ARTIST: The Hold Steady 
TITLE: Almost Killed Me
YEAR RELEASED: 2004
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: Not on the album proper.
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: The Swish
LINEUP: Craig Finn, Tad Kubler, Galen Polivka, Judd Counsell. Franz Nicolay is a guest here.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: After the end of Lifter Puller, Craig Finn formed a for real bar band that spins tales of losers and other seedy characters.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Craig Finn was the driving force of Lifter Puller, and after that band’s demise, he and Tad Kubler and Galen Polivka formed the band in New York.
This album is based on characters developed from Finn’s background in Minneapolis, and is cohesive in that sense. Finn’s rambling, seemingly stream-of-conscious vocals belie a strong rock-oriented band that can cook underneath tales of Charlemagne and others from that circle
Finn’s vocals may not be everyone’s cup of tea, since some people prefer the front man sing, as it were. Get over it.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: The inspiration for the Hold Steady came from the Band, as Finn wondered why there weren’t bands like that anymore.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: Five extra cuts in Australia, including their first single.
GRADE: A-: A bit shaggy, but it rocks.
But Is It Any Good? 