A.K.A the E Street Band play Punk Rock…no, really, if you’ve never heard The Hold Steady generally or this album in particular then just imagine the E Street Band playing Punk Rock. Track one, side one “Constructive Summer” starts out with a powerhouse, thrashing Punk rock guitar leading us in. That theme is then taken up by the piano and if you didn’t know better you’d swear it was “Professor” Roy Bittan playing it (it’s not, it’s the Hold Steady’s Franz Nicolay). Then as the drummer counts it off and the rest of the band crash in singer Craig Finn hits us with

“Me and my friends are like, The drums on “Lust for Life”…”

Now I say singer but Craig Finn talks through these songs as much as he sings, on this one he sings/talks you through an idea of how we should all hang out with our friends more and do our thing in a spirit of positivity. How our younger years should have shown us that perhaps the things we were told back then were best for others and not us, before hitting us with one of my favourite lyrical couplets in a song that I’ve heard in a long, long time

“Raise a toast to saint Joe Strummer, I think he might've been our only decent teacher

Getting older makes it harder to remember, We are our only saviours”

The Hold Steady are originally from Minneapolis but are now based in Brooklyn, New York. They have released 9 albums of which “Stay Positive” is the fourth. I like all of them but “Stay Positive” is my favourite.

“Constructive Summer” disappears on a fading power chord and then “Sequestered In Memphis” comes steaming in with  another Bittan-esque piano blast and if at the end of the intro Bruce Springsteen started singing you wouldn’t be at all surprised. It tells a story of boy meets girl, they head off to get it on, next thing you know boy is getting questioned by the police seemingly about the girls murder. Now I’ve known this record for a good while and it was only while looking up the lyrics to this song that I discover that although singer Craig Finn has said this album is about ageing gracefully while staying true to your youthful philosophies there is also, some fans say, a subplot concerning a murder in a smalltown of which this is the first song. I can tell you no more and further investigation shall be entered into.***

Another standout on this record is “Lord I’m Discouraged” and the reason this one does it for me is (and here’s a statement that rarely escapes my lips) it has a fantastic guitar solo ! I pretty much 100% hate guitar solo’s, there are a very few that I can be bothered with so let’s call it 99.99999 (recurring) % of guitar solo’s that I hate. If forced to name it my favourite guitar solo is on the Sex Pistols “Did You Know Wrong”. My brother knew this well as, when he went to see the Pistols in Finsbury Park, just as Steve Jones was sliding into said solo Miles phoned me back in Brum so I could hear it live. I like Neil Young’s solo on “Cinnamon Girl”, it’s one note, what’s not to like. There are a handful of others, none of which spring to mind right now. I’ve very, very rarely heard a guitar solo that adds anything to the song other than allowing a guitarist an opportunity to thrust his nether regions at the audience. But the guitar solo in “Lord I’m Discouraged” works, firstly because it does add something to the song and partly because there’s a bit of it that sounds like a part of the keyboards on Manfred Mann’s Earth Bands version of Springsteen’s “Blinded By The Light”…giving this record another spurious Springsteen connection. The song itself is quite depressing and about a girl with a serious substance problem, but don’t let that put you off.

There’s nothing on this record that I don’t like (other than the copy I have plays at 45rpm which is a real pain on my downstairs record deck on which I need to move the drive belt to play 45’s). Punk Rock meets the Boss in a back alley somewhere twixt Jersey and Minneapolis (Youngstown OH seems appropriate) with a previously unknown murder mystery thrown in (maybe)…in the spirit in which I started this Albums Thing project and as the lyrics go ”We gotta stay positive”…

Constructive Summer - https://youtu.be/pnSAn6HIfzk

*** “Sequestered In Memphis”, “One For The Cutters”, maybe “Both Crosses” and “Joke About Jamaica” refer to deaths and murders, some similar in nature, but to call it a concept album about a murder is stretching things a little.

“Everybody move to prove the groove…”

And that’s how one of the greatest synth pop albums of the 1980’s begins…with an invocation to hit the dance floor and kick the fascists off of it.

Heaven 17 were formed after the Human League ruptured following the release of their 2nd album “Travelogue”. The “musicians” (well, the guys who operated the synthesisers) in the League, Martin Ware and Ian Craig Marsh added singer Glenn Gregory and set about creating a more sophisticated version of their old group and, on this album at least, scored a bullseye.

It’s split into two sides musically, side 1 is the Pavement side, a concoction of funky bass and synths creating a kind of uptown funky dancefloor mish-mash. Side 2 is the Penthouse side, synth-pop but, as already noted, in a more sophisticated style than their former group.

“(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” was discovered by me out on the (dance)floor at Romeo & Juliet’s in Birmingham, a tiny little club room in a bigger “disco” where the Bowie/Roxy, post-punkers, proto goths and freaks found a home in the early 80’s. It was a real “what the hell is that” moment. A huge groove and whoever it was, was singing about beating fascists

“Have you heard it on the news? About this fascist groove thang?

Evil men with racist views, Spreading all across the land”

Still, sadly, lyrically appropriate. It took a while to track it down but I eventually found a white label promo at a record fair, it cost me £4.50 which was a LOT in 1981. It was marked up as being by B.E.F/Heaven 17 which added to why it was so hard to find. Man I wish I still had that white label.

I was walking around Wickes near where I live a few years ago when “…Fascist Groove Thang” started playing on the instore PA. I quickly realised a member of staff was playing the whole album and spent a very enjoyable 40 minutes wandering through the power tools and bathroom displays singing along to “Geisha Boys And Temple Girls”, “The Height Of The Fighting” and “We’re Going To Live For a Very Long Time” which, if you have a manual turntable, has a closed groove at the end so the song never ends. 

(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang - https://youtu.be/lV5dbcOmw6I

My most recent purchase, just a couple of weeks ago. Another re-issue on coloured vinyl (cream this time, a bit boring but more interesting than black). “Stumble Into Grace” was originally released in 2003 and while digging out info about the others I owned I noticed a lot of good things said about it, so here we go. 

I’ve not had long to live with this one, so this may not be as detailed as other pieces. We’re still in that musical world created with Daniel Lanois (who appears as a musician this time) on “Wrecking Ball” so if you know that and “Red Dirt Girl” you can place the overall sound here, although there is a move toward a more conventional sound, overall it’s not as “left field” as the previous 2 records.

“Here I Am” starts us off with a gentle groove. We’re still in Lanois soundland but a few more traditonal sounds are creeping in. “I Will Dream” is more akin to what we’ve come to expect since “Wrecking Ball”. “Time In Babylon” is a slinky, Bluesy thing but the first song that really stands out is “Can You Hear Me Now’ at the end of side 1. It was written with Producer Malcolm Burn and has a vague familiarity about it, like something you’ve heard before but can’t quite place.

On Side 2 we start out with “Strong Hand (For June)” a song written for and about June Carter Cash who passed away while this album was being recorded. “O Evangeline” harks back to a previous album title and has that “Southern Gothic” feel about it. It’s a beautiful stripped back song featuring just Emmylou, Malcolm Burn and the McGarrigle sisters. That segues into a reading of the 18th century French song “Plaisir d'Amour” with just Emmylou and the McGarrigle’s sounding almost like they’re harmonising for fun at an open mic night !

I wouldn’t call “Stumble Into Grace” a must hear classic but it has it’s moments, it’s growing on me the more I live with it. Emmylou sings beautifully throughout and it’s all about her voice for me. After this it was another 5 years before her next solo album. Emmylou filled that time with collaborations with others, most notably Mark Knopfler (and I ain’t going anywhere near that !). 

Thanx for sticking with me as I guided you through what has become 11 albums by Emmylou Harris, I know not everyone finds it within them to take Country music seriously, but if I’ve helped change someone’s perception of Country or made one of you think “hmmm, I’ll give that a try” then I’d be very happy. I think I have all I need by Emmylou now, we’ll meet her again when we get to my Gram Parsons records but for now it’s time to move on.

O Evangeline - https://youtu.be/ISQqrrnvv2o