CROOKED FINGERS

Ah, hell.

As I get closer to finalizing my Top 10 Albums of '05, I have hit a formidable, unforgiving wall. For some ridiculous reason, I was ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that the Arcade Fire's Funeral was released in the year 2005. Of course, not true.

Shit.

So there goes my #1. My no-brainer. My silver-lining. My shining light.

For, you see, slotting everything else has been painstaking. It's been a chore. A bitch. I was sure of my ground only with #1. But no more....

Fuck.

But life, as they say, goes on. So I will strive to forgive myself for not having a blog at this time last year - and therefore compiling a list of the Top 10 Albums of 2004 (though I reserve the right to compile such a list, post-facto, any time from this day till December 31, 2009) (just for the hell/shit/fuck of it).

In the meantime, there is the 2005 (I double-checked) effort of Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame. I suppose now that it has an outside chance of making my re-shuffled Top 10. At the very least, former Archer of Loaf Eric Bachmann's work continues to be worthy of praise and potential contention. (And what with Neil Diamond's recent career resurrection, it seems appropriate to include Crooked Fingers covering the Jazz Singer, especially as Mr. Bachmann's distinctive pipes are so often connected with Mr. Diamond's).

[MP3] [right-click/"save as"] "Call to Love" [from the LP Dignity and Shame, 2005]

[MP3] [right-click/"save as"] "You Can Never Leave" [from the LP Red Devil Dawn, 2003]

[MP3] [right-click/"save as"] "You Threw a Spark" [from the LP Red Devil Dawn, 2003]

[MP3] [right-click/"save as"] "New Drink for the Old Drunk" [from their self-titled LP, 2000]

[MP3] [right-click/"save as"] "Solitary Man" [from the EP Reservoir Songs, 2002]