 
| Manufacturer: Vagrant Records
Category: Digital Music Album
Buy New: $7.99
Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 71
Genre: pop-music
Media: MP3 Download
Running Time: 0 Minutes
ASIN: B001CKHJHE
Release Date: July 15, 2008
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 One of the best of 2008 December 23, 2008
Patrick (Honeoye NY USA)
If you are familiar with this band at all you have probably heard all of the comparisons from "The Replacements" to "Springsteen" and most of them are apt comparisons in their own little ways, but the sum of the parts is much better than the individial pieces here.
Musically they have never been in finer form. This is an album that you just want to crank the volume on your stereo or while in your car...yet you can also dial it down and listen to Craig Finn's lyrics which like Springsteens are often about those who fall between the cracks, where Springsteen's visions may be more poetic...Finn's are more harsh and demanding. Top all of that with his unique voice and delivery which demands the casual listener to give them a repeated listen when they forst come across the band and when you put it together you have one of the finest albums of 2008.
 Are you kidding me!! December 10, 2008
Cardiac (Boulder, CO)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
**2 1/2 stars**
Why is there hype for this album and why do people have this in their top ten lists? I can think of at least 30 albums this year that blow this trite & repetitive garbage away. Maybe I'm missing something. A band that sounds like something that would happen if you mixed a trailer trash Bruce Springsteen with a "We forgot how to play catchy hooks" Bad Religion. The impromptu over the top guitar solo in `Lord, I'm Discouraged' is so ridiculous it just adds as a precursor to the rest of the album. Filled with ridiculous lyrics and boring music that never goes anywhere this album is a real downer trying to disguise itself as a rocker. I strongly suggest you don't make the mistake I did and buy this album on word alone. Listen to the samples and make your own judgment and don't believe the hype!!
 They'll always have Boys and Girls in America November 4, 2008
Blake Maddux (Arlington, MA United States)
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
After the major leap forward that Boys and Girls in America was, The Hold Steady stood a pretty good chance of having me completely forgive them for their first two albums. Perhaps singer/songwriter Craig Finn's Catholic Church would have required him to confess the musical sins of his past, but I would simply ask that he make another record comparable in quality to their third one. Unfortunately, their fourth album - Stay Positive - doesn't quite scale such grand heights.
On Boys and Girls in America, Finn's lyric writing had grown by leaps and bounds. On Stay Positive, it is still pretty good. The religious dimension continues to give his songs a fair amount of depth. Among the more memorable lyrics are "Me and my friends are like/The drums on `Lust for Life'," "In bar light, she looked alright/In daylight, she looked desperate," and "Sniffing on crystal in cute little cars/Getting nailed against Dumpsters behind townie bars." That last lyric comes from "One For the Cutters," the title of which refers to the names of the townies in the 1979 movie "Breaking Away" (props to J.D. Jansen for noting this in his review). However, Cleveland - the one city mentioned in this song - is quite far from Bloomington, Indiana, where that film takes place.
Alas, certain aspects of his songwriting aren't getting any less annoying. He still sings incessantly about being under the influence of one substance and/or another. He continues to name-drop cities quite a bit - including Ybor City, twice, in the last song on the album. Once again, he seems to get a kick out of referencing his own songs: There are two allusions to the title of the band's first album (Almost Killed Me), a quote from a song from that album's first song ("Positive Jam"), a repeat of a lyric from their second album ("she's gonna have to go with whoever's gonna get her the highest"), and one mention of the band's name ("We're the directors - our hands will hold steady"). All of these appear in the last few songs on the album, so I guess he felt like he had to squeeze them in.
Also, in the excellent "Both Crosses," Finn sings "You Catholic girls you start much too late." This, coupled with the mention of "Only the Good Die Young" on Almost Killed Me, makes The Hold Steady and Fountains of Wayne the unlikely co-winners of the "Most Likely to Quote Billy Joel in a Song" award. Whether this is a good thing or not is in the ear of the listener.
Musically, "Constructive SSSUH-mer" features chainsaw guitars and an E Street Band piano, the latter of which re-appears on "Yeah Sapphire." A harpsichord stakes out new musical territory on the aforementioned "One For the Cutters." "Lord, I'm Discouraged" and "Joke About Jamaica" have great guitar solos. "Navy Sheets," however, contains the absolute most annoying keyboard riff that I have ever heard in my life.
So we get it, Mr. Finn: you like to drink a lot and you constantly quote yourself. Good for you. Write about something else now. I am not optimistic about your next album, but consider this: I awarded one star to Almost Killed Me, two stars to Separation Sunday, four to Boys and Girls, and three to Stay Positive. Could the next one be a fiver? I'm not gonna bet the house on it, but I do think that you have a 5-star album somewhere in you. As you write your next batch of songs, consider this lyric from "Constructive Summer": "Let this be my annual reminder/That we can all be something bigger."
Stay Postive People October 23, 2008
Christopher Fountas (New York)
When I first heard the The Hold Steady, I didn't get them. I could not get past Craig Finn's vocals and the simple regurgitation of rock and roll cliches. So I figured they were trying to trick me. Why would a band in the new century just play straight ahead rock music? I had to be missing something and that annoyed me.
Included in this recording you should know: There isn't any tricky production. There isn't soci-political statements being tossed up as enlightened dogma.
After the second listening it all came back to me. I remembered the joy of putting on a Stones album. I remembered digging a Springsteen record. I remembered about singing along in the car to Tom Petty, Creedence, The Pretenders, The Clash etc. Sometimes it's just rock and it's important because it's simple. Sometimes it doesn't have to change the world to change your outlook.
If you like Rock when the count to get it started is "One, Two, Three, Four", if you are not looking for vocal hysterics, over-blown freshman posey/poetry lyrics, maudlin mope rock and/or songs composed on Pro Tools which do not require learning how to play an instrument with ANY level of professionalism.....
This is an album for you to buy. Sometimes it's just Rock and Roll folks. Sometimes it's just that simple.
Eggsellent! October 22, 2008
Joshua Nicholls (Vermont)
Well, after a suggestion from a friend I downloaded this album from amazon and it has gotten almost 'round the clock airtime since. I have also gotten BAGIA and SS and the band's germination has culminated in Stay Positive. My best album of '08. I only wish I could see them with DBT this fall...
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