The Hold Steady - 'Heaven is Whenever'

I miss Franz Nicolay. That’s the thought I keep ending up at every time I find fault with Heaven is Whenever, the first Hold Steady album (fifth overall) to be released without the singer/pianist since the group’s 2004 debut, Almost Killed Me. Nicolay announced his departure from the band earlier this year. I try to fight this notion – Craig Finn is the main songwriter anyway! World/Inferno Friendship Society pianist Dan Neustadt handled the keys! Nicolay’s solo album wasn’t even all that great! – but I keep arriving at the same conclusion: this record needs more screaming, mustachioed guys.

Exhibit A: The music and vocals sound a little empty. It’s as if the band decided not to bother replacing Nicolay at all. The Hold Steady certainly uses a lot of chunky guitar riffs, but it was Nicolay’s piano that defined tunes like “Stevie Nix” and “Constructive Summer.” Even with Neustadt handling the ivories, the piano is noticeably absent from a lot of these new songs. Same goes for the back-up vox. Answer me this, rest of the world, which is more fun to sing: the chorus to “Chips Ahoy!”, or the backing “whoa”s? Choose wisely. Corinne Caouette and Roman Kuebler contribute backing vocals, but they can’t replace Franz.

Exhibit B: The songs are too slow. It’s like Nicolay took all the fun with him when he left. Heaven is Whenever lacks urgency. Part of it comes from a shift in Finn’s songwriting style. His lyrics are slightly more removed – you won’t find Holly or Charlemagne here – and his singing sounds oddly uninterested. It’s like he’s going through the motions, something that the line “If money didn’t matter then I might tell you something new” from “Soft in the Center” may or may not hint at. Quoth NOFX, “The desperation’s gone.” I know Finn likes singing about Youth of Today and (early) 7 Seconds, but Nicolay is the one with more punk cred, thanks to his work with W/IFS and Dresden Dolls. Sure, Major General was like 50 percent power ballads, but I can’t help but feel Nicolay would make sure fists were being adequately pumped during Heaven’s recording sessions.

Exhibit C: It’s a little overproduced. It's not relevant to my main argument but I still wanted to complain about it.

Heaven is the worst Hold Steady album. Yeah, it’s better than most of the music that’s going to come out this year, and some of the songs, like “Our Whole Lives” and “Rock Problems,” show that old spark. But it’s also indicative that the group’s formula – classic rock + literate lyrics worthy of Elvis Costello or John Darnielle – may be used up. Maybe it’s just a hiccup – Costello dropped a few middling albums between Get Happy!!! and King of America – or a transitional period into a slower, more contemplative period. Maybe it’s the beginning of the end for one of America’s best rock ‘n’ roll bands. I don’t have the answers. Help me Franz Nicolay. You’re my only hope.

regarding Craig Finn adapting Chuck Klosterman's book.

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn is co-writing a script for a film adaptation of Chuck Klosterman's seminal first work Fargo Rock City with Late Show With David Letterman writer Tom Ruprecht.

Here's why that might be awesome: If Boys and Girls in America is any indication, Finn has a knack for pretty words. Ruprecht in turn brings over a decade of writing experience. They could prolly get this done. And they're adapting Chuck flippin' Klosterman. He's my favorite author and biggest influence on my writing, if only because he gave me the courage to even consider conjugatin' and adjective-slingin' in the first place. And Fargo Rock City is a hilarious book about growing up in a small town (a really, really small, rural town) and feeling isolated and also loving metal. Critics who write about Radiohead are a dime a dozen; only Klosterman writes about something as uncritically acclaimed as '80s pop-metal with such skill and unironic love.

Here's why it might crush my soul: The book doesn't exactly have a central narrative. Oh sure, it's about Klosterman's life, much in the same way his other books like Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and Killing Yourself to Live are about his life. But all three books are essay collections, snapshots of musical obsession and how that obsession provides a lens for viewing life. That doesn't necessarily translate to a movie, or at least not the one Finn mentions in the interview linked above.

“Seventeen or eighteen is the perfect age for characters in a movie like this, because it’s at that age that you have drivers licenses and a certain amount of independence, but you’re still young enough that you can totally make terrible decisions,” Finn says in the article. “And you’re still young enough that you can have a two-hour argument over whether Motley Crue would beat Guns ‘N Roses in a fight.”

That's cool. Here's where it gets scary: "Heavy metal is kind of a common bond among a group of friends,” Ruprecht says. “It’s the language they speak. But this will also be a universal story of dorky kids trying to be cool.”

The book is about metal. It's also about adolescence, but it's so tied to metal that separating the two would make the story something else entirely. Granted, Klosterman is going to have a certain amount of control over the property, and the first draft isn't even finished anyway, but Ruprecht's quote still has me spooked. Taking the metal out Fargo Rock City defeats the purpose of adapting it in the first place. Please don't let this become another Juno.

Is it fitting that I'm listening to Black Sabbath's Mob Rules as I type this very sentence?

The Hold Steady - 'A Positive Rage'

Talk about a bait-n-switch: The main drawing power behind A Positive Rage, the new live CD/DVD documenting the exploits of the joyful noisemakers in The Hold Steady circa 2006, should be the tour documentary. Generally speaking, live albums tend to be geared towards hardcore fans to begin with, either because of nostalgia (my mom was at the taping of David Bowie’s David Live; I was at tapings for Bouncing Souls and The Early November) or rarities. Sure, some artists like Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and James Brown cut legendary live albums, but most of the time the buyer ends up with tinny-sounding versions of previously released/better recorded songs. And while A Positive Rage the CD isn’t as good as Live at the Apollo or as bad as, say, any live Aerosmith record ever, it’s still not transcendent enough to warrant purchasing. That’s why A Positive Rage the DVD needs to be great. What it ends up being is repetitive and mildly hammy.

There’s showing and there’s telling, and A Positive Rage does a whole lot of the latter. Spliced between genuinely good live footage are discussions about the band’s appeal. Most of these clips are reiterations of “They’re fun/happy/drunk!” Some people mention the band smiling a lot. And it gets old 15 minutes in. Far more fascinating are the all-too-brief deeper glimpses into the band, like when Craig Finn breaks down his musical influences (This guy loves The Replacements) and how he found his singing voice. He’s honest enough with himself to even discuss the limitations and attractions of his speak/sing style. Keyboardist Franz Nicolay, who coined the collection’s title, offers way more eloquent explanations of why the band is fun regardless of which side of the stage someone is on. And that mustache! Exchanges between the band and kids are also funny. But the majority of the clips are redundant, almost cocky, in their love for the group. It’s like an infomercial.

Even though the documentary is a dud, though, those who’ve already committed to A Positive Rage can enjoy the live record, which was recorded in Chicago. The quality starts out iffy on “Stuck Between Sessions” – the sound is ho-hum and Finn flubs a few lines – but it recovers quickly. Once it congeals, fans get all of the things they love about The Hold Steady – big guitars, chiming piano, and master storyteller Finn. While the listener won’t always necessarily feel it, he and/or she can tell it was a good night. The live setting peels back some of Boys and Girls in America’s sheen, but replaces it with way drunker, more slurred vocals. It’s faster and sloppier; more alive but less cohesive. What it isn’t, however, is something worth recommending to the uninitiated or the devoted. There’s a better way to hear “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” or “First Night,” and it involves buying the studio albums bearing them.