excerpt from the review:

... Underneath will be released early next year, but in the meantime Hanson release the Underneath Acoustic EP, a collection of nine songs performed live at an acoustic concert. The eight new tracks are excellent. You can tell the times are changing, and Hanson is changing with them. The opening track Strong Enough to Break is an up tempo guitar driven riff, and that mood stays for tracks Deeper and When You're Gone. Zac takes the lead for Misery, a trademark Hanson song about love and pain. The title track, Underneath, has many elements. There's a bit of folk with the 'ole harmonica, it's a ballad, and it's a love song, all at once. Lead singer Taylor's vocals are as soulful as ever, and the piano driven rhythm is well paced and sweet. Penny and Me, again with lead singer Taylor is fast paced, with lyrics you cant keep up with, but its incredibly mature, and very sexy! Hey (featured on Sabrina: The Teenage Witch) prove that the brothers can still do the pop stuff too. This is the "must" single of the album if there is to be one. The final new track is Love Somebody to Know. Its short at under two minutes, but its evidence of why people like the band. It's Motown influenced, fast paced, punchy, the vocals are excellent and the instrumentation is nothing short of perfect. The outro is courtesy of an acoustic rendition of This Time Around, which, as they prove constantly, relies on perfectly harmonized vocals. Despite the dropping of the best line ("Do you know why I die" - makes your heart hit the floor in the studio version) it's very well done and extremely cool.

Underneath Acoustic is only available on shipping from the States from the bands official site, and the EP is very reasonable priced at $8.99. OK, it's only a digipak with a basic inlay, but fans will be buying this for the music. If the music here is a sign of what is to come from the band, then we're in for great times ahead. Go buy it. 10/10

--Dan Harris

Thanks to Stephen (mad4hanson@hanson.net)