38. Harvey Danger--Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?

 #38: Harvey Danger--Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? (1997)

Top-Notch Tracks: "Jack the Lion," (HJ200 #161), "Old Hat," "Carlotta Valdez," "Flagpole Sitta," "Private Helicopter"

Album Depth: "Problems and Bigger Ones," "Woolly Muffler," "Radio Silence," "Terminal Annex"

Weak Link: "Wrecking Ball"

Stand-Out Lyrics: "Finally get a moment alone with the old man. He's having trouble breathing, and he's not the only one."--"Jack the Lion"

"Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding, the cretins cloning and feeding, And I don't even own a tv."--"Flagpole Sitta"

"I'll follow anywhere, that is until you climb too high, 'cause I get vertigo. Vertigo! Vertigo!"--"Carlotta Valdez"

"I forget what my friends look like, and they forget why they like me. But that's old hat, I'm so happy. How do you write about that?"--"Old Hat"

"But, all told, I hang on to my anger far too long, until it's a joke. The night is cold. The joke is old. And poorly told."--"Private Helicopter"

"He's still got his sense of humor, but his body fails him. He's surrounded by loved ones, but that only goes so far"--"Jack the Lion"

"Paranoia, paranoia, everybody's coming to get me. Just say you never met me. I'm running underground with the moles, digging holes."--"Flagpole Sitta"

"Jump into the San Francisco Bay. I'll follow you in, I know you can't swim when you've been dead 100 years."--"Carlotta Valdez"

"Call me freaky. Call me childish. Call me Ishmael. Just call me back, call me back. Call me back and I'll follow you around."--"Old Hat"

"Bedside crying, holding his hands. Strong hands."--"Jack the Lion"

Harvey Danger--Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?

Album cover: 7 out of 10. Why so high? Well, it's their first album, so they could have named the album after the band, but they didn't. And they could have had a picture of the members of the band on the cover, but they didn't. Instead, they went with this picture. It's not some fantastic, artistic photo, but it does evoke certain feelings and, combined with the album title, implies a story of some kind. Who are these merrymakers who live and/or lived here? And why aren't they making any more merries?

Comments: I pretty much summed up my feelings about Harvey Danger when I wrote up their album "King James Version" back at #44. So, why is this album a little higher on the list? The songs are just a skosh better. (If I may use the word "skosh.") (Spellcheck doesn't think it's a word, but I don't really care what spellcheck thinks.)

"Jack the Lion" has just about everything. It's got hand claps. It's got "na-na-na-na's." It's got driving electric guitars. It's got pure, unadulterated, hit-you-over-the-head sentimentality. The line, "bedside crying, holding his hands. Strong hands," really hits home to me, because it so vividly recalls the last time I saw my Dad alive. He was in bed in the living room of his house, and as I was leaving, he held on to my hand a little longer than I had intended. He held me there for just a few extra seconds, as if he knew it was our last time together. Damn, this is a good song.

Have you ever seen the movie Vertigo? I haven't. It's a supposed masterpiece by Alfred Hitchcock starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. (According to IMDB, Grandma Walton and Beverly Hills banker Milburn Drysdale show up in it, too.) The song "Carlotta Valdez" is based on the movie, and it's a damn good rocker. (One of my favorite exercise songs.) It really makes me want to see the movie. (But not too much, I guess, because I've been listening to the song for twenty years or so and still haven't seen the movie.) Apparently, Harvey Danger wanted "Carlotta Valdez" to be the follow-up single to their lone hit, "Flagpole Sitta," but the record company chose "Private Helicopter" instead. Both are really good songs, but I think the band probably had the better idea. (Especially in hindsight, knowing that "Private Helicopter" never really took off.) (See what I did there? That was a helicopter joke.) (Not a very good one, but I thought I'd give it a whirl.)

Of course, "Flagpole Sitta" started it all by being the song played on the radio that got me to buy the whole darn album in the first place. And "Old Hat" is just a great song, too. Yes, I really like Harvey Danger. They only made three full albums, this, "King James Version," and "Little By Little," which has some good songs on it, but doesn't rock at the same level as the first two albums. Still, three albums doesn't seem like enough.

I wish Harvey had been a little more Dangerous.

Up next: I can lock all my doors. (It's the only way to live.)