Harvey Danger
King James Version
London/Sire

CD Review by Reef Valmont

THIS IS THE SUBTEXT

There's a subtext to this review, and that subtext is 'doubt.'

If you ever doubted Harvey Danger's ability to rock hard in a Dostoevsky place, read on.

If you ever doubted that Harvey Danger would rise up magnificently from the glory-and-doom rollercoaster ride of their first album Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?, again, read on. And, more importantly, almost crux-like in it's magnitude, if you ever

doubted Harvey Danger frontman Sean Nelson as a shining light of something/anything/everything you ever dreamed of in a musical mainstream "landslide of shit" and Fred Durst-looking motherfuckers, please please please read on, then go beat yourself over the head with that big green stick you keep inside the coat closet next to your latest Urban Outfitters jacket and that box of insecurities.

THIS IS THE QUESTION

What do you do if, in true John Malkovich fashion, you're a band left in limbo due to circumstances way beyond your control?

If you're Harvey Danger you

a) Expand your line-up from a comfortable 4 to a shit-kicking 6 by adding a monster-man of a guitarist named Mike Squires (ex-Nevada Bachelors) on supplemental six-string and one John Roderick, the ex-vocalist of Seattle's best could-have should-have band, Western State Hurricanes, on keyboards. That, my friends, is what the smart people call selective recruitment.

b) Stay close to base playing all sorts of cover nights and unusual shows with your Pac NW musical friends. Seattle may not be all sweetness and light to you, in fact it may try to piss in your mouth every chance it gets, but it's still a home, of sorts.

c) Fine-tune the static unreleased record you have sitting on the shelf (due to your old record companies corporate Murders And Executions department) into a ridiculously realized piece of work that raises the bar on your own worth.

d) Prepare to vanquish doubt.

THIS IS HARVEY DANGER'S NEW RECORD

Starting off your potential uber-backlash record with a fiery guitar and keyboard blast about Christ, Morrissey and Kip Winger entitled 'Meetings With Remarkable Men (Show Me The Hero)'pretty much rolls out your intent and raises a middle finger (or six) to the waiting hyenas. I hope there's a lyric sheet included with 'KJV' because this is one of Nelson's finest songs thus far, darkly funny and cuttingly incisive all at once. "I had a lovely brunch with Jesus Christ, " spits Nelson, "but then he had to go and die for my sins and stick my ass with the check."

One of the beautiful things about Merrymakers was the way in which HD jumped from style to style, sound to sound from one song to the next. This ideal doesn't just repeat itself on King James Version it takes itself to a new level. 'Humility On The Parade' is a slowed down, almost disjointed maudlin amble through some very weighty Nelson lyrics that only really justifies itself as a song in the final two minutes when Nelson lists off all the disturbing things the song's character represents ("I'm the mustard on the wedding dress, a weevil in the water cress") before launching into a perfect life-affirming swirl of guitars and anthemic defence.

'Why I'm Lonely' creeps in like an intro to an old PJ Harvey neu-swamp hate-fest, and slowly increases intensity over the course of the song before hitting a wall and leaving you to shake your head clear as the organs and backing vocal 'ooh's' turn right up and begin the soon to be legendary intro of…

….'Sad Sweetheart Of The Rodeo,' the first single from the album and, basically, a wonderfully driven song with mighty hooks that swashes and buckles in all the right places. From the sweet backing vocals that run the gamut to the contrasting hi-brow/lo-brow lyrics ("She took one last gulp of his big city condescension" moves into a whooping "Lonesome cowboy, let it ride!") this is the sound of a band having big fun and taking full advantage of their position in some fragment of the mainstream eye. (Sidenote - The video for this song stars Ione Skye as a dirty cowgirl and, making a second appearance in a Harveys video, a cheeky monkey.)

Introspective tableau is GO on 'You Miss The Point Completely I Get The Point Exactly' with Nelson in full, er, Nelsonesque insult mode - "You are a record left on the dashboard, you are an ostentatious tourist…" Don't worry, the real venom is coming up…

'Authenticity' is a glitter-glam stomp complete with pretentious vocal inflections and a crunching finale where Nelson blows his top and spews lyrics about spinning in his grave and spitting on yours over the suddenly evil guitars of Jeff Lin. Fucking awesome.

'(Theme From) Carjack Fever' barrels out of the gate like a tribute to late 80's British rock with buzzing six-string and threatening bassline, Nelson turning into Mark E. Smith at the climax of the song sneering "You are an ill wind that blows no good" with the entire band turning into The Fall right behind him and stomping mudholes in your pre-conceptions. Like you never knew this band could rock, Carlotta.

Track 8, 'Pike St./Park Slope' could have been one of the down-tempo ballads The London Suede left off their 'Dogmanstar' album but it is, in fact, a depressingly delicious little number named for Seattle's hipster corridor. Nelson's voice is high-pitched and up in the clouds, the only accompaniment is a piano and a cello, the mood is way way down. "Maybe we could start a little independent repertory movie house or something…" sings Nelson in the chorus, voicing what could be his true secret wish (Nelson is a HUGE movie fanatic with a knowledge that matches his passion) to the girl on the opposite side of the song.

Twelve tracks in and the second chapter in Dangerdom ends with 'The Same As Being In Love,' a deviously slow-burning sweet downer-number that begins by staring into the bottom of a glass and ends up throwing the fucker against the wall. One of the finest HD moments thus far, by a mile. The boys are back in town, but based on this release, not for long. The world awaits their vicious wit and love of rock detail one more time, whether they realise it or not.

Click here for Harvey Danger Photos

Click here to view the Western State Hurricanes in streaming video

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