I just got a chance to hear Seperation Sunday last night for the first time and the more I listen, the better it gets. The vocals and a bit odd and nasally, so I can see that some folks may not like it, but there's tons of high energy rock with some great guitar riffs. The lyrics really strike a chord with me, kinda one of those records where you see friends pass along the way while you're listening. I see they have an earlier one that I missed out on. Anybody hear it and have any comparisons to the new one? Anyone else really liking this? Sorry if I missed others' posts on this. I don't always pay the best attention.

Solid.

NP right now, actually. Like the music better on this one than Almost Killed Me. Are the vox an acquired taste? His voice is the only thing blocking me from a Top 5 contender and top 10 lock.

The vocals don't bother me, but I can see how some people would get bugged by 'em. I was fine with 'em right off the top, but I doubt some people would ever warm up to 'em. Heck, I know tons of people that never have warmed to Dylan's nasal voice, so I'm sure plenty won't dig this guy.

Have only listened to a couple of soundbites from iTunes, but I have liked what I have heard thus far. Looking forward to more.

I just started to hear about this band.
I have no idea what they sound like.
Any comparisons?

i got it to find out about the hype. listened to it and was "wtf is this?" and deleted it.

ummm, it's kinda a hard sound to describe. loud classic-ish guitars, lots of quirky song structures, a guy not singing, but shouting great lyrics...
i always think R.I.Y.L. Springsteen but that's waay off. So in conclusion don't listen to me.

I'm going to see them tomorrow night though so i'll let you know how it goes.

klosterman recently said of almost killed me, "you will like this album if you used to like ac/dc but now you just read a lot." that sounds about right for the new album too. i saw them in march and they were pretty great. their shows are definitely topps.

I don't know if it was on here or Hipinion that someone posted "I'm going to kill the next person I hear say 'hoodrat'."

I don't know if I'm into this one as much as the first one. I usually just skip over their songs when they come up on my Iriver.

They sound nothing alike, but I get a Guided by Voices vibe from them because of the booze connection.

hoodrat's been around forever

yeah but i don't see the need to bring it up on just about every song.

I like one song on a Lifter Puller mix, and could never really get into Hold Steady cos of the guy's voice. Haven't bothered to track this one down.

did the same.

I didn’t really get into them at all until one day i was eating lunch in a somewhat ritzy brewpub with headphones on and “Knuckles” came on and shit just clicked for me, and i've been really, really into the first album since, and i like the second one better. I can totally see why people wouldn’t get into it, but alls i need is some great guitar and lyrics and i'm sold.

i think the springsteen comparison comes soleely from the fact that both have some of the most distinguishable chatacters i can think of in music.

I am a really big fan of "...Almost Killed Me," and so far this album just doesn't quite hold up as well. But I like it a lot and it may grow on me.

I think the Springsteen connection is appropriate. To me the Hold Steady is kind of like a punk rock E Street Band. The AMG reviewer mentions Springsteen, too. In fact, I like the AMG review of it quite a bit:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:18ue4j277wav

love them both, think that SS is better than Almost Killed me.

Marah meets Drive-By Truckers


Why does he say hoodrat like 55 times through the whole album? I was drunk when I first listened to it, so I dont know if thats a theme or not.


Really good stuff though.

Way better than The National.

why does it bother everyone that he says "Hoodrat" 200 times on this album but not that he says "Ybor City" 500 times on the last one?

Ybor City is funnier.

YOUR BEING WILL BE DESTROYED

not if you've been there.