On paper, The Hold Steady's classic rawk bar band bluster reeks of an outdated abomination that should have all right-thinking folk spewing up their cocktails in disgust. Yet the NY five-piece has had everyone from corporate rock rags to indie hipster handbooks exhausting their hyperbole reserves in drooling adoration. The second single from the band's breakthrough platter 'Boys and Girls In America' shows why. Sure, it sprouts riffs like Thin Lizzy, the tinkling piano's straight outta E Street Band opus, the backing vocals tip hat to Springsteen's overwrought stadium bombast and the whole thing struts like it's moments away from jumping off a drum riser at an arena somewhere circa 1987. But it does the most thrilling job since, well, 'Appetite for Destruction' in convincing there's no shame in subscribing to the redemptive powers of pure, undiluted rocking out. Frontman Craig Finn's characteristically accomplished lyrics reference Jack Keroauc and US poet John Berryman, displaying they're comfortable tackling tomes more heavyweight than the drinks list at the local boozer. 'Stuck Between Stations'? With this much momentum, the Hold Steady could glide over hectares of quicksand without getting their feet wet.
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