If you'd asked me three years ago, I would have said that I would never enjoy the Grateful Dead or Steely Dan.
Now I find I'm actually getting into both of them. I wonder if anyone else has noticed how much the Hold Steady owe to Steely Dan ("Kid Charlemagne" vs. "Charlemagne in Sweatpants", anyone?). As for the Dead, I'm not exactly listening to their concerts or jams, but some of their bluesier numbers like "Ship of Fools" or some of their Dylan numbers have a nice country-rock The Band vibe to them.
5 comments:
so what's the deal with "So It Goes" and "Reelin' in the Years"?
I don't know either of them that well. I just discovered I actually liked some of their songs. Specifically, songs off of From Mars Hotel and, out of Steely Dan, stuff from Aja and Katy Lied.
You see, growing up with my parents, enjoying both wasn't an question. I can sing/hum along to a surprisingly large number of Dead/Dan songs even now.
i cannot get past the guy from the hold steady's voice, nor their generic bar-band sound, despite how good their lyrics are. A far better version of a similar vibe (for me, anyway) is The National, particularly BOXER.
Zev: that makes sense, but I would never have pegged you as a Dead fan (or even familiar with the Dead) without that background. Now I'm imagining Patti Lupone re-recording "Box of Rain" just to annoy you.
Isaac: I understand Craig Finn's voice is an acquired taste. Sometimes he's like Mark E. Smith fronting the E Street Band, which I think is cool. But I sometimes find the National a little too restrained. However, I did give Okkervil River a try because of your recommendation a couple of months ago, and have pretty much been listening to their last two albums non-stop. They certainly push themselves stylistically more than the Hold Steady do.
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