hypersongs

Boys and Girls in America

Their third album, and the first of two they made with John Agnello.
The Hold Steady, 2006

John Agnello produced, engineered and mixed it at Water Music Recorders in Hoboken and Atomic Studios in Brooklyn. Guests included Dana Kletter, and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum sang with Elizabeth Elmore on "Chillout Tent". The first single, "Chips Ahoy!", was a free download from Pitchfork on August 18, 2006. The album reached 124 in the US and 84 in the UK and had sold 94,000 copies by April 2010. Metacritic scores it 85; Pitchfork gave it 9.4 and ranked it fifth among the albums of 2006, and the Guardian and the Irish Times gave 5 stars. Magnet and The A.V. Club named it best album of 2006. Stereogum's tenth-anniversary piece credited it with bringing shameless feeling back into underground rock, and Diffuser noted the opener's piano break recalls E Street pianist Roy Bittan.

Track listing

  1. Stuck Between Stations4:10
  2. Chips Ahoy!3:09
  3. Hot Soft Light3:53
  4. Same Kooks2:47
  5. First Night4:54
  6. Party Pit3:56
  7. You Can Make Him Like You2:48
  8. Massive Nights2:54
  9. Citrus2:44
  10. Chillout Tent3:42
  11. Southtown Girls5:10

More from The Hold Steady

Almost Killed Me (2004), Separation Sunday (2005), Stay Positive (2008), A Positive Rage (2009), Heaven Is Whenever (2010), Teeth Dreams (2014), Thrashing Thru The Passion (2019), Open Door Policy (2021), The Price Of Progress (2023)

Sources

  1. Boys and Girls in America, Wikipedia
  2. Boys and Girls in America turns 10, Stereogum (2016-10)
  3. Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America, 10 years ago, Diffuser