The Salt-Box

The Hold Steady’s new album, Stay Positive, is available today on iTunes, a month ahead of its announced release date.  (Presumably this is a consequence of the album’s being leaked on the internet.)

Anyone who reads this blog would do well to listen to The Hold Steady.  I’ve been sitting on a proper review for a few weeks, waiting for the album to formally come out, but it is awesome. (Um, that’s not the formal review–I’m dashing off to teach!)
You can hear the album on their MySpace page. The opening song, “Constructive Summer,” is their most accessible yet, and only gets better the louder you play it.

Let this be my annual reminder that we could all be something bigger

I went to your schools & did my detention

but the walls were so gray I couldn’t pay attention

I read your gospel, it moved me to tears

but I couldn’t find the hate and I couldn’t find the fear

I met your savior, I knelt at his feet

and he took my ten bucks and he walked down the street

I tried to believe all the things that you said

but my friends that aren’t dying are already dead

RAISE A TOAST TO ST JOE STRUMMER

I think he might have been our only decent teacher

Getting older makes it harder to remember

We are our only saviors.

We’re going to build something this summer.

Nothing else you could possibly do this afternoon would make you as happy as downloading this album.