A Positive Rage

Last updated
A Positive Rage
The Hold Steady - A Positive Rage cover.jpg
Live album by
ReleasedApril 7, 2009
Recorded2006-2007
Genre Rock
Label Vagrant
The Hold Steady chronology
Stay Positive
(2008)
A Positive Rage
(2009)
Heaven Is Whenever
(2010)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Gigwise.com Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link
The Skinny Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg link
Drowned in Sound Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg link
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg link
IGN 7.9/10 link
Pitchfork Media Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link

A Positive Rage is a live album and documentary double-disc set by the Brooklyn-based rock band The Hold Steady, released on April 7, 2009 by Vagrant Records. The documentary DVD features backstage interviews, fan commentary and live footage, while the CD features a live set performed on Halloween 2007 at the Metro Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, made up of songs from the band's albums Almost Killed Me (2004), Separation Sunday (2005), Boys and Girls in America (2006), and the then-forthcoming Stay Positive (2008), as well as three tracks previously only released as bonus tracks on these albums. The enhanced CD also includes a link to download five bonus tracks. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Prior to its release, keyboardist and backing vocalist Franz Nicolay noted, "It was an exciting time. The live record is taken from the very end of two years of touring behind Boys and Girls in America, and I'm glad we recorded then, because it's the real peak of the band as a performing unit." [5]

CD track listing

  1. "Intro" – 0:23
  2. "Stuck Between Stations" – 4:00
  3. "The Swish" – 4:09
  4. "Chips Ahoy" – 3:21
  5. "Massive Nights" – 2:55
  6. "Ask Her for Adderall" – 2:58
  7. "Barfruit Blues" – 3:37
  8. "Same Kooks" – 3:02
  9. "You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came With)" – 2:26
  10. "Lord, I'm Discouraged" – 5:30
  11. "You Can Make Him Like You" – 3:09
  12. "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" – 5:26
  13. "Southtown Girls" – 5:53
  14. "Citrus" – 2:57
  15. "First Night" – 5:25
  16. "Girls Like Status" – 4:12
  17. "Killer Parties" – 10:41

Bonus downloadable tracks

The enhanced CD includes a link to download five bonus tracks, the first three of which were available, as a single twelve-minute track, on the limited edition version of Stay Positive .

  1. "Ask Her for Adderall" – 2:47
  2. "Cheyenne Sunrise" – 4:15
  3. "Two Handed Handshake" – 4:15
  4. "40 Bucks" – 3:58
  5. "Spectres" – 3:47

Personnel

Related Research Articles

Brian Viglione American musician (born 1979)

Brian Viglione is an American drummer best known for his work with The Dresden Dolls and Violent Femmes. He was also a prominent member of New York City's cabaret punk orchestra, The World/Inferno Friendship Society.

The Hold Steady is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2003. The band consists of Craig Finn, Tad Kubler (guitar), Galen Polivka (bass), Bobby Drake (drums), Franz Nicolay (keyboards) and Steve Selvidge (guitar). Noted for their "lyrically dense storytelling," and classic rock influences, the band's narrative-based songs frequently address themes such as drug addiction, religion and redemption, and often feature recurring characters based within the city of Minneapolis.

No-Man English art pop duo

No-Man are an English art pop duo, formed in 1987 as No Man Is an Island by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. The band has so far produced seven studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes collections. The band was once lauded as "conceivably the most important English group since The Smiths" by Melody Maker music newspaper, and a 2017 article of Drowned in Sound described them as "probably the most underrated band of the last 25 years".

<i>Separation Sunday</i> 2005 studio album by The Hold Steady

Separation Sunday is the second studio album by the American indie rock band The Hold Steady, released on May 3, 2005 through Frenchkiss Records. A concept album, Separation Sunday follows the interconnected stories of several fictional characters: Craig, Holly, a sometimes addict, sometimes prostitute, sometimes born again Christian/Catholic ; Charlemagne, a pimp; and Gideon, a skinhead, as they travel from city to city and party to party.

Franz Nicolay American musician and writer (born 1977)

Franz Nicolay is an American musician and writer. He is best known for playing the accordion and piano in The World/Inferno Friendship Society and keyboards in The Hold Steady from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2016 onwards. He is also notable for founding Anti-Social Music, a composer/performer collective based in New York City, and for performing in the Balkan jazz quartet Guignol.

<i>A Matter of Life and Death</i> (album) 2006 studio album by Iron Maiden

A Matter of Life and Death is the fourteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 25 August 2006 in Italy and Finland, and 28 August worldwide, excluding the US, Canada and Japan on 5 September. It is the first album in Iron Maiden's career to enter the US Billboard charts in the top 10, achieving significant chart success in many other countries as well.

<i>Boys and Girls in America</i> 2006 studio album by The Hold Steady

Boys and Girls in America is the third studio album by The Hold Steady, released on October 3, 2006 by Vagrant Records.

<i>Legacy: The Best of Mansun</i> 2006 greatest hits album by Mansun

Legacy: The Best Of Mansun is the first official 'best of' collection from Mansun. It collects all the bands Parlophone lead-EP tracks and selected album tracks which were compiled by Paul Draper and Dominic Chad. It was released as a standard CD, special edition CD and DVD set featuring all the bands promo videos and digital download. In Japan the compilation included two bonus tracks.

<i>Mercury</i> (American Music Club album) 1993 studio album by American Music Club

Mercury is the sixth studio album by American indie rock band American Music Club. It was released in March 1993 on Reprise Records as their major-label debut. Virgin Records released the album in the United Kingdom.

<i>Live at the Fillmore East</i> (Neil Young album) 2006 live album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Live at the Fillmore East is a live album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse featuring guitarist Danny Whitten, released in 2006. It also has the distinction of being the first album released as part of the Neil Young Archives series of archival recordings.

<i>Mr Love & Justice</i> 2008 studio album by Billy Bragg

Mr Love & Justice is the twelfth studio album by folk-rock musician Billy Bragg, and the second to be recorded with his backing band The Blokes. The title is taken from the 1960 novel by Colin MacInnes.

<i>Live in Gdańsk</i> 2008 live album by David Gilmour

Live in Gdańsk is a live album by David Gilmour. It is a part of his On an Island project which includes an album, tour, DVD, and live album. It was released on 22 September 2008. A David Gilmour Signature Series Fender Stratocaster was released at the same time.

<i>Stay Positive</i> (album) 2008 studio album by The Hold Steady

Stay Positive is the fourth studio album by The Hold Steady, released on July 15, 2008 through Vagrant Records. Vocalist/guitarist Craig Finn notes that the album is about "the idea of ageing gracefully [...] keeping going, perseverance [and] how to stay true to the ideals and ideas you had when you were younger." Keyboard player Franz Nicolay notes that the album is his favorite, stating that it features an "integrated, nuanced, less hectic distillation of [their earlier] sound." Stay Positive was the last studio album to feature Nicolay until 2019's Thrashing Thru the Passion, who departed from the band in early 2010 but returned in 2016.

<i>White Noise</i> (The Living End album) 2008 studio album by The Living End

White Noise is the fifth studio album by Australian punk rock band The Living End, first released in Australia on 19 July 2008. It was the band's first album released on the record label Dew Process. A limited edition bonus DVD, recorded at ACDC Lane in Melbourne, was also released, featuring six live songs, four of which were songs from White Noise.

<i>Comatose Comes Alive</i> 2008 live album by Skillet

Comatose Comes Alive is a live album and second live DVD by the Christian rock band Skillet, which peaked at No. 164 on the Billboard 200. It is the band's first combination CD/DVD of live recording, as their first official live album was 2000's Ardent Worship, a worship album recorded live. The band's first live DVD was the Alien Youth DVD, which featured an acoustic performance. Comatose Comes Alive was recorded at the Tivoli Theatre on May 9, 2008, in Chattanooga, Tennessee and was released on October 21, 2008. The album is a CD of the concert's audio and a DVD capturing the live show. However, John Cooper's speech after "Savior" is cut from the CD. This is also the first release to feature Jen Ledger on drums.

<i>Insurgentes</i> (album) 2008 studio album by Steven Wilson

Insurgentes is the debut full-length solo album released by British musician and record producer Steven Wilson, known for being the founder and frontman of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. The album was recorded all over the world in studios from Mexico City to Japan and Israel, between January and August 2008, and released in November 2008 as a special deluxe multi disc mail order version, with retail release to follow in February 2009. According to Wilson himself, the album contained "the most experimental song-based music [he had] made." The album is named after the Avenida de los Insurgentes, the longest avenue in Mexico City near which part of it was recorded.

<i>Dead by April</i> (album) 2009 studio album by Dead by April

Dead by April is the self-titled debut album from Swedish metal band Dead by April, released on May 13, 2009. It is the only album to feature former guitarist Johan Olsson.

<i>Pop, Songs & Death</i> duo of EPs by Wheatus

Pop, Songs & Death is a duo of EPs released by American rock band Wheatus. The first EP, entitled The Lightning EP, was released in June 2009. The second EP, entitled The Jupiter EP, was released in December 2010. The EPs were released as an album, Pop, Songs & Death, in November 2012.

<i>Special Moves</i> 2010 live album by Mogwai

Special Moves is a live album by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai, released on 23 August 2010 through Rock Action Records. Some of the formats in which the album was sold included a live performance documentary entitled Burning, recorded at the same live shows.

<i>Green</i> (R.E.M. album) Album by rock band R.E.M. (1988)

Green is the sixth studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released on November 7, 1988 by Warner Bros. Records. Produced by the band and Scott Litt, it continued to explore political issues both in its lyrics and packaging. The band experimented on the album, writing major-key rock songs and incorporating new instruments into their sound including the mandolin, as well as switching their original instruments on other songs.

References

  1. Starr, Mango (February 3, 2009). "The Hold Steady to Release DVD Documentary + Live Album in April". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
  2. Kreps, Daniel (February 3, 2009). "The Hold Steady Ready Live Album, Documentary A Positive Rage". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
  3. Breihan, Tom (February 3, 2009). "The Hold Steady Release Documentary / Live Album". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
  4. "The Hold Steady for live DVD and documentary release". NME. February 3, 2009. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
  5. Lindsay, Andrew (24 February 2017). "Interview: Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady)". The Reprise. Retrieved 24 February 2017.