There are two things that matter more than anything else in State College -- football and bars.
Seeing as bars are so important to this town, that puts a high premium on the premium bar band. Unfortunately, the town is lacking the Hold Steady.
The Hold Steady is not a bar band, but judging from its new release, Boys and Girls in America, it would make the best bar band in the world.
Taking a page out of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's liner notes, the Hold Steady's leader Craig Finn commands attention from his listeners. His lyrics are very simple, but very germane.
Like the Boss, his delivery is straightforward but smooth. He somehow has a gift of saying a lot without saying too much. His words never run too closely together.
But more importantly of all, the band behind him flat-out rocks.
The band mixes rollicking piano with ripping lead guitar riffs. The rhythm guitars are driving, allowing Finn to spout his small-town anthems over top without interfering with the stories he tells. It's not as anthem-like as Born to Run, but it's a lot more concise. While the Boss was grandiose, the Hold Steady is understated.
The only potential pitfall for a bar band is coming off as derivative. Fortunately, the Hold Steady maintains originality while working within a limited frame of music. There are plenty of traces of The Replacements, but then there could be much worse bands to sound like, like Duran Duran. (The Killers, I'm looking at you.)
People often look to country-inspired music as the heartbeat of American music, but I'm not quite sure I've ever related to the lyrics of Garth Brooks or Toby Keith. Often overlooked are the accessible, yet intellectual songs by bands like the Hold Steady and the Replacements. Finn references Jack Kerouac's On the Road in the first line of the album's instant classic of an opener, "Stuck Between Stations." Is there anything that could be more American than that?
Boys and Girls in America is the quintessential rock album of this year. There have been more interesting albums, but none have the same familiar feel to them that this one does.
The title fits the album very well. This album is for and about every boy and every girl in America. There's nothing more American than apple pie, football, bars or the Hold Steady. Grade: B+
-- Reviewed by Kevin Doran
