Harvey Danger Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? US CD album

With Harvey Danger's overdue sophomore album, singer Sean Nelson challenges his literary hero's dictum that "there are no second acts in American lives." The continued viability of his band is gloriously affirmed on King James Version's rousing opener, whose chorus, "Show me the hero, and I'll write you a tragedy," is another line from F. Scott Fitzgerald. After that, the album's energy, which is mostly sustained throughout, keeps to an even, graceful cadence until the rock payoff of the first single, "Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo." The only miss here is the strings-infested "Pike St./Park Slope," a ponderous track that mars the otherwise fluid album. But the band then generously compensates with the twin stars of "Loyalty Building," a mellifluous and loping treasure, and "Underground," a gloomy and seductive interpretation of a This Busy Monster song.

The last track--and the album as a whole--is richly canorous. The addition of instruments such as banjo and vibraphone to their standard rock lineup manages to uplift rather than weigh down the mix. Any hints of discord here are saved for the lyrics. In the first verse of the first song, Nelson's already in trouble. The food's great at a lovely brunch with Jesus Christ, "but then he had to go and die for my sins and stick my ass with the check." On other (subtler) songs, music geeks will like the ambivalence and ambiguity of Nelson's freighted lyrics. But they may not appreciate the band's distance from many of their alt-rock contemporaries, who have been experimenting with both the aggro and maudlin borders of the genre. Instead, King James Version, whose mid-tempo flow should create a perfect confluence with the mainstream, speaks the populist language of classic rock & roll--the kind of music you could listen to in the car with your mom. And it's a delight. Amen. --Julie van Arcken

The third LP by Seattle band Harvey Danger is the sound of a radically transformed group. In place of their distorted alt/garage rock is a mellower, less caustic, more melodically adventurous sound, reveling in a classic pop sensibility that owes everything to the band members' evolving musical interests. The biggest change is the dominance of piano throughout, given pianist/guitarist Jeff Lin's classical training on the instrument. Other songs provide reminders that the band can still make with the catchy indie rock as well as traverse less easily classified musical terrain.

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The third full-length album from Harvey Danger. Producer, engineered, and mixed by John Goodmanson and Steve Fisk.