Separation Sunday

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.

"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.

*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

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

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.

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

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

ja ganz gut würd ich wieder hören

Surprisingly good indie.

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

Better than the other one

It was fine

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

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".

Rating: 6/10

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.

Very listenable indie group. Good arrangement for vocal and instruments

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Ew they made boys and girls in america 2

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.

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

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

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