Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

Harvey Danger - Little By Little

So several months ago, I had the pleasure of catching a show on Harvey Danger’s farewell tour, (documented here) which I thoroughly enjoyed. On my way out of the venue, I stopped by the merch booth because, well, this would be my last chance, right? I picked up their last studio album, Little By Little, on vinyl because that’s how I roll.

This album is a solid argument that this band should have been way bigger than they were.

A history lesson: HD burst into public consciousness in 1997 (try and remember back that far) with the radio single “Flagpole Sitta,” which everyone remembers as the song with the “Paranoia! Paranoia! Everybody’s coming to get me!” line. In the ten years since that single, the band kept a somewhat low profile, releasing only two full-lengths.

This album finds the band with some notable changes to their sound; things are a bit slowed down, and less angsty all around than the Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? material sounded. Singer Sean Nelson always gave the sense of being a bit brainier than his alt-rock peers from the mid- to late-’90s, and his lyrics reflect that. They still rock out, such as on the second track “Cream and Bastards Rise,” but they follow it with the pop stomp of “Moral Centralia,” featuring a decidedly ’90s-sounding fuzzy guitar. And then there’s the song that everyone deserves to hear, and that should have been a smash single, “Little Round Mirrors.” Glorious pop balladry, even featuring some tasteful horns.

There’s a lot of piano on this album. The live show found their second guitarist spending more time behind a keyboard than with his axe, which perhaps represented the band’s later day focus on writing great pop-rock rather than sticking resolutely to the alt rock sound. Jumping, as I did, from Merrymakers to this album might take listeners by surprise, as this is hardly the same band as the one that appears on the former album. At some points, they remind me more of Ben Folds Five than the band who recorded “Flagpole Sitta.”

If nostalgia for “Flagpole Sitta” attracts you to this album- I’ll admit, it’s more or less what brought me out to the show that night- hopefully you’ll be able to see past the fact that they don’t make songs like that any more, and enjoy this album for what it is. Because it’s a great record, and it needs to be heard, if posthumously. And since the band offers the record for free download on their website, you’ve got no excuse.