Album Summary
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."
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