Holding it down

The Hold Steady’s new album “A Positive Rage” is not so much a gift for fans of the band, but more of a fantastic introduction for those unaware of its previous efforts. It is a live album featuring 17 songs off its previous four albums. 

In addition, the physical copy found in stores features a behind-the-scenes double-disc documentary.

For those of you unaware of The Hold Steady’s sound, imagine a combination of Bruce Springsteen and punk, with an emphasis on Bruce. Though The Hold Steady have a much more bar-band vibe than The Boss, they band is similar to him in that its even more exciting in concert.

Unfortunately, most of that excitement comes from the energy band members onstage, something that gets lost in the translation to CD.

The strength of the songs themselves makes up for most of the energy lost, but I would be lying if said I didn’t enjoy the more polished, cleaner versions found on their studio albums.

Popular songs like “Chips Ahoy,” “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” and “Stuck Between Stations” can all be found here. 

And while these and the rest of the band’s songs are certainly consistent with the studio album versions, they’re much more raw, but not always in a good way. 

For example, “Southtown Girl” – their most obvious Springsteen homage, or rip-off if you view it from that angle – is a song one would think would be dynamite in concert, but it falters pretty significantly.  It’s still a decent song, but the fact that they didn’t blow it out of the water is surprising, even astonishing.

But to their credit, The Hold Steady managed to make me a fan of slower songs I previously skipped. 

True, “First Night,” like most of the others, sounds just like the original.  However, because the song itself deals with meeting girls in bars, it works significantly better when performed it in an actual bar-like atmosphere.

Fans of The Hold Steady will enjoy “A Positive Rage,” but not because it provides them anything undeniably new. Instead, because it contains some of their best material from their previous efforts, the album works much better for outsiders as an introduction to the band’s work.