Separation Sunday is the second studio album by the American indie rock band the Hold Steady, released on May 3, 2005, through Frenchkiss Records. Produced by Dean Baltulonis and Dave Gardner, the album is the last to feature founding drummer Judd Counsell, who recorded the first half of the album, and the first to feature Bobby Drake, who recorded the second half of the album. The album is also the first to feature keyboardist Franz Nicolay as a full-time member of the band.
A concept album, Separation Sunday follows the interconnected stories of several fictional characters: Craig (the narrator), Holly (short for Halleluiah), a sometimes addict, sometimes prostitute, sometimes born again Christian or Catholic (and sometimes all three simultaneously); Charlemagne, a pimp; and Gideon, a skinhead, as they travel from city to city and party to party.
Separation Sunday is lyrically dense, full of Biblical allusions, self-reference word play, and puns. Lead vocalist and lyricist Craig Finn delivered these lyrics in a distinct flavor of sprechgesang. Musically, Separation Sunday touches on elements of classic rock, with guitar solos, riff-based structures, use of piano and organ, and guitar harmony. Structurally, however, most songs eschew the standard verse-chorus-verse song structure, frequently forgoing choruses or refrains altogether. In a review of the album, Blender described the Hold Steady as "sound[ing] like the best bar band in the world."
I love The Hold Steady album Boys and Girls in America - You Can Make Him Like You is one of my favorite songs - but I had never listened to anything else from this group. This was an interesting listen because it seemed less polished and more shouty, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But maybe falling in love with them on their third album made this a little less for me. Doesn’t matter, glad to have them nominated because they are a fun band with interesting lyrics that never fail to engage me.
I like these guys quite a bit. They've been on this list before (they're the only repeat album on the list that the mod hasn't caught yet!)
Not sure this is better than their other albums I've heard, but it's fun. I like the singer's unique vocal style.
There’s some Guided By Voices influence, or, maybe it’s more like shared DNA, with The Hold Steady, so I’m enjoying this quite a bit. It’s big, hooky guitar rock, ideally paired with some domestic lager in a crowded indie rock club.
It's fine. I liked this slightly more than the other Hold Steady album but that isn't saying much.
My personal rating: 3/5
My rating relative to the list: 3/5
Should this have been included on the original list? No.
Every time this band comes up I have to figure out again what their deal is. As a Gen X multi-decade resident of Minneapolis whatbI figure out is oh yeah, it's that post-Lifter Puller band. Solid indie/alt rock but the whole life-of-dissolution lyrics thing (particularly in this early era) wears thin for me. Demerit for egregious overuse of the phrase "hood rat".
When the singer from Counting Crows decided that the vocal stylings of Van Morrison were no longer his thing, and went deep down a musical rabbit hole consisting only of Elvis Costello and Randy Newman vocals. And told his band to listen to nothing but 70's Stones, and Big Star.
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