its a big overrated pile of poo

if that doesn't work go and see them live. Their excitement is infectious.

But in my opinion it's the best album Bruce never made yet.

I love it, from the opening line onwards.

but why hold that against it?

It's a lovely album.

Even though some of the lyrics are a bit sickly. The rest, meh.

Seen them live too, marvelous. :D

this might be one of my favourite albums of all time. I've never heard anything quite as exuberant, exciting, poignant or downright poetic. It's incredible from start to finish.

In short, you're so, so wrong.

and i adore the hold steady. i think that, yes, they are heavily influenced by him - especially circa 'the wild, the innocent and the e street shuffle' - but i don't see it as a rip-off, at all. in comparison with other current bands/artists who are so clearly ripping off other bands/artists better than themselves, you can definitely see it's nothing but lovingly influenced. the hold steady are far too clever in their own right to rip off someone like springsteen. but you say you're not even a fan of springsteen, so...

i think 'boys & girls in america' is a fantastic album and my favourite of the previous year. in fact, it's already ending up one of my all time favourites.

about 30 seconds of any hold steady songs.

unhelpful contribution? probably,hmmm.

Was one of my favourite albums of 2006. Especially love Chips Ahoy and Chillout Tent.

Hope the new one is as good as the previous three.

But I've never had as big a change of heart towards a record as I did with Boys and Girls...

I bought it as an import way before it got put out properly over here because it was getting way hyped. I thought it was cheesy, sickly, pompous, overplayed bullshit and promised myself never to listen to it again. Then when it got released properly over here I went back on my promise and put it on one last time whilst drunk, just to check it was still terrible. I'm sure you can see where this hyperbole is going to end.

Get drunk and go and see them play. It's not life changing but you'll doubtless have an incredible time.

even though their albums aren't as good as some people make them out to be.

just without being tiresome, cerebral or particularly cool to like.

with a modicum of pastiche i can't imagine there would be many left...the fact is the hold steady have released three masterpiece albums in a row and that is to be commended...i can understand if some people find the style of writing annoying with the same characters appearing between songs, or even across albums, but i love it

you are incredibly wrong, and its a brilliant album, and The Hold Steady are an amazing band. Even though yes they do sound a bit like Bruce Springsteen. But they also sound BETTER than Bruce Springsteen, because Bruce Springsteen is a Rock Star with big fat capital letters, and Craig Finn is really just a drunken and slightly too old guy who probably shouldn't be so interested in under-age drinking. Also, they have better songs.