Danny Echo, S/T

By Less Lee Moore

Danny Echo has been blessed with a great big rock and roll voice. This was apparent when I saw the band live at NXNE 2008: they played their hearts out and even though there were only a handful of people in the crowd at Lee’s Palace, you’d never know it by their enthusiasm.

Danny and his bandmates capitalize on this love and enthusiasm in their debut album. “Out Of Style” and “Killing Me” both have the sweeping, earnest, and infectious sound of early Radiohead or Supergrass, while “Tomorrow Today” has just a twinge of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins. And “Given Up Giving Up” with its shuffling drum sound and Danny’s husky, powerful vocals reminds me of The Stone Roses.

It’s with “Help Yourself” and “It’s Up To You” that I begin to realize that the band’s obvious love of rock and roll might be a liability instead of a bonus. Despite their mastery of being able to perform different styles and sounds (including nods to the above-named bands, Redd Kross, and The Beach Boys), I wish they’d choose one and excel at it, instead of just being good at a whole bunch of them.

“Barely Getting By” has amusing and self-deprecating lyrics about the band’s role in the industry we call music, but they seem odd coming from a band who has just released their debut album, even though the individual members have been in bands before this one. Unfortunately, the lyrical content of the other songs isn’t nearly as interesting, and along with the two stadium rockers in the middle of the album (“I Can’t Take It Anymore” and “Close To Home”), Danny Echo veers perilously close to sounding a little too mainstream for my taste.

The album’s closer, “Natural Disaster,” completely contradicts everything I’ve said above with its finger-picking guitar and mildly country music feel. It’s a good song, but it doesn’t fit with the others.

Danny Echo has talent, but not their own distinctive sound. Yet. I hope that they figure out what they want this band to be, though, because based on these songs and their live performance it could be a terrific thing indeed.

To listen to tracks from this album, please visit the band’s MySpace page. The album is also available from CD Baby.