The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy! (Hassle / Vagrant)
3/5
By: Dan Monsell
If you're a browser upon this fair webzine (or any, really - it's what we're all here for), the chances are that you're someone who likes to keep track of new musical happenings. You perhaps read your fair share of musical magazines. Maybe even just leaf through a few whist waiting for a train or whilst your friend buys cigarettes. Maybe your interest is more of an obsession, and you greedily consume everything that comes your way, fueling your passion. If I'm right (and I do so hope that I am) then there's a good chance you've heard of The Hold Steady.
Critics don't exactly seem restrained when they discuss the band. "Phenomenal", says the NME. "Gigs like like this make you want to phone up your friends and tell them how fantastic the Hold Steady are", blub The Observer. It is indeed these live performances that have earned the band such glowing acclaim. It seems that their regular Joe display of Americana tinged rootsy rock and roll is some of the most earnest and real fealing party-rock and roll that some people have ever experienced.
This single, 'Chips Ahoy', is a fine example of why people are falling over each other in a mountain of superlatives. The earnest nature of the sound is perhaps the first thing that grabs the listener, so much so that at first this could well be any American chancer having his way with a guitar and his buddies in some bar downtown. This is unfortunately the bands downfall to some extent. The sound is so earnest and real that unless you're prepared to delve deep inside of the song, it's very hard to see it as anything special at all. But, as the track goes on, you can see the Springsteen-like story-telling quality of an average shmo's drunken life, encapsulated in the sound of the band. There's talent in the ranks too. The middle eight's got an absolutely fantastic organ solo that seems to come from nowhere. By the final chorus, we're hooked and checking plane prices so we can get over to some American nowhere bar, so that we too can party with the Hold Steady.
Watch the video to 'Chips Ahoy!' HERE.
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