Danny Danny O'keefe

There's a cult of Meet Danny Wilson lovers and if you ever ask them about the album, a Steely Dan comparison is bound to come up. It's not without merit, and considering that the other bands the album might remind you of – Deacon Blue and Fairground Attraction – aren't on the tip of much of anyone's tongue, Steely Dan is at close as it comes. But the Dan never sounded this lively, this exuberant, this finger-snapping. If that makes them sound light as feather, keep in mind that Lloyd Cole loves this record. Head songwriter Gary Clark shares some of Cole's love of literate and clever lyrics that fit just right with the notes they land on, but he prefers a horn-section blast to Cole's guitar jangle (plus Clark has more Jimmy Van Heusen records than Cole does, no doubt). The sweet "Mary's Prayer" is the almost-hit, barely making enough impact to call the band a one-hit wonder. It's only part of the story for an album that effortlessly hurls clever arrangements and lyrical stingers out of the speakers. Opening with the syncopated and humble "Davy" and then switching to the Vegas hipster, Bobby Darin-for-the-'80s "Aberdeen" makes for a killer opening, and the album keeps minding the pace.

Danny Elfman delivers Bigger. Messier., an ambitious double-album collection of remixed and reimagined tracks from his highly acclaimed Big Mess album.This sprawling, 23 track collection features tracks reworked by some of the most groundbreaking and subversive artists around today.

Although it's only his debut record, American Music reveals Danny Gatton to already be an innovative and supremely gifted guitarist; here he tackles a sprawling range of music, moving easily from rockabilly to jazz to blues.

Composer Danny Elfman's score for director Tim Burton's black-and-white stop-motion tale of a boy and his newly reanimated dog is steeped in the kind of rich, choir-driven, harmlessly macabre innocence that supplied 1990's Edward Scissorhands with the heart it needed to break free of its overly quirky trappings. With nods to the frantic, pinball-like precision of Pee Wee's Big Adventure ("Electricity") and the good-natured malevolence of The Nightmare Before Christmas ("Invisible Fish/Search for Sparky"), Frankenweenie is fun, breathlessly atmospheric, and surprisingly affecting. Employing an effortless mix of menace, heartache, and joy, Elfman has crafted his most sentimental and nuanced score since 2003's Big Fish, and while it may borrow liberally from some of his previous works, it's still a joy to listen to from start to finish.

Director Sacha Gervasi's 2012 Alfred Hitchcock biopic was less of a proper biography and more of a breakdown of the events leading up to the release of 1959's Psycho. Composer Danny Elfman's elegant score reflects that sense of minutia, offering up a scant 38 minutes of material, much of which clocks in at under a minute. Elfman's signature blend of dread, whimsy, and mischief serves the tone of the story well, and while it may not be as stocked with memorable themes as some of his better-known works, it dutifully conveys the pathos, unpredictability, and humor of its source material.