The Hold Steady
Boys and Girls in America


5.0
classic

Review

by Kiran EMERITUS
October 13th, 2009 | 197 replies


Release Date: 2006 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together.

Jack Kerouac struck a chord with youth everywhere when he wrote his loosely autobiographical masterpiece, On The Road. It encapsulated the yearning of a social demographic that wanted nothing more than to be free; to explore, to experiment and to escape to something else, anything else, if even for a just a brief moment in their lives. The author was stepping up and begging the question, “I’ve lived. Have you?”

No one has channeled this message to a truer degree than Craig Finn. Boys And Girls in America (an excerpt from a famous line in the aforementioned book) is the topical manifestation of On The Road. Every character or story imagined is exactly the kind of person Sal Paradise went looking for: The kind of people who are always breathless, enamoured with life itself. It’s sex for the sake of sex, alcohol for the already drunk, drugs for the shamefully bored. The lyrics penned and sung by Finn tell stories of individuals who are rough around the edges; unapologetically imperfect. As has come to be expected of the front man, his lyrics are narrative, honest and often alarmingly succinct (‘I’ve had kisses that make Judas seem sincere’). He takes themes as universal as drugs, alcohol, sex, loneliness (‘They say you don’t have a problem / Until you start sleeping alone’) and makes them his, personal to himself and to the characters he creates, while the broadness and universality of the theme makes them so easily relatable to the listener; a value absolutely key to the appeal of his lyrics.

Furthermore, his congested half-speak, half-sing qualities have the potential to be unlikable, even unbearable, but in this context and with this band and with those lyrics, it’s the closest thing to a perfect fit. Look no further than ‘Hot Soft Light’ to see it all come together – the simple, bar-band riff, that single piano note that’s slammed just as the chorus ends, the call-and-respond guitar solo, and hell, it doesn’t take a genius to work out what these lyrics are about (‘We started recreational / It ended kinda medical’) – it’s all there and it’s what makes this band so relatable, so working class and most significantly, so fun.

It's perhaps their most important trait; Boys and Girls in America captures the sound of a band enjoying what they do. They aren’t shy to tell their fans how much they love making music and it’s a characteristic that not only shines through on record and on stage but it’s also one that has gained them a strong reputation as a live act. The self-acknowledged weird twist of ‘Chillout Tent’ (‘It was kind of sexy / But it was kind of creepy’) is disguised by an inventive trumpet-filled guy-girl chorus trade off, while ‘Massive Nights’ builds an anxious buzz (‘And everyone was partying / And everyone was pretty / And everyone was coming to the centre of the city’) that leads to the inevitable, colossal chorus, unselfish with its backing ‘woahs’. Even the ‘ballad’ of the album, ‘First Night’ (which makes references back to characters from previous album, ‘Seperation Sunday’), is free-flowing and piano-led; less constructed, more intuitive, and all the better for it, as the song is revived from its fade-out with a late full-band climax.

Most strikingly, this all seems to be performed with such ease. It's as if the joy they gain from doing what they do stems out of the haze of a blase, smoking-room nonchalance, as if they casually discussed their next move while stepping outside for a cigarette. The kicker is that it would be obscene to suggest such a thing and to even begin to suspect that they’ve not meticulously placed every note, every second of the drawn out ‘whoas’ in the chorus of ‘Chips Ahoy!’ or every clash and counter-melody of the piano and guitar on ‘You Can Make Him Like You’, and the reason is simply that everything falls so carefully into place. The greatest part is that this is by no means, at any point, a difficult record. It's as easily a pick up and go record as it allows listen upon listen of wide-eyed adoration.

All in all, Boys and Girls in America is as remarkable a tribute to the book that lent its namesake as it is simply a journey into the spirit of being young. Finn and co. explore the side streets and dimly lit bars of a loveless and morally depraved culture; how in some disgusting piss-stained alley behind a bar, a moment can occur that could define, at worst, a night, and at most, a lifetime. It’s Craig Finn’s tribute to his own Mississippi upbringing and it’s The Hold Steady’s defining record, one that is both critically acknowledged yet criminally overlooked.



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user ratings (369)
4
excellent
other reviews of this album
BigHans (5)
What the perfect rock album sounds like....

JAD (4.5)
Near masterpiece from a band that is somehow much more than the some of their parts...



Comments:Add a Comment 
Kiran
Emeritus
October 13th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

first review in...7 months?

robertsona
Staff Reviewer
October 13th 2009


28180 Comments


this band sounds cool i want this album i will get it

joshuatree
Emeritus
October 13th 2009


3744 Comments


album rules

Kiran
Emeritus
October 13th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

if you dont like this album, you have no soul

Athom
Emeritus
October 13th 2009


17244 Comments


About fucking time you reviewed this.

Kiran
Emeritus
October 13th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

i've been wanting to for so long and while listening to it today i felt inspired

SeaAnemone
October 13th 2009


21429 Comments


I THOUGHT HIS NAME WAS CHIPS AHOY!!!

Tits McGee
October 13th 2009


1874 Comments


Chips Ahoy! rules, havent heard much else but I will probably look into this

Kiran
Emeritus
October 13th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

i am shocked and appalled that mx gave this a 2.5!

shade
October 13th 2009


1198 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

Great review, but I fucking hate this band.

Kiran
Emeritus
October 13th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

gahhhhh why?!

Fort23
October 13th 2009


3775 Comments


yo this album is like a really good ice cream cone only sex.

shade
October 13th 2009


1198 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

Let me rephrase that. "fucking hate" is much too strong. I really don't like this band. The singer pisses me off.

Kiran
Emeritus
October 14th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

ah right, yeah, that's probably the most common complaint about them, fair enough

Minus The Flair
Emeritus
October 14th 2009


870 Comments


Love this album. Love this review. Love Kirgasm.

Kiran
Emeritus
October 14th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

:') i'm seeing japandroids in 2 weeks with a place to bury strangers. thought you should know.

Zip
October 14th 2009


5312 Comments


Probably gonna get this

Kiran
Emeritus
October 14th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

btw, anyone who enjoys this should definitely get the follow up, stay positive

Minus The Flair
Emeritus
October 14th 2009


870 Comments


shit dude, i'm jealous. i'd imagine that they're insane live, let me know how it goes. and i've actually never checked out stay positive, will do so today.

Kiran
Emeritus
October 14th 2009


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

reminds me that i need to rewrite my stay positive review :S.



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