In Stores Now: Reservoir Songs II by Crooked Fingers

Illustration titled "Selkirk Amusing Himself with his Cats" from John Howell's The Life and Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, the real Robinson Crusoe : A Narrative Founded on Facts, 1841

I don't review a lot of digital releases on Wires and Waves - this is mostly due to my own review policy that has, as far as I know, not ever really been explained. With very few exceptions, I only review things that I have purchased and have listened to at least five times. The problem with digital releases is that, unless I take the time to burn a CD of it to put in my listening rotation, it rarely gets the listens it needs. The same is true of vinyl releases, sadly. EPs get forgotten too often as well, because they're just too short to make it into the regular rotation. So I've obviously gone out of my way to review the new Crooked Fingers EP, the vinyl-and-digital-only Reservoir Songs II.

Crooked Fingers is primarily Eric Bachmann, whose unexpected transition a decade ago from frontman of the alt-spazz band Archers of Loaf to a rootsy/folky songwriter is one of the most unexpectedly rewarding career moves in recent history. All of the Crooked Fingers full-lengths are solid (with the self-titled debut and Red Devil Dawn being definite out-and-out classics!), but one of the group's best-loved releases is the original Reservoir Songs, an EP of covers released in 2002. Bachmann carefully selected songs that were right in his wheelhouse by Springsteen, Kris Kristofferson, and Neil Diamond, and then mixed things up a little with songs by Queen and Prince. It all worked. For me, the only problem was that it sounded like half of a great "covers" album. Bachmann must have been picking up my vibes of psychic dissonance because he's finally delivering the missing half of the project.

Reservoir Songs II is almost as great as the original, with slightly less adventurous choices but consistently solid results. The EP starts with "Shelly's Winter Love", a song from Merle Haggard's '71 record Hag. Like many of the songs on the EP, it starts with a mix of acoustic instruments and loops, with vocals by Bachmann and Elin Palmer (I think it's her, anyway). Like a couple songs on this EP, it's not a song I'm too familiar with, and it's absolutely lovely - makes me want to go buy some Merle Haggard records. They pull off similarly excellent covers of Moby Grape (the great, lesser-known, late-period track "I Am Not Willing") and the Kinks' "Strangers", as well as much-covered songs by Billy Joe Shaver and John Hartford. The Kinks cover in particular is a favorite of mine, rivaling the great version done recently by Wye Oak on the AV Club site. The only number that doesn't really work for me is a piano-ballad version of Thin Lizzy's "Wild One" - Bachmann leaves the vocals to Palmer on this one [Actually the lead on this is by Liz Durrett - ed.], and it doesn't really stand up to the quality of the other songs.

The best thing about getting the high-quality download of Reservoir Songs II from PortMerch is that you can append it to the end of your original Reservoir Songs to make a really nice full-length covers album.

"Gentle on My Mind" by Crooked Fingers