Craig Finn (of the Hold Steady)

This has grown on me tremendously, finding I'd rather listen to it over most Hold Steady and definitely post-Stay Positive Hold Steady. The Americana base tames his worst tendencies toward bad arena rock.

Never really took to 'Clear Heart Full Eyes' and haven't listened to it much since it came out, but got 'Faith in the Future' and am really enjoying it - I think "Newmyers Roof" is my favourite thing he's done in years.

Really good album, this. Possibly the best thing he's done since Separation Sunday.

seamless ad with this dude at subway stations, rip lifter puller

gotta hear this i guess

Love the first two Hold Steady records and like most of Boys & Girls. The rest of them have barely registered with me. This is a great little album, though!

I think "Newmyers Roof" is my favourite thing he's done in years.

Agreed

He's got his talky old-school Springsteen delivery down and the musical backing is better than he's had lately

It's a lot easier on the ears production/mixing/mastering wise than most of the Hold Steady records.

played Seth Meyer tonight - he seems really locked into certain mannerisms (talky Springsteeny, but it also sounds like he's writing short stories instead of songs to some extent) now and the song (Newmyers Roof) didn't, I don't know, take off (on album or live). This sounded a lot more like the last couple of Hold Steady albums lyrically where the first solo album felt more like the early HS.

please someone make him stop flapping his hands when he performs

never

thats his thing man

if he didn't then he'd die

he's not goin "I think I'll flap my hands," it's just what he naturally does so don't hate

<3

New record 'We All Want The Same Things' out today.

Only one listen so far, but I think I like it as much as the last one already. Lots of horns and synths!

Saw him last night and the horns and textures sound so good. Listened to the album once in one sitting, and it was like reading some extraordinary short stories — one listen might be all it needs. Coming from the Twin Cities, so many songs have details that I know but have never heard captured before: “Found her serving breakfast in a cafe in a skyway in St. Paul.”

Damn, I've always been kind of lukewarm on his solo stuff, but this new one is incredible. Some of his best songwriting and storytelling yet and getting Cassandra Jenkins onboard as a foil was a great move.

If you can't stand his speak-singing thing, this isn't going to convince you, but I think this is easily the best thing he's done since at least Stay Positive.

Not heard any of this one yet but I’ve really enjoyed most of his solo records, the first one is the only one I’m not bothered about. “God in Chicago” is one of the best things he’s done.

pic.twitter.com/dp0Gh3HPBa

— Craig Finn (@steadycraig) October 11, 2022

I know there is talk about the touring difficulties in other threads, like AnCo and Santigold, but this is another challenge I've seen come up - when there is a cancellation, lots of artists can't reschedule because every artist on earth is touring at the moment.

Looks so dismal out there and I don't think this is sustainable much longer.

it's true across the board. having just dealt with sending a kid to college, I know that a lot of gap year kids who had taken the year off because of COVID threw off the numbers and made things that much more competitive. only so many days and nights of the year, only so many spaces, only so many seats, and so on.

welp

Announcement regarding our October Craig Finn and the Uptown Controllers shows pic.twitter.com/n2bKWKfFAE

— Craig Finn (@steadycraig) October 12, 2022

but but I was told covid was over.

Not to derail from Finn to tour cancellations, but am thinking of all the reverberations from just one tour cancelled: the club losing a night's revenue, the hotel setting rates based on availability, the restaurant adjoining or next to the club depending on a crowd, and of course the morale of the band and everyone adjacent to it.

Anyway. Still loving Finn's songwriting -- pretty much every song has some detail from life that I've never heard in a song before. And as someone who grew up in the Twin Cities in the 80s, even moreso.

Yeah, it's just one more sign of how dismal things are right now. I feel like there's going to be some sort of breaking point soon.

Agreed re Finn, his new solo album is terrific.

Harry Styles canceled/postponed one of his many shows here last Thursday I think. Think how much that screwed things up for people who traveled in, plane tickets, hotels, camping out, all that stuff.

Harry Styles canceled/postponed one of his many shows here last Thursday I think. Think how much that screwed things up for people who traveled in, plane tickets, hotels, camping out, all that stuff.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, October 12, 2022 11:49 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Love this Finn lyric

is craig finn the least likely yet perhaps greatest classic rock frontman of all time y/n

i don't even care about charlemagne or ybor city

perhaps

it's a y/n question curmie

but now i demand reasons for a N answer

I was leaning Y

ty

sorry/not sorry about calling you curmie

I don’t know about unlikely he kind of looks exactly like what a young(ish) classic rock frontman would look like in 2024. He wears the rumpled button down shirt of a man with strong opinions about the best Bruce bootlegs.

idk he’s kind of round, wears glasses, absolutely cannot hit any of the high notes earlier classic rock singers attempted

he’s not even elvis costello, but yet