Pavlov’s Dog is a band from another time and place. A band with only two albums at their prime that still insists and remains active (kind of…). With their music that attracted friends that remain true but, despite the sometimes intriguing instrumentations and the very particular David Surkamp’s lead vocal, it remained marginally remarkable without creating a stir.

Since then and except from a third album that was never released on time (was released later as a bootleg and in 2007 titled as “Has Anyone Here Seen Siegfried”) a lost in oblivion release (“Lost In America”, 1990) and a personal release by Surkamp, Pavlov’s Dog were simply idle or touring, after 2005.

Their official return, even if there’s only Surkamp and Safron from the “Pampered Menial” era, comes in 2010 and probably has a purpose no larger than accompanying (or as an excuse if you prefer) the American band’s touring, while it cannot add up anything significant to their deeds so far. In any case, after “Pampered Menial” they did nothing (official or not) that really mattered to their existence.

“Pampered Menial” is the lead for this ”Echo & Boo” as well. More folk than anything else, soft and introspective, melodic and insulating, the new Pavlov’s Dog album is nothing more than a relapse of what they did in the 70s and nothing more than a rehash. The recipe is obsolete, the sounds are also obsolete, the music is obsolete and if Surkamp’s voice is a matter for debate (which is not, even if it once might have been) it is a feature, indeed, but not distinctive anymore.

Even if there are some touching melodies here and there and even if those melodies could move one at the right mood, the lot fails to create even an impression to speak of.