Archive for Friday, May 15, 2009
CD Review of "A Positive Rage (Live)," by the Hold Steady
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Steamboat Springs — There is little, if any, noticeable difference between a live Hold Steady CD and one that's been recorded and mastered in a studio.
The Hold Steady has made a handful of albums in the past few years that are appealing for just that reason: It's low-fi and lowbrow, and that's the way the band's bar-going fans like it.
"A Positive Rage," released in April as a CD and DVD, is a sort of make-do best-of collection recorded in Chicago on Oct. 31, 2007. Much of the assumed crowd noise has been edited out of the sound recording, making it more of a Hold Steady mix tape than a live album.
The only element that couldn't be re-created by spending about 10 minutes with iTunes is the 10-minute final track, "Killer Parties," which includes about three minutes of stunted babbling by lead singer Craig Finn, who eventually concludes that "there is so much joy in what we do up here."
That joy, unfortunately, does not come through on this CD.
Rating: ''
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