Music reviews: The Hold Steady, Mogwai, June Jones and more
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February 19, 2021 â 4.00pm
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Credit:Adam Parshall.
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Imagine if punk-poet John Cooper Clarke had been born in New Jersey instead of Manchester, and grew up to front the E Street Band. Imagine no more. The eighth album from the Hold Steady fits that bizarre brief. They sound like a classic rock band, with frontman Craig Finn not really singing so much as ranting some of the best street poetry this side of Tom Waits. âThere was an early morning meet-up at the mansion on the mountain, the master still had glitter on his face,â Finn spits on the opening line of the opening track, dragging you in from the get-go with no set-up and demanding your attention. Lovelorn losers and damaged damsels have always populated his songs, and