The Hold Steady, “Boys & Girls In America” (5/5)

The Hold Steady has just released their third full-length release as well as Vagrant Records debut, “Boys And Girls In America”. This CD, which is a collection of extremely detailed stories told by singer/guitarist Craig Fin, covers the topics of love, partying, music, drugs, and alcohol.

The CD starts out strong with the song “Stuck Between Stations”, which also happens to be one of the fastest songs on the record. It tells the story of the life of “boys and girls in America” and the things they go through, “crushing each other with colossal expectations, dependent, undisciplined, sleeping late”. Next, the CD moves into the first single off the record, “Chips Ahoy”. Fin sings “I’ve got a girl who don’t have to work / she can tell which horse is gonna finish in first / some nights the painkillers make the pain even worse”. These types of lyrics (uncertain love, usually mixed with drug and alcohol use) are all over the album. About halfway through the record, the pace slows down with the borderline ballad, “First Night”. This track is about a girl who the singer likes, but is now in the hospital due to her out of control drug abuse.

The album picks up again with the upbeat (as well as extremely catchy), “You Can Make Him Like You”. The song sounds as if Fin is speaking to a specific girl when he says, “You don’t have to deal with the dealers / let your boyfriend deal with the dealers / it only gets inconvenient when you wanna get high alone”. Then he continues by singing, “There’s always other boys / there’s always other boyfriends / you can make him like you”. The back and forth motions of having the boyfriend dealing with things and then it not working out is what makes this song great.

Then, once again, the CD slows it down with the completely acoustic song, “Citrus”. This is one of the stand out tracks on the record, because of the lyrics. In the last verse Fin sings, “Lost in fog, and love, and faith was fear / I’ve had kisses that make Judas seem sincere”. “Citrus” is followed by the best song on the CD, “Chill Out Tent”. “Chill Out Tent” tells the story of a guy and a girl who both attend a large music festival, do way too many drugs, and wake up in what is called “the chill out tent”. The song has a male and female voice singing the two characters parts, as well as a “narrator” figure. The song ends with the guy and girl voice singing at the same time, “She/he was really cool, we kinda kicked it in the chill out tent, and I never saw that boy/girl again”.

Overall this CD couldn’t be any better. These tales are so detailed and captivating that you won’t be able to stop listening to them. The Hold Steady is far above their musical peers in both sound and talent. My advice to you is to drop whatever you are doing and go out and buy this album. For extra fun, check out the iTunes version of the CD, which includes two great B-sides, and an interactive comic book of liner notes.

Favorite Track: Chill Out Tent



Reviewed By: Chris