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List Price: $13.98 | | Label: Metal Blade
Salesrank: 58156
Released: November 10, 1998 |
| Our Price: $7.84 |
| Used Price: $4.39 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Hold Me Up Track Listing:
1. Laughing
2. Just the Way You Are
3. So Outta Line
4. There You Are
5. You Know What I Mean
6. Out of the Red
7. Never Take the Place of Your Man
8. Hey
9. On Your Side
10. 22 Seconds
11. Kevin's Song
12. Know My Name
13. Million Miles Away
14. Two Days in February
Hold Me Up Reviews:
THIS WAS MY FIRST GOOS RECORD & POSSIBLY STILL MY FAVOURITE... 
2009-07-06 - I'll never forget this...1990, when I was exploring new music not played on the radio and going by reviews in magazines..."Hold Me Up" got like 4 stars in Spin and the review sparked my interest, so I took a chance and bought this record...it sorta changed my life.
My future taste has been highly influenced by this record, as it suited my then-current taste to a T, like it was made to order. It was VERY catchy but loud and raw, some songs were hilariously funny, some songs had lots of heart and poignancy, all stuck in my head for years. I bought all their records at one point or another...now I'm catching up again, as I musta sold them off by mistake...I still think about "Hold Me Up", how its near and dear to my heart. This record is to me what the Replacements' "Let It Be" or "Tim" or "Pleased To Meet Me" is to others...I love the 'Mats, don't get me wrong, but the Goos have a similar vibe here...raw, fun, ragged, catchy, heartful...and they just happened to capture my taste first...sorry 'Mats and 'Mats fans...nothing personal, it's all groovy...plus the Goos are more powerpop, more attuned to my taste than the 'Mats ever were...and I can see how the Goos influenced the Lemonheads too...Evan has the same slacker vibe that Johhny has that 90s chicks love.
Now, I love their prior 2 records..."Jed" and #1...fun stuff...and the followups are all loveable and likable, but this one holds it's own place...loved "SSW", "A Boy Named Goo", even "Dizzy" was good and I'm not sick of "Iris" and "Slide" anymore..."Gutterflower" was underrated and so was "Let Love In"...I hear they're getting back to the slackery rawness of "Hold Me Up" on their upcoming record, produced by Pixies producer Gil Norton...a total plus.
I'll go out on a limb and say that the Goos, even though their first 2 albums were from 1986 and 1987, their real beginning was 1990's "Hold Me Up" and are possibly the greatest band the 90s ever produced, and are still here...sorry Green Day...unlike what Joe Elliot from Def Leppard just said in a Newsday article, that the only 90s survivor was the overrated Pearl Jam...he must have forgotten about our lovable Goo Goo Dolls.
This record is a classic, and the garagey, brash, slackery, fun vibe only enhances its appeal...I wonder if their catalogue will ever be remastered...their 3 collections are cool tho and I hope it's a sign for things to come.
Best of the Goos
2007-02-28 - (First of all, I think the reviewer below me has this album confused with another one.)
I don't mind the Goo Goo Dolls today, but they're just another mainstream band compared to this album. Hold Me Up captrued the band at a transition between the extremely thrashy punk-inspired music of Jed and First Release and the more melodious, radio-friendly kind of music they would play from Superstar Car Wash on. This was the best time of their career. Their songs are catchy here, and yet they're still not watered down. Both Robby and John are at their best. Unlike Dizzy Up the Girl and all of their albums since, this doesn't sound like a Goo Goo Dolls who are yearning to play something more dynamic. This sounds like a Goo Goo Dolls who know exactly what it is they want to do, and they do exactly that. This album was a part of my childhood. I listened to this album at the same time as Dizzy Up the Girl. The difference is that Dizzy Up the Girl never stood the test of time. This album did.
I just wrote this on the spur of the moment. Perhaps later, I'll write a better review. In the meantime, just know that people who consider themselves fans of the Goo Goo Dolls because of their radio hits should educate themselves, and this should be their first album.
Recommended songs: ALL of them.
This is Where The G.G.D.'s Sold Out 
2007-02-07 - As the title states, this was the end of the line for the goo's being a unique, passionate, relevant indie/punk band. The style,sound, and songwriting on here is a complete 180 from their first 2 records. There are a few decent ones, that is why I gave it a '2'. Unfortunately most of it veers towards the overrated watered down mainstream pop crap they put out to the present and the same type of stuff you heard on the radio over and over and over. They were still on Metal Blade for this release but you wouldn't know it. Johhny took over most of the songwriting and singing duties and it shows. From this record on, the material was saturated with overly cheesy ballads, ala Johnny. It is what made them successful, but in alienated me and other hard core fans who knew this was not the same band that used to make music from the heart. Each release after this got worse and worse, even though some of 'dizzy...' was decent like this. Please do not buy anything of the g.g.d;s after "jed" as it is just pathetic how fast this band turned into a made for aor radio sellout so quickly.
Goo Finally Holds Up 
2006-08-03 - It was in 1990, when the rock group Goo Goo Dolls released their third album: HOLD ME UP. The record was intriguing. Mainly for the fact that the band was still in their experimental sound stage, and the music they produced was fairly decent. Johnny Rzeznik was definately the leader of the group. This is quite apparent with his fast paced scale based guitar licks and inversions of his chords. His performance was still in a progression, for Rzenzik still had to learn how to keep in time with his other band members. The rest of the band members needed work in this aspect of their musical performance as well. There are points within the songs that the players loose time and the piece slows or rushes. There are other times when the players get off in the beats within their rhythms they are suppose to perform. What stands out about this record is; Goo Goo Dolls still have their originality and are obviously having fun experimenting within their genre. Rzeznik's lyrics like always, are an admirable trait, and fit well with the pieces' style that the band performs. HOLD ME UP is classic Goo Goo Dolls sound, the style the band performed before hitting the Mainstream. It is a record to give attention to by Goo Goo Dolls fans because this is the album that the band's sound had progressed further than just hard, grudgy, and wailing rock.
Stand out tracks include:
"Laughing"
"Just the Way You Are"
"There You Are"
"Hey"
"A Million Miles Away"
Vintage Goo is Gritty Good-3.5 Stars
2006-07-14 - This is the album that Johnny referred to as their "real" first album. It's an enjoyable listen if like a more garage/jangle/rock sound. I personally enjoyed it when I first bought it back in 1999 and still listen it to it today because of surprisingly, its simplicity. There are no violins, piano, or other additional instruments in most of the songs. It's just guitar, bass, and drums. The song writing and delivery might not be as good as Superstar Car Wash or A Boy Named Goo but the rawness and lack of slickness adds to its blemished appeal. Surprisingly, Robby's voice sounds much better on this album than Dizzy Up The Girl (DUTG) and latter albums because his raspy voice compliments the muddy sounding guitar, bass, and drums.
Some fans whose first exposure to the Goo Goo Dolls is DUTG, Gutterflower, or (shivers) Let Love In might not enjoy this album because of its lack of ballads like Iris and it's harder sound. But longtime fans who longingly wish the Goos will get back to their Buffalo rocking roots will treasure it.
