Performed by Harvey Danger Rated 4.5/5.0, based on 25 reviews. Buy from Amazon: New price: $10.76 Used price: $8.98

Not their best
Rating: 3/5
While not as catchy or exciting as their previous 2 albums, Little By Little is still a worthy effort by a band that was long thought extinct. As time goes on and they hopefully put out a fourth album I hope they can catch some of that innate fun that was such a big part of their previous two albums. You probably wont find yourself singing along to many of these tunes, but its well worth the asking price.

Harvey Danger, you just gained a lifelong fan.
Rating: 4/5
For the past six years or so, I was a fan of Harvey Danger's hit single "Flagpole Sitta." And that was it. I hadn't heard any of their other stuff, and I didn't really desire to seek it out. Then, about a month ago, I heard this album online and decided it was worth a shot. I am now totally hooked, and I will be purchasing all the CDs they put out from now on. Why? The music is just that good.

Do yourself a favor, and buy this CD. You'll be rocking out to it for a long time.

The kings of the swinging moods are back in town
Rating: 5/5
To make a long story short, Harvey Danger broke up sometime after King James Version was released--5 years to the day (plus one) of this album's release; the members went their separate ways until deciding to play a reunion show on April 21, 2004, which thereafter brought about talks of a third album that would later materialize as 'Little By Little...'. Now, all during this "hiatus", HD's message board was still active, allowing for us diehard fans to foam at the mouth every time a band member would post letting us know of news of possible shows or possible third albums. And when everything finally became official, I found myself looking forward to an album's release more than I ever have before. On top of everything, too, it is a double-disc. (I should note that before Christmas of '04 they released an EP with the previously-available classic "Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas (Sometimes)" that included a demo of "Wine, Women & Song". And I should also note they now have a new drummer, Michael Welke.)

The two songs that jumped out at me from the start were "Cream And Bastards Rise" and "Little Round Mirrors". "C&BR is comparable to HD's harder rock tunes like "Authenticity" and "Carlotta Valdez" (and includes the likely-to-be-often-quoted line 'you don't have to be a genius / but it helps to'), while "LRM" is more melodic and beautiful, all the while staying as catchy as possible. Since I'd already listened to "Wine, Women & Song" about a million times I had a hard to taking to it here, although it is a terrific song in any case. Two sleeper tracks that seem to grow on me more each time I listen to them are "War Buddies" and "Moral Centralia". I get chills when I hear (in "War Buddies"): 'if you've got guns / well now's the time for sticking / resistance is already forming / the second shot won't be a warning'. And the same can be said for the 'you are weak...' interludes in "Moral". Those are the top five songs, I believe, followed closely by the epic closer "Diminishing Returns"; "Happiness Writes White", a beautiful ode written for Sean's wife; a reworking of a song done by Sean's side project band, Mortal Enemies--"What You Live By"; "Cool James", which was apparently written, originally, for the 'Merrymakers' album; and "Incommunicado", a short, back-and-forth duet with Rachael Bowman of Some By Sea.

As for the bonus disc, "Picture, Picture" and "Cold Snap" (featuring The Long Winters' John Roderick on guitar) would knock out "War Buddies" and "Moral Centralia" to move into the top 5 (if we're judging all 19 tracks). "I Missed It" isn't far behind, either. "Elvis, I Don't Love You Anymore" is an interesting song. It takes on an almost punk-like feel, which might be off putting for some people. The demo version of "Moral" is everything you'd expect from a demo, although there appears to be a (larger) number of fans who like it more than the original. "Cream And Bastards Reprise", which is live, finds Sean Nelson being more off-the-wall than I can ever remember him being, as his intro will no doubt make you chuckle a tad. The writing snippets of "C&BR" and "Little Round Mirrors" are both poor, 1-minute recordings of the respective songs' sound right out of the womb, though it's rare to hear such raw samples. Finally, the not-so-hidden track, "The Piano Lesson", I will leave for you to discern on your own. (I will, however, say that it's a cool nostalgic reminder of trying to watch Sportscenter while my little sister learned to play piano.)

This is undoubtedly my favorite album right now; though time will have to tell whether or not it outshines Merrymakers and/or King James Version. But, overall, that doesn't matter. Since I got 'Little By Little...' I have been listening to few other CDs, and see no reason why anyone would want to. Whether you simply like or simply love Harvey Danger's other albums, you are going to attach yourself to these 19 tracks. And (to be horribly cliché), they will, little by little, grow on you until Harvey Danger is one of your favorite bands. That is, of course, unless they already were. This is the album of the year. Buy it.

Footnote: the track arrangement on this Kill Rock Stars re-release is slightly different than on the original Little By Little..., that was released on Phonographic Records; here, "Incommunicado" is replaced with "Picture, Picture" (rightfully so) on the main disc, while "Incommunicado" essentially then becomes part of the bonus disc. Other than that, the releases are the same.

Amazing, underrated band, intelligent lyrics and fun abound!
Rating: 5/5
Seriously, this band was an instant favorite after I bought my first album, "Where Have all the Merry Makers Gone?" featuring the hit "Flagpole Sitta."
The next album, "King James Version" was equally incredible. This album willl not disappoint at all if you are a fan, although its less punkishness and more piano. Not a bad thing if you love them because of the writting... this is an excellent addition to your Harvey Danger Collection, as unfortunatly limited as it is.

DOWNLOAD THE FIRST 1/2 OF THIS ALBUM FOR FREE ON THEIR WEBSITE! then come back here and buy the whole thing. Because you will want to!!! the extras are awesome, I downloaded the album the day it came out, and bought the 2nd disk shortly thereafter. getting it on their site gets you cool swag too, like buttons and whatnot, t-shirts but you dont get that nice speedy amazon shipping... your call.

The lyrics, the humanity, all of it exciting, fun, sad, evocative, and most importantly intelligent and clear. too many bands are drowning in their egos, whenever Danger gets to this point, they do so in a self deprecating and fun manner, and certainly don't leave anyone alienated. If you like the witty lyrics of artists such artists like Elvis Costello, hook this up!