Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Sunday, Oct. 09, 2005 - 4:30 a.m.

All right, lookit. I'm not in the habit of writing record reviews, because frankly, I'm not a music critic. That, and I know what I like, but I could not in a million years pretend to know what others like or what makes a "good" song. If I like it, it's good. Your mileage may vary.

That being said, Harvey Danger has a new album out, and in their esteemed wisdom and coolness, they have released it 100% free on the internet, available for download at your heart's content.

You may remember Harvey Danger. The band had a hit way the hell back in '98, called Paranoia. It wasn't the greatest song in the world, despite having some cool lyrics. It was actually rather kitschy, and also contained some monumentally stupid lyrics. I used to continually get them mixed up with Bare Naked Ladies, who had at that time another song in play which I hate so much I refuse to call by name and instead refer to it as Chickety China, the Chinese Chicken. This is because most people have no clue what song you're referring to when you call it by name, but they ALL know exactly the song you mean when you refer to it as Chickety China.

But I digress. Both songs had equal degrees of stupidity inherent in them, even if only in spots. So while I had to applaud Harvey Danger for the lyric "My fingertips have memories, I can't forget the curves of your body," I reviled them equally for the lyric "They cut off my legs; now I'm an amputee, goddamn you," which will surely go down in the anals of music as one of the stupidest, most banal lyrics of all time.

Um, and that would be another digression. Sorry. The point is, I had pretty much written Harvey Danger off as a one hit wonder of kitsch.

And then came Little By Little and the wonder of the free album download. I figured you know, what the hell, it's free, I'll try it.

And now, I'm hooked.

Shrewd guys, that band. I can't tell you how much I like this album or how much I love the song "Happiness Writes White," which is exactly the song I would want my rock musician (ex)boyfriend to write about me, if he were not all broodingly "intense" instead. It's all catchy 60's innocence and sounds sort of like if Paul McCartney, First Class, and the Beach Boys had gotten together and cooked up a happy summer love song, and I would just about love the album on the basis of that song alone. I'd definitely shell out $12 for the cd, which is all it costs if you want to buy the physical cd from the band, which I am going to do just as soon as I have disposable income again. I want to support the band for doing what they've done. Plus, this is a solidly-crafted album. There's only one song on the whole thing I don't like, and that's because it's a little tedious. Doesn't change up enough. There are 2 others that I'm okay with but wouldn't put on a mix tape, and I like all the others. My favorites are the aforementioned Happiness Writes White, "Little Round Mirrors," which is beautiful and thoughtful, and for some reason, reminds me of Simon & Garfunkle's "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Moral Centralia" and "Diminishing Returns". On the surface, "Wine, Women and Song" is kind of strident, but around halfway thru it, I start liking it. It's got a sort of Cabaret kind of subversive feel to it. I could totally see it in a modern musical.

The band has an explanation of why they're releasing the album free, and frankly, it makes me love them. I will shell out money for this when I have disposable income again, because I think they should be rewarded. Both for their vision in releasing this free and for the quality of the music. Harvey Danger has made a fan out of me, g-damn them! ;)

Peace out,
Katie

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