Editor’s Note: Before I launch into what I fully intend to be an outrageously glowing review of The Hold Steady’s newest release “Stay Positive” (Vagrant), I should disclose the fact that most of these guys are from Minneapolis, my original hometown, and that, off the bat, gives them a definite advantage. I should also give credit where credit is due, as it was Rob Kirkbride, instructor of journalism at Aquinas, that first got me hooked. Thanks, Rob.

Those disclosures done with, I might as well launch right into it: if you fall within the 99% of people who get their music from mainstream sources, The Hold Steady is probably the greatest band you’ve never heard of in the United States right now. It’s not an elitist thing - I’m no indie prophet; it’s just that these five guys are chronically, tragically, criminally neglected, despite continuing to sell out shows across the country and churning out lyrically-dense alt-rock that critics practically worship.

If the time has ever been ripe for a revolution, it may be the July release of The Hold Steady’s fourth studio album, “Stay Positive” (already available for download at iTunes). Lead singer and guitarist Craig Finn has referred to it as “capturing a band hitting their creative peak,” and while it may be true, “Stay Positive” is also anthemic: a supercharged muscle car, grease-stained jeans, big city lights and a rockin’ sound so religiously cathartic The Village Voice has called it “the most egregiously American Catholic album since…Springsteen’s ‘Tunnel of Love’…and Billy Joel’s ‘The Stranger.’”

Like I said, the critics worship this stuff. And I’m next in line. Led by Finn, who began taking voice lessons for the first time in his life during the recording of “Stay Positive,” The Hold Steady are a knife in frosting: harsh, edgy vocals driven by ambitious hooks and delicious keyboards. “Stay Positive” takes the band’s characteristic sound to a higher level, though - maybe it’s Finn’s slightly refined but still rough voice, the gorgeous organ on “Joke About Jamaica” or the biting guitar on the title track “Stay Positive.” Maybe it’s the band’s trademark call-and-response choruses.

It’s undoubtedly all of those things, but, as with any Hold Steady album, the real accomplishment is the narrative. Each album tells a story, and “Stay Positive” is no exception. Longtime fans will be pleased to catch references to previous albums while new listeners, I venture, will be swept in by Finn’s poetic lyricism:

“I tried to believe all the things you said/But my friends that aren’t dying are already dead/Raise a toast to saint Joe Strummer/I think he might have been our only decent teacher/Getting old only makes it harder to remember/We are our only saviors/We’re gonna build something this summer”

The Hold Steady’s lyrics are further remarkable in that the narratives are frequently interweaving - both between particular songs and throughout multiple albums. Much of the group’s work (including that on “Stay Positive”) concerns the character of Holly, a young girl who strives to reconcile her Catholicism with her rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle in the Twin Cities. In a previous song, Finn, who has swapped lyrics with Bruce Springsteen and been featured in The New Yorker, sings:

“Her parents named her Hallelujah/But the kids they call her Holly/If she scared you then she’s sorry/She’s been stranded at these parties/She crashed into Easter Mass with her hair done up in broken glass/She was limping left on broken heels when she said, ‘Father, can I tell your congregation how a resurrection really feels?’”

Ironically, much of what The Hold Steady addresses in its content is about resurrection - but that’s the last thing the band itself needs after four strong albums like 2008’s “Stay Positive.” What they need now is exactly what they advertise.

Rating: 5/5