Plans | 
| Artist: Death Cab For Cutie
Label: Atlantic / Wea
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $7.29
You Save: $11.69 (62%)
New (50) Used (29) from $5.98
Rating:  282 reviews
Sales Rank: 557
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 83834
UPC: 075678383427
EAN: 0075678383427
ASIN: B000AADYRQ
Release Date: August 30, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Marching Bands of Manhattan | | • | Soul Meets Body | | • | Summer Skin | | • | Different Names for the Same Thing | | • | I Will Follow You into the Dark | | • | Your Heart Is an Empty Room | | • | Someday You Will Be Loved | | • | Crooked Teeth | | • | What Sarah Said | | • | Brothers on a Hotel Bed | | • | Stable Song |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
When an indie-rock band as intimately and fiercely loved as Death Cab for Cutie makes the inevitable major-label jump, it often telegraphs a painful death. Witness Husker Du, the Replacements, Nirvana--hell, even R.E.M. After a successful four-album run on tiny Seattle imprint Barsuk, however, Death Cab for Cutie just might buck the trend on its Atlantic premiere. Yes, you can grumble about the production (a little too slick), the proportion of ballads (a little too many) and the overall feeling of restraint (a little too much), but ultimately the album delivers everything the group does best in emotional, experimental songs such as "What Sarah Said" and "I Will Follow You into the Dark," which both blend stark lyrical details with acoustic guitars and soft-focus electronics. In "Soul Meets Body," meanwhile, songwriter Ben Gibbard has come up with the kind of blissful, beatific pop song that's capable of disarming even the harshest skeptic. "A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere," he sings. --Aidin Vaziri Catching up with Death Cab for Cutie
Something About Airplanes
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We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
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Forbidden Love [EP]
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The Photo Album
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You Can Play These Songs with Chords
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Transatlanticism
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| Customer Reviews: Read 277 more reviews...
 Plans expands on Postal Service August 30, 2005
Matt Stephens
160 out of 193 found this review helpful
If you liked "Give Up" then buy this album immediately. If you think the move towards a more produced sound is going to piss you off, give you more major label woes, you might want to look elsewhere. I don't know, pick up an old Neutral Milk Hotel album and gripe about how everyone is selling out. Me, though, I think this is their best album in a few years. They didn't lose any edge when they jumped onto the label, they just got a better studio for Chris Walla to work his magic. My recommendation? Buy the album. Then again, I just like music, and if I can hear it better, more crisp, more produced, and hence, a better listen? All the better. As long as Atlantic doesn't try to change the whole thing Death Cab has going for them in their sound, then they're still one of the best groups around.
I Will Follow You Into The Dark January 25, 2006
Trevor Seigler (South Carolina)
68 out of 73 found this review helpful
Normally I try to avoid the hype machine that surrounds a band referenced or namechecked on "The OC" or some other blisteringly popular and annoying teen show. But something about the first single off Death Cab for Cutie's album "Plans" spoke to me in a way that nothing on the radio has in quite a while. So I picked up the album (keeping in mind that they were supposedly "Seth Cohen's favorite band" and not hold it against them). I can say I was pleasantly surprised.
I'm not going to pretend that I know the history of DCFC or their indie-rock roots. This is their major-label debut, and it's pleasantly against what you'd normally expect from a legendary cult band trying to achieve pop immortality on their very first major record. The album starts quietly, and ends quietly. In between, there are a lot of quiet songs.
A snoozefest, right? Not so.
The best tracks, besides "Soul Meets Body" are Summer Skin, I Will Follow You Into The Dark (an aching acoustic ballad that makes the listener weep), Crooked Teeth, What Sarah Said...really, the entire album lives up to the heady expectations that some will bring to it. It's not for everyone per se, but it has certainly had an effect on me.
Again, I'm new to the whole DCFC mythology and mythios. But I know great music when I hear it, and you can't do much better than "Plans". Nevermind the hype, this is the real deal.
Best of 2005: Plan to love it! September 8, 2005
Manny Hernandez (Palo Alto, CA)
31 out of 57 found this review helpful
I first listened to Death Cab for Cutie as The OC featured their music. Perhaps it was the overload (they were everywhere), but I admit I was not too thrilled about them at the time, except for a handful of songs from their "Transatlanticism" album, but I did keep them in the back of my mind.
In 2005, Ben Gibbard's Death Cab for Cutie won me over! Their "Plans" album lacks nothing and carries so much emotion that it is bound to become a timeless classic alongside others such as REM's "Automatic for the People" and The Cure's "Wish". I find it hard to pick a favorite track, but if pressed to do so, "What Sarah Said" and the closing track, "Stable Song" move me every time I listen to them.
Beautifully and classically constructed tour de force November 13, 2006
Eddie Konczal
28 out of 30 found this review helpful
Every talented, original, innovative band that achieves success over a number of years inevitably reaches the point where a significant part of its fan base accuses the band of "selling out." This usually occurs when one or more of the following happens:
-the band receives major label backing
-the band gets a new producer and/or access to state-of the art production facilities
-the band members make a great leap forward in terms of musicianship and/or songwriting
-the band achieves commercial success and/or critical acclaim
For Death Cab for Cutie, all of the above occurred with "Plans." Studio gloss has sanded off Death Cab's rough edges, their songs have become tighter and more ambitious, and they have achieved nearly household name status. So naturally, their diehard fans who stuck with them through the lo-fi indie years have accused them of selling out.
While some call it "selling out," I call it "getting better." I have heard, and quite like, Death Cab's earlier work, particularly "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes" and "Transatlanticism." "Plans" does for Death Cab what "OK Computer" did for Radiohead: it marks their great leap from rock's best-kept secret to a band that's finally achieving the success they deserve through hard work and persistent innovation.
I began listening to "Plans" at the same time I was studying Baroque music at Rutgers. I was quite astonished at how classically constructed Death Cab's songs are. I won't elevate Ben Gibbard and company to Bach's level just yet, but many of their songs - particularly "Marching Bands of Manhattan" and "What Sarah Said" - exhibit the "motoric rhythm" found in Bach's concertos. These songs drive forward with active bass lines, articulate drumming and intertwining keyboard and guitar ostinatos. Also found in Death Cab's work are terraced dynamics - changes in volume level caused by instruments entering and exiting. A harmonic nod to early music is suggested by "Someday You Will Be Loved," with shifting dominant chord relationships found in Renaissance and Baroque dance music. I don't know if Death Cab for Cutie studied music history, but they have clearly evolved from songwriters into composers, and the result is extremely satisfying on a visceral level.
"Plans" is quite possibly the best rock album of 2005, and I believe its reputation will only grow with time. Death Cab diehards, don't begrudge the band's well-deserved success. Embrace it, and satisfy yourself with the knowledge that you recognized their greatness before the masses did.
 Selling Out Has Its Benefits... October 11, 2005
Scott Louis (Houston, Texas)
25 out of 30 found this review helpful
I will be the first to say that I wanted to absolutely hate plans. I'm a bit of a snob about music, and the fact that Death Cab effectually "sold out" in switching from Seattle's Barsuk Records to the towering halls of Atlantic, as well as being featured on the 90210 of our days- "The O.C." had me more than a little disappointed in one of my favorite bands.
But, much to my dismay, I couldn't bring myself to hate this album. I wanted to decry them as another indie band that sold out and flopped (see...well almost every one of them). Thanks to DFCF keeping underrated producer/guitarist Chris Walla behind the console, the music keeps much of its pre-big label feel.
The unfortunate thing about the album is the direction the lyrics have taken. Instead of keeping with the angst of middle class America, the theme which brought the band so dear to the hearts of so many, Ben Gibbard has turned to the more widely applicable themes of the struggle of humanity. The problem here is that Gibbard writes best when he writes about what he knows best, and he is clearly stretching on this album. He is forced away from clear, poignant lyrics into the substitution of ambiguous analogy when discussing the relationship of death and love. It works...but only kind of.
The album is musically top-notch. Atlantic has clearly given DCFC the tools and studio time they need to create a slick pop album. It flows well, even into the tracks that are obviously the singles.
My single biggest qualm with this album is simply personal. It just feels like it was written to be played as background music on a television drama (shockingly...). Death Cab's charm was in the intimacy of the lyrics, IMO. Gibbard wrote songs that captured moments that could be shared. He has strayed here, into the Big Themes, and lost the heart of the band's message.
That being said, there are some real stars on this album. "Marching Bands of Manhattan" and "What Sarah Said" are some of DCFC's best work, musically. I hate to give the album with these gems on it a three star rating, but the interim songs are feeble enough to demand it.
Will the album be successful? Yes. Will millions of people hear it? Yes. Will it become the theme music for the twenty-somethings of this decade? Quite possibly. If those are the criteria for a great album, then this album is great. If a great album lies in heartfelt lyrics, genuine music, and experimentation, this album leaves much to be desired.
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