Separation Sunday

I'm surprised this album came out in 2005, this sounds like the Windmill Scene style of post-punk from the early 2020s, I'm guessing that scene took a lot of inspiration from this band. I'm guessing The Hold Steady came out of the post-punk revival movement, but with their jerky rhythms, off-kilter talk-singing vocals, and crass lyrics, they sound more like an art punk act. This album seems to be a concept album of sorts, which I missed most of on my initial listen, so I'll come back and add more info when I get the opportunity to listen to it a bit more. The concept revolves around drugs and religion, and most of the songs are about these themes. It's also very lyrically dense as you would expect. The album starts off quite strong with the first few songs but loses me pretty quickly after, I guess the concept gets developed more in the second half so it might work a bit better when I listen to it alongside reading the lyrics. Should it be on the main list: No Top 3 songs: Hornets! Hornets!, Cattle and the Creeping Things, Your Little Hoodrat Friend

A biting, declarative vocal. In some songs it works, and in others it absolutely does not. I realised partway through the album that the lyrics are probably very important for the overall enjoyment factor, and that the album is probably a concept album. Alas – I'm not a lyrical listener. Hornets! Hornets! does well to slap you awake after a long Saturday night rest. (Hence the band's name. Heh.) The vocals, guitars, drums, and bass are all reasonably simple, yet loud and in-your-face. I prefer the second half of the song, which morphs into something akin to slow stadium rock. That riff in the outro: dizzying, layered, just a little trippy but still perfectly cohesive. We get a near-seamless transition into Cattle And The Creeping Things, where the vocal starts to get a little irritating. Sure, this guy's voice cuts through the mix, but a monotonous shout doesn't do him any favours. Fortunately, the other elements of the track make up for all that nonsense. Reasonably fast and incredibly energetic – a great song for driving. The vocals settle down by the second half, and man, those guitar lines are incredible. In Your Little Hoodrat Friend, the vocalist remembers (vaguely) how to carry a melody, which I think is the main appeal behind the song, judging by number of streams. Another reasonably melodic performance (the bare minimum, by the way) in Banging Camp, with a weird sort of wall-of-sound woodwind-keyboard thing in the chorus contributing to the uniqueness factor. A loud and proud guitar part, though I could see it getting a little old on repeat listens. Charlemagne In Sweatpants: legendary track title. It's hard to top that unless your surname is Zappa or Beefheart. The song itself sounds like a Rolling Stones 70s cut (aside from the vocals which are doing their own weird thing). Even the guitar solo sounds Stoney. Stevie Nix is an exceptionally bewildering track that is saved by its little instrumental interludes every time they appear. The lyrics yell nonsensically about something regarding guys sitting on lockers. A dramatically softer middle section involves just piano, and by golly, it singlehandedly shifts the song from one of the weakest on the record to one of the strongest. In Multitude Of Casualties, Finn is both trying to add a quasi-melody to his delivery but without really matching that melody to the chords. Unfortunate. Don't Let Me Explode does a little better, though it's pretty tough to mess up a 6/8 piano piece. Weirdly reminiscent of Feeling Good. The mention of Charlemagne made me realise, "damn, this is probably a concept album that I should've given a lot more credit to." The transition into Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night is solid as heck, and the song itself sounds like a musical encore. The low, loud guitar melody, mirrored by a trumpet, is the main giveaway. (Similar to the final track, How a Resurrection Really Feels.) Apologies to Crucifixion Cruise but I can't see myself recommending that track to friends and colleagues. A single organ chord isn't as revolutionary as the Hold Steady might reckon. At least the final song is solid and progresses through several complementary sections. The idea of a music box outro is really cool to me. 3/5 Key tracks: Cattle And The Creeping Things, Your Little Hoodrat Friend, How a Resurrection Really Feels

Solid blues rock revival sort of sound. Not sure if I'd personally put it on the list, but it was a solid listen.

для разговорного альбома кажется интересным, если б я только слушала текст…

I hadn’t listened to this album in years. It’s still their best, I think. Can’t believe it’s 21 years old!

DNF... I am not the audience for this.

Pretty unexceptional album. Nice enough I guess.

Somehow I never really listened to them in spite of being into a lot of similar stuff. I dig it. I'm a fan of more talking style vocals so they work really well for me, but mixing it with a more bar band kind of style is very interesting. Kind of reminds me of Titus Andronicus in some ways.

Dude sounds like he's drunk on record, rambling over Springsteen instrumentals. So that's a mood.

Never really got into The Hold Steady, though I recently saw Craig Finn play solo opening for Bob Mould and thought he was fantastic. This sounds about like what I would expect after having that exposure to Craig Finn. Just kind of indie post punk heartland rock vibes. Good stuff for sure.

Vocals weren’t my thing

When it was new, I played this album a lot. I grew tired of it and still am. It was not their scene at all, but it reminds me of Dave Matthews band and Hootie & the Blowfish. Like their alcoholic and depressed brother.

I really couldn’t stand the singer’s voice. They songs might have been ok but I hated how he sounded.

If I didn’t know who this was, I would have guessed it was Kings of Leon, so that’s a nice comparison, I guess. The theme of the album is intriguingly grimy and the twangs are twanging but am I listening again? Well, yes. I am, in fact.

Separation Sunday isn’t a band reinventing anything, but sometimes that’s not the point. Like on their other album on the list, nothing here is original, and Craig Finn isn’t much of a singer, but he delivers his lines with conviction, almost spitting them out, giving the whole thing a rough, punky edge.

Good, solid rockin' stuff, so a fine choice. THS are admirable for getting so much out of such a direct, straightforward (and somewhat repetitive) approach. One likes Finn's irreverence and sacrelige, plus irony plus near-desperation in downmarket settings and the slightly hopeful resonances with which several cuts conclude (incliuding top cuts here, "Multitude of Casualties" and "How a Resurrection..."). But there are limiits: his voice, for one, which is an acquired taste or takes patience (he does rather yell rather than sing at times) and the sameyness of musical attack (overinclination to sound like Thin LIzzy or the James Gang). Even the much-lauded (and occasionally first-rate), persona-based storytelling does get a little tiresome after a time (enough about hoodrat friends, please, this is not a rock opera) though perhaps non-readers would feel elevated literarily speaking (the Yeats, Blake refrences may also contribute to this effect). And indeed the incessant name-dropping gets to be an issue (this is not the cover of Sgt. Peppers), with the many, many place names making it feel like CF's reading from a road atlas (though likely writing while looking out a bus or van window). This may not be any (or much) better than Boys and Girls or Stay Positive, and/or some of Finn's solo work.

This vocal delivery works when all the pieces flow together. And fortunately that's the case here.

Buen disco mezcla de indie y de rock suave. Ritmos interesantes y con musicalidad. La voz, bien. Un disco que se merece más escuchas.

This was fun. Powerful and energetic instrumentation behind unique vocals. The songwriting was good for the most part, but it could get self-indulgent at times. It was never annoying, though. It's a good listen, good pick. 4/5

Drunk jackass slurs at you with no indoor voice for 42 minutes (asmr)(?). All of his stories are boring.

It's ok but I'm jaded listening to provincial indie rock.

A band my brother was always a huge fan of but that I’ve only come around to in the last few years. He had a spoken delivery style that took me a long time to appreciate. It is unique and worth a listen.

I liked the other Hold Steady album more than Separation Sunday but I really liked that tbf, this was still pretty good. Spoken word delivery style for the most part didn't work as well for me as it did before but this had a lot of punch and a lot of feeling, great tracks in Banging Camp and Multitude of Casualties, a high 3 this time as BAGIA got 4.

Second Hold Steady album and this one I did not enjoy as much as the previous one. Maybe it’s because Boys and Girls had a bit more of a rock than folk sound. Maybe it’s because someone told the singer he sounds a bit too much like a Springsteen impression and changed his sound a little bit listening to this album just made me think it was an E Street Band knockoff and while that’s not a bad thing it just couldn’t escape me while I listened to 6.5/10

Favourite songs: Stevie Nix, How a Resurrection Really Feels, Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night, Your Little Hoodrat Friend, Charlemagne in Sweatpants, Hornets! Hornets!, Cattle and the Creeping Things, Banging Camp, Multitude of Casualties Least favourite songs: Crucifixion Cruise 5/5

Indie rock, post-punk revival, heartland rock. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Indie rock, post-punk revival, heartland rock. Bueno, no está mal para escucharlo.

I didn't like it. That style of "narrative" songs is very much from a certain culture that I think doesn't work well globally, but regardless, I didn't like either the music or the songs.

*Separation Sunday* holds better (steadier?) for me than the other The Hold Steady album on the users' list (infamously listed twice by mistake -- but no worries, Alexander has marked the second iteration as inactive now). I've just read the review I left for *Boys And Girls In America* again, and I was surprised by how scathing my words in it were. I remembered not liking that other LP and leaving a 2/5 grade to it. But I didn't remember being so critical. Listening to *Separation Sunday* and *Boys And Girls In America* back to back, I now understand a little better what it was that the latter was so direly missing for me, that I'm gonna sum up with the words "authenticity", "energy", and "drive" -- all of which are present in spades throughout *Separation Sunday*. For me, *Boys And Girls In America* was aping Bruce Springsteen's artistry a little too closely, and in the process, was pestered by streamlined and naive pop-rock pointless cuts, quite a few flat compositions, devoid of clear dynamics, and overblown production values trying to cover for those shortcomings -- not to mention a couple of cheesy keyboards arrangements here and there. Craig Finn's sprechgesang vocals also felt constrained or watered-down for commercial purposes, which made them sort of unbearable for my ears. Here, in *Separation Sunday*, I engage far more in the stories the man is trying to tell about dissolute youths losing their way in all sorts of Midwest seedy places. And it's probably because Craig's voice here conveys the right "narrator's aura". I only browsed through the surface of the "plot", mind you. But what I grasped seemed worthy of my attention, because the literary words penned by Finn have enough space to breathe at least, contrary to what occurs in the next album. Likewise, the music rocks as it should, unencumbered by useless flourishes. The horn arrangements are pretty cool. And the distorted guitars pack the right amount of punch, making up for the partial lack of identifiable choruses tenfold. This is a far more "punk" album, leaning closer to the Replacements among the band's influences -- its intents even foretelling crank-wave stuff such as Protomartyr, even if the compositions are far less complex, angular and artful than what you can find in the Detroit post-punk act's discography. A couple of cuts in the middle or in the second half are also a little too meat-and-potatoes for my rock music tastes (looking at you, "Charlemagne in Sweatpants"). But "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" and "Banging Camp" (whose guitar riffs incidentally or accidentally rips off Pavement's "Date w/ IKEA"), along with closer ""How a Resurrection Really Feels", are really great songs, for example. So here's me subjectively separating the wheat from the chaff. It took an album named *Separation Sunday* for me to do that, and also to redeem The Hold Steady in my eyes. Because even the most hopeless cases deserve as second chance, as this album's storyline suggests. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5/10 for more general purposes. ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 75 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 93 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 182 ---- Émile, tu trouveras ma dernière réponse sous le *Inside* de Bo Burnham

If you check the user albums list, you'll see the Hold Steady's "Boys and Girls in America" TWICE (70 and 150). Obviously, user submission #410 said "no no, you've got it wrong. It should be Separation Sunday instead!" So, here we are. This one is a lot like "Boys and Girls in America," which I described as "anthemic rock for millennials who just started drinking regularly and may or may not be developing a substance dependency." This album has a bit more grit to it though, following a story about greasy characters crashing parties and making bad decisions. The only people who still listen to the Hold Steady are people who remember where they were when the first iPod was unveiled. It's got some memorable moments and sharp lines, but nothing to make it timeless or frankly enjoyable. It's fine. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Pales in comparison to it's contemporaries in the world of millennial indie rock. Let's move on.

Surprisingly good indie.

This reminded me a bit of Jello Biafra and the DK's. Overall not bad, but not something I'd listen to regularly.

Like Springsteen tried to rip off American Idiot, but didn't think about the "concept" for more than 5 seconds. Sounds like all the other American landfill indie, other than a few recurring characters in some songs. Dull, but worthy.

I swear I listened to it fully 2 days ago, but it's totally gone from my mind now. It means something, right?

Huge album for fans of Bruce Springsteen and listening to the drunk guy at the subway station reciting his life story. Good for one song at a time. Entire album of having to listen to this dude chanting ancient incantations is like Chinese water torture to me. 2/5.

Yeah, pretty good. I've heard of these guys for some reason?

"Separation Sunday" is yet another album of indie rockers The Hold Steady. They already had two as "Boys And Girls in America" is the infamous double entry on this user list. I think that one this also the better one. Still this is another example of rock with filthy guitar licks and a singer that more of less sings with a broken voice. In one way there is nothing new and it is basic and done so many times before, but it is also performed so elemental screaming with urgence that it just crawled its way on to this user list.

Very listenable indie group. Good arrangement for vocal and instruments

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.

Rating: 6/10

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".

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.

Soooo lyrically this is absolutely brilliant. Musically od probably just leave it.A+ contend, D delivery

Ew they made boys and girls in america 2

9/10 really enjoyed this! kinda get R.E.M. vibes from it :)

It was fine

ja ganz gut würd ich wieder hören

I just can’t get over the voice. 1 octave range. And the songs all seemed to be catholic themed and about hoodrats. Just not my style at all.

Cool album. It's gritty and musically very enjoyable. Vocals and lyrics interesting, but get a little much after a while. Still enjoyable though.

Påfrestande dålig sång. Finns mer att önska av musiken också.

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.

Indie rock, post-punk revival, heartland rock. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Just something about the declarative vocals and boomer-ass guitar that makes this feel like the album version of Old Man Yells at Cloud

Just what i didn't ask for. A shouty American.

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.

Better than the other one

It was about halfway through that I realized ‘oh they really like Springsteen’ and understood why I was so meh

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.

The voice was a little annoying and didn’t connect with me so the lyrics bounced off the eardrums.