I'm not a fan of this record. I bought it because I like The Hold Steady and though that the singer's solo album might be alright; I was wrong. I can think of countless records in Banquet that I could have spent £13 on, but I chanced it on Craig Finn and it didn't pay off. The moral is probably to not spend money on albums I've not heard anything from, but I love doing that and one shit album isn't going to make me stop. They can't all be winners I suppose.
Where to start with my dislike of this album? A lot of the time it just sounds like he isn't trying; like he's singing the song but couldn't care less if he was or wasn't. At times you can tell he's trying to play that Springsteen card, but it doesn't work. Similarly there are moments that sound a bit like The Hold Steady, but also not quite. What you're left with is the half-hearted remnants of both - songs about people you don't quite believe in or care about.
But the highlight of my dislike comes in the form of New Friend Jesus, quite possibly the worst song I own (I wouldn't like to make a list of my least favourite records or songs, but this one would be up there). On The King of Carrot Flowers, Jeff Mangum proclaims his love of Jesus and it's intentionally jarring and excellent and sincere all at the same time. When Craig Finn sings that he has a new best friend and his name is Jesus, I think he's a dick. I often wonder if he was trying to mirror that excellent moment on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (so much so the intro here might as well be Holland, 1945). If that was his inspiration, then I think I dislike the song even more. There's a certain irony in the line "it's hard to suck with Jesus in your band" being on the album's worst song.
Despite thinking so little of this album, I ended up seeing Craig live a while later when he toured with Patterson Hood and Will Johnson. For me, and the friends I was there with, Craig was the least interesting of the three (Will and Patterson were both excellent). A while later I was sat in a hot tub on top of a hotel in Tampa with a bunch of punks from Austria and Canada (that reads like a shameless boast, but these situations arise quite regularly at Fest) talking about that tour. They were all saying how they thought Craig carried that tour and how excellent his album was whilst I was sat there wondering how they could enjoy it so much and I could think so little of it. People have different tastes I guess, but this record certainly isn't to mine.
Format: 12", picture sleeve, insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 09/07/12
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
