The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

Tagged in recent years as Brooklyn's (or America's) "best bar band," The Hold Steady emerged this year as something much more significant, most notably by releasing this extraordinary record. And although I've read lately that the comparison is a bit of an irritant to them, there's no denying the extent to which almost everything about this record -- from the subject matter and lyrical style, to the predominance of the piano and glockenspiel in the arrangements, to lead singer Craig Finn's phrasing -- recalls classic, E Street-era Springsteen. But while this record, too, recounts the escapades of young people in the urban streets, in evocative detail and accompanied by truly exuberant music, the tone of the lyrics here is much darker than anything on Born To Run -- these "boys and girls" are bored with their circumstances to the point of hopelessness, weighted down by their sadness, and the scenes Finn describes are awash with drugs, which serve as both recreational ritual and a means of temporary escape. It would all be a bit of a downer if the music weren't so powerful, even joyous, if the band didn't rock so hard, and if Finn wasn't such an excellent storyteller. If there was a better pure rock and roll record released this year, I must have missed it.

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD: Stuck Between Stations, the opening track on this terrific record, and something of a statement of purpose about the stories Craig Finn wants to tell here.