The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday

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I only got into Almost Killed Me last week and I see a promo copy of the Separation Sunday in the used CD bin at the local record shop. Has anyone heard it yet? Is one Hold Steady album sufficient?

― alex in montreal, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

This one is great, too. Worth it just for Track 3, Your Little Hoodrat Friend. The general consensus is the 2nd one is better than the first.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Fuck, Alex, buy it for me and send it over! I'm good for it!

― Bent Over at the Arclight (Bent Over at the Arclight), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

How do you think the Hold Steady compare to Lifter Puller? Sounds like the same band to me, maybe with a little more guitar.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't like the second quite as much as the first but i'm in the minority. it's still really great, more soul than the first, a bit cleaner sounding. i'm going to see them tonight - AM SUPERSTOKED.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm with Blount. I love love love the first one and I'm not digging the second nearly as much (it's still great, though!).

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Almost Killed Me is like the best Lifter Puller songs w/ more guitar. Seperation Sunday is more like the Bruceiest moments on AKM.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

saw them a few times in Austin. holy fuck, Blount, you're in for a treat. the new album is better than the first, as well--give it time, it'll sink in (esp. after you see 'em).

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I recently downloaded the new one but haven't had a chance to hear it yet. I'm SO excited now!!!! And I LOVED the first album.

― Jonathan (Jonathan), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

SS is a real grower, the vocals aren't as prominent so it takes a bit longer to get at the lyrics. it's conceptual again, like Fiestas, and is way more classic-rock (as opposed to Almost Killed Me's hard rock). love it love it love it.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i think i like the first hold steady more than fiestas actually. i think it's great. but i only heard it for the first time 2 weeks ago. i've played it, like, 5 times. but i heard fiestas AFTER the soft rock comp that i played 5 zillion times and in some ways it felt anticlimactic after the comp.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Why does the singer write a book? His lyrics are amazing. Fucking Jeff Tweedy is

― David Allen (David Allen), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

SS didn't grab me as fast as any Lifter Puller material or Almost Killed Me, but it's really a monster of an album... probably one of the best and most distinctive lyricists I've heard, ever (for better and for worse). The production/palate of SS is also much bigger, it's way less punky than either Lifter Puller or the first Hold Steady record. Damn, making me so very happy right now.

― mike powell (mike powell), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to be all echo chamber, but I also am not quite digging SS the way I liked the first one. I agree that "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" is fanastic, tho. Still waiting for the diversity to start to appear - it feels a little more 1-note than "Almost Killed Me". I expect in a month or so I'll think this opinion was insane.

― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, SS sounded way more expansive from first listen for me, and it just keeps sounding more that way after a month.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 22:14 (twenty-one years ago)

This band kills it live. A must see.

― cdwill, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 22:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I interviewed Craig and learned, amongst other things, that "Don't Let Me Explode" was inspired by St. (bka Santa) Barbara, patron saint of landmines. For that alone it is a total classic.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Thursday, 24 March 2005 02:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I ruptured an eardrum at the Whisky Bar show at SXSW. Fuck, but that was loud.

As for SS, I might never get sick of "Cattle and the Creeping Things." It takes me forever to decipher Hold Steady/Lifter Puller records to the point where I'm in awe as to how good they are; I have no doubts that I'll love this one after a few hundred plays.

― Daniel Cohen (dayan), Thursday, 24 March 2005 03:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Nothin' but love, nothin' but love. When I first heard Almost Killed Me I said "Good but learn the words to FiestasFiascos first." I feel kind of the same way about the new one but still, they're all pretty fucking great. I love the self reference.

― Dan M. (OutDatWay), Thursday, 24 March 2005 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

― etc, Friday, 25 March 2005 05:44 (twenty-one years ago)

one listen through, & I think this is the best thing I've heard from craig finn!

(btw, that "hot fries" track that's up in the lyrics section of their website - where has that appeared? do they play it live, or what? I was sort've hoping it'd turn up on the album).

― etc, Friday, 25 March 2005 07:54 (twenty-one years ago)

GREAT show, fun banter, small crowd - 50-60 people tops - in not a very large room though my fave indierock club by far in atlanta, lots of trash talk between finn and the audience regarding the 91 world series, LOTS of fun. i'd say 70% of what there was of a crowd were true believers before the show, and that number was higher afterwards. see them if you get the chance by all means!

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 25 March 2005 08:41 (twenty-one years ago)

the production on this is just how I've dreamed them happening. the kate bush ref in "hornets! hornets!" is fantastic!

― etc, Saturday, 26 March 2005 10:21 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

I heart Craig Finn.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

this album's pretty good but ohhhh man: "later-period Soul Asylum fronted by Charles Nelson Reilly." hahaha

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

Huh. That's interesting. It has never ever occurred to me when listening to a Hold Steady or Lifter Puller song that there might any kind of serious connection to Catholicism.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

In case anybody still doubts the album's connection to Catholicism (and in case anybody didn't notice the link to this from Joe's piece):

http://villagevoice.com/music/0518,jaswa,63580,22.html

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

There can be no doubt that Craig Finn is a great interviewee --

"I'm not sure they understood what it was," he says, "but they knew I was a creative kid and this stuff seemed to foster creativity. Dropping your kid off at a punk rock show is a leap of faith, you know?" He pauses and swallows some tea. "It was way cooler to get dropped off at the bus stop and take the bus."

"That's why hardcore appealed to me more than metal. I don't think you can be truly angry and play 64th notes"

Those lines make me smile/laugh.

This description of Craig Finn made me a little melancholy.

"the 33-year-old"

so am i ...

― Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

Perfect age to release your most Catholic album.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

goddman that fucker can write a lyric huh?

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

I wasn't doubting this album's connection to Catholicism (I ain't heard it yet), I was just surprised, because it's not something I had ever noticed in any of his previous lyrics (not that there weren't any references, it just didn't seem like a theme).

I wonder if the addition of the organ has any relationship to the seemingly increased connection to Catholicism.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

Wonder if Nick Hornby will dig these guys

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

I don't see how anybody can NOT dig this album. My friends who greeted Almost Killed Me with a shrug and a "the singer is kind of annoying" are now uniformly obsessed with this record.

I'd be surprised if there's a better rock album this year. And it should definitely have a formidable showing when they do the "Best albums of the 00s polls".

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

matos it's sunk in btw

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

knew it would!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 19:47 (twenty years ago)

Wow, I've listened to this now, and yeah, it's not like Catholicism is a subtext of the album, it's pretty much THE text of the album. So far I am really enjoying it, especially "Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night."

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

I like SS alot, even from first listen.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 20:18 (twenty years ago)

I'm excited, but I'm still pretty sure he'll never top his stuff on Lifter Puller's Half Dead & Dynamite. I wish they would have moved to New York and got the Hold Steady hype. I'm still convinced that was a better band.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

1) I'm liking SS a lot too.

2) Isn't the solo voice thing a weird choice to start? kinda like hitting you in the forehead, "The words are key, buddy."

3) Figured they deserve it so I started a yahoo group for the Hold Steady (and lftr pllr etc....)

Come on in and join us.

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/liftersteady/

― Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Thursday, 12 May 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

Heard a couple of songs, "Hoodrat Friend" and another on Radio K...sounds really good...very Springsteen....seems better than the first Hold Steady lyrically.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 12 May 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

I was stoned, and I don't know what track it was, but it sounded so much more like 70s Who than anything mentioned as a comparison so far (still don't like them tho, vocalist should get into rhythm, it's groovy)

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 12 May 2005 17:40 (twenty years ago)

Isn't the solo voice thing a weird choice to start? kinda like hitting you in the forehead, "The words are key, buddy."

And the album ENDS with super-distinct channel panning, too, with the chimes at the end of "How a Resurrection Really Feels". An additional emphasis on Separation, maybe.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Thursday, 12 May 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

it isn't a book

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 12 May 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

so I've heard.

I wish I had money.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 12 May 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)

it isn't a book

haha whatever--Xgau's "literature w/power chords" nails it

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 12 May 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

i haven't read the sfj thing on the mountain goats and the hold steady in this week's (?) new yorker - is any good?

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 12 May 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

i'm thinking i might get my dad this for father's day too, i got him big $ rich last year.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 12 May 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

if your dad liked B&R and likes rock, GET IT FOR HIM. (the SFJ is good but about 1/3 as long as it needed to be to get down to the points you could see him making.)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 12 May 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

i really like the album. so much to take in. you could get lost in it.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 12 May 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone have ALL of the Brokerdealer songs? I would love to have all of them... I have:

"Mommy, Can I go out and Chill Tonight?"
"Do Me Nails"
"Last Ones Up Become Lovers"
"Sophomore Slump"
"Dead Ones Look Like Dolls"

I'm pretty sure there's a few more, but I only know the name of one other: "If Not for Hipster Pictures"

I love these tracks in a huge way, and it seems they may never surface again... the Brokerdealer site is gone; even the Lifter Puller fan site is gone now. Does anyone have any more info?

― On a Strict El Cholo Diet (Bent Over at the Arclight), Thursday, 12 May 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

Is anyone going to the album release party performance thing at the bowery in NYC on thursday?

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 04:01 (twenty years ago)

oh, and part 2 of the question is does anyone have an extra ticket because my desperate plea for guestlist spot not really working. who knew this was going to sell out!?

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 04:06 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

holy hell, this band and album are awful. terrible lyrics, terrible vocalist, terrible sub-e street band music.

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Saturday, 10 November 2007 07:18 (eighteen years ago)

WAHT, YOU DEFY ILM/VV HIVEMIND CIRCA 2005???
http://www.11th-hour.info/images/apostasy_sign2.JPG

― gershy, Saturday, 10 November 2007 07:32 (eighteen years ago)

i was led astray by an older boy!

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Saturday, 10 November 2007 08:35 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

this is definitely still my favorite.

― just DO THE STANKY HOOS plain and steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Friday, 3 April 2009 08:11 (sixteen years ago)

Me too, by far.

― ilxor, Friday, 3 April 2009 17:52 (sixteen years ago)

Yup.

― maciej recognizing trill, Friday, 3 April 2009 18:30 (sixteen years ago)

cosign

― Matos W.K., Friday, 3 April 2009 22:32 (sixteen years ago)

bigtime

― i like to fart and i am crazy (gbx), Friday, 3 April 2009 22:34 (sixteen years ago)

Will never be this good again, unfortunately.

― ilxor, Saturday, 4 April 2009 05:24 (sixteen years ago)

Agreed.

(How long can we keep this chain going?)

― tits akimbo (kenan), Saturday, 4 April 2009 05:27 (sixteen years ago)

Will never be this good again, unfortunately.

Why do people say things like this? Do people actually believe in this consumer-media myth of evaporating talent?

― Just one thing I was thinking about as I was getting on the copter (J0hn D.), Saturday, 4 April 2009 06:56 (sixteen years ago)

evaporating talent vs. diminishing returns mining the same territory

I say this while completely disagreeing with the excerpted statement.

― just DO THE STANKY HOOS plain and steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:02 (sixteen years ago)

Like I'm not sure "they'll never be this good again" is actually a meaningful statement

― just DO THE STANKY HOOS plain and steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:03 (sixteen years ago)

And obviously they haven't been mining the same territory for 4 albums Separation Sunday & Stay Postive could be two different bands

― just DO THE STANKY HOOS plain and steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:05 (sixteen years ago)

But one is not near as good.

― tits akimbo (kenan), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:27 (sixteen years ago)

That's a discussion worth having, but to suggest that they will never be *as* "good" as your favourite is reaching Marcello Carlin levels of incorrect self-assuredness.

― just DO THE STANKY HOOS plain and steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:30 (sixteen years ago)

snap?

― i like to fart and i am crazy (gbx), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:31 (sixteen years ago)

Why do people say things like this? Do people actually believe in this consumer-media myth of evaporating talent?

I don't think the "never be this good again" statement was just a tossed-off opinion based on a magazine write-up, it's based on listening to the albums and determining that not only is Sunday their best record, but they're getting less and less listenable with each subsequent record. If a friend is on a respirator, it's not unfair to assume that they'll never play soccer like they once did.

― tits akimbo (kenan), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:34 (sixteen years ago)

That's a discussion worth having

actually no i lied lets not

― just DO THE STANKY HOOS plain and steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:35 (sixteen years ago)

Yeah I'm not going there either. And people DO recover! But if they ever make a record this good again, it'll be all the better because we didn't think they would.

― tits akimbo (kenan), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:36 (sixteen years ago)

Well motherfucker.

― ilxor, Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:39 (sixteen years ago)

Plz to elaborate.

― tits akimbo (kenan), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:52 (sixteen years ago)

lol i'm going to bed now but there will be words had upon my awakening if need be

somehow these guys turned into the only rock band i will argue with people about

― just DO THE STANKY HOOS plain and steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:57 (sixteen years ago)

This album and Boys and Girls are both way worth defending, I say. But especially this one.

― tits akimbo (kenan), Saturday, 4 April 2009 07:59 (sixteen years ago)

The two new studio tracks with the live record are fantastic. Combine them with the extra tracks on Stay Positive and you realise how very different an album they might have made from the same sessions.

― ithappens, Saturday, 4 April 2009 08:53 (sixteen years ago)

wtf happened?

― tits akimbo (kenan), Saturday, 4 April 2009 11:08 (sixteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

hornets!>stevie nix> multitude of casualties>hoodrat friend>the rest

― Zeno, Wednesday, 29 April 2009 09:14 (sixteen years ago)

how is hornets even on that list let alone at the top

― I'm not some HOOS for someone's lust to snack on! (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 09:43 (sixteen years ago)

...mmm...cause its a great song - lyrics+melody?
and esp. in the 2nd part of it?

― Zeno, Wednesday, 29 April 2009 11:45 (sixteen years ago)

"bones brigade videos" and "people touching people that they don't even know, yo" and "drove the wrong way down 169" and kate bush ref. and the guy who never asks what you came to his house for.

(I wouldn'ta ranked things the same as Zeno - and I would've put em on the Separation Sunday thread - but it's a helluva frickin' song)

― Arlen Spectre General (kingkongvsgodzilla), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 12:00 (sixteen years ago)

Oh wait, this is the Sep. Sunday thread! I'm just so used to seeing the Stay Positive thread on the new answers page that I just assumed it was that one!

― Arlen Spectre General (kingkongvsgodzilla), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 12:02 (sixteen years ago)

Holy fucking shit.

― Arlen Spectre General (kingkongvsgodzilla), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 12:02 (sixteen years ago)

lol

― invitation to rabies (╓abies), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 12:14 (sixteen years ago)

"and kate bush ref" - don't forget Nabokov

― Zeno, Wednesday, 29 April 2009 17:52 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

we just couldn't get with all those clever kids

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 14 October 2010 06:19 (fifteen years ago)

nine years pass...

Gave this a listen recently. How a Resurrection Really Feels is probably the worst last song on an album I've ever heard. She said 'I've laid beneath my lovers/but I've never gotten laid' being a particular nadir. And now it's stuck in my head.

― peace, man, Thursday, 4 June 2020 13:55 (five years ago)

ok, but that riff, and those keys...

― voodoo chili, Thursday, 4 June 2020 14:11 (five years ago)

oh man I love that lyric

― Joey Corona (Euler), Thursday, 4 June 2020 14:14 (five years ago)

five years pass...

After a long hiatus with this band, I recently listened to the "Search Engine" interview with Craig Finn, and it made me want to hear Separation Sunday. Now I'm going to sleep at night with Cain and Abel references and organ riffs blaring in my head. What a glorious album. I think "Banging Camp" might be the greatest song of all time.

― Indexed, Tuesday, 26 August 2025 13:33 (seven months ago)

It still stirs me up. It's still really the only HS I need. Everything that came after pales in comparison.

― Blood On The Knobs, Tuesday, 26 August 2025 16:25 (seven months ago)

their best album by a lot

― gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 26 August 2025 18:36 (seven months ago)

The two on either side of it are worthy companions, but yes, Separation Sunday is their masterpiece.

― Indexed, Tuesday, 26 August 2025 20:25 (seven months ago)

Yeah, my gateway, and the best I've heard, although there are keepers on the others---seem to recall suspecting that Craig was getting more into his solo albums, which also have their keepers, though might not fit too well w production style of THS.

― dow, Wednesday, 27 August 2025 01:13 (seven months ago)

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