"King James Version" opens with the driving and pop-intense song, "Meetings with Remarkable Men (Show Me the Hero)." Immediately, the guitar and bass assert themselves, demanding that we abandon all of our current preoccupation (unless that preoccupation happens to be Harvey Danger) and listen both to the song's components and its whole. After establishing itself in the present as a song that should never in the future be transcribed into muzak (or so I pray to the Son of Man for as much), the guitar/bass/drums component yields to the band's true strength: its vocals and lyrics.
Lead singer, Mister Sean Nelson recounts in verse, "I had a lovely brunch with Jesus Christ. He said two words about inanity: 'Fundamental Christianity.' The food was very nice, but then he had to go and die for my sins and stick my ass with the check," supplying the atheist in us all with a flippant one/two jab; the God-fearing-citizen in us all with a little guilty pleasure; and the paper writing student of religion with a great epigraph for the next assignment.
Credit must be given to the band for recognizing that its strength rests in Nelson's voice and his ability with words. Harvey Danger's lyrics vary from being witty to scathing, from irreverent to insightful, but they are usually always intelligent. The instrumental writing and arrangements, which are not as strong as the lyrics, necessarily offer themselves as a backdrop to Nelson's vocals.
When listening to either their debut album, "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" or to "King James Version," the band's ability to write catchy hooks is evident. These hooks draw your attention to the song, then pass you off to the vocals and lyrical acrobatics of Nelson. I'm telling you: he's the Romanian gymnast of the recording industry (you know-in ability, not in form).
Critics might argue that the band's tendency to showcase its vocals and lyrics points to a lack in musical ability. Well, all right, but first, let's reassess our terms and conditions here. This is pop-music with the offer of amusement rather than the pretension of greatness. I'd take the former over the latter any day. And so then second: the music they write, and the terms in which they write, i.e.-fun and catchy pop music-don't require highly gifted musicians. Isn't that an integral aspect of the charm of rock? Ultimately, they get the job done; the band writes undeniably catchy pop-music for the escapist in us all. We all need to get away sometimes, right? Right.
After all is sang and strummed, "King James Version" is a good album that isn't quite great, written by a good band that also isn't quite great. But then not every band can be Pavement or Velvet Underground. That the members of Harvey Danger aren't paralyzed with their own potential and circumstances and don't try to write at a level of "greatness" (and here is the necessary conceit: that it is one of those descriptive words that does not actually mean anything anyway, much like "smart" or "interesting" or "love") deserves respect.
Recognition of and attendance to their worth and the worth of their music provides more than just a little escapism for the restless listener-it provides a little liberation for the aspiring artist in us all. It's this liberating quality that presupposes their song writing and sets them apart from the current sorry state of "popular music" (read: blondes with bare midriffs and boys with vulnerable gazes).
We all wanna rock, right? Right. Beyond their primary function in providing entertainment, Harvey Danger gives the go-ahead to those of us who reject the bare midriff and the vulnerable gaze. Good for them. Good for us.