The Price Of Progress

About

Released in 2023, <i>The Price of Progress</i> is The Hold Steady’s ninth studio album—an accomplishment in and of itself. But it’s also a powerful new entry in what might be considered the band’s third-act trilogy, after such return-to-form releases as <i>Thrashing Thru the Passion</i> and <i>Open Door Policy</i>. On <i>The Price of Progress</i>, the band’s comfort with one another is clear. But it never slips into complacency, with sky-scraping guitar work from Steve Selvidge and Tad Kubler; heart-thumping rhythms from drummer Bobby Drake and bassist Galen Polivka; soul-soaring keys from Franz Nicolay; and the literary, boozy storytelling lyrics of Craig Finn holding it all together. Here are songs as stories—as we’ve come to expect them to be—but with a focus on the back-half of life. Can rock ’n’ roll dreams survive in a halfway house? What happens when skaters grow up to have desk jobs? .

via Apple Music

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