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| Artist: Death Cab For Cutie
Label: Atlantic / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $7.75
You Save: $11.23 (59%)
New (49) Used (30) from $6.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  282 reviews
Sales Rank: 457
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.199999980927
Dimensions (in): 5.2999997139 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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| Customer Reviews:
A great album with poetic lyrics, polished instrumentals, and great vocals September 24, 2005
12 out of 21 found this review helpful
My musical taste would probably be described by most people as "very eclectic" or "unfocused" or simply "weird". My music collection includes the likes of Morrissey, Blink 182, Bowling for Soup, Annie Lennox, The Beatles, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, Beethoven, Bach, AC/DC, and others you wouldn't expect to see on the same shelf. But the further toward the musical fringes you get, the less likely you'll find me listening to it. For example, metal that gets much heavier than AC/DC is not something I care much for. I pretty much hate jazz altogether, and I wouldn't listen to Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, or James Taylor if you begged me.
When I first encountered the name of the band "Death Cab for Cutie", I pretty much dismissed it offhand. With a name like that, I figured, they're probably some kind of goth-metal-punk band that sounds like a room full of industrial equipment going at full tilt. I'm big enough to admit I was wrong. They sound nothing like that. In fact, they remind me a lot of the alternative bands I listened to on college radio in the 80's and 90's. I felt very much at home and comfortable with them, almost as if I'd been listening to them for years. Their latest album is "Plans" and was the first Death Cab for Cutie album I'd ever heard.
Here's the track list for this one, with my notes on each after listening to it a few times:
1. Marching Bands of Manhattan
Begins with what sounds like a church organ, then blends into a more mainstream sounding instrumental. I especially like the poetry of the line "Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole/ just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound."
2. Soul Meets Body
This reminds me of songs by The Cure, Depeche Mode, and some of the other popular 80's alternative groups.
3. Summer Skin
This soft ballad talks about having to shed your "summer skin" and move on to the fall. Memorable line: "Our brand new coats were so flushed and pale/ Then I knew your heart I couldn't win/ 'cause the season's change was a conduit/ And we left our love in our summer skin..."
4. Different Names for the Same Thing
This is a very slow song, primarily piano and vocals. After a short interlude it picks up as a pop-sounding song with a touch of what sounds like a xylophone. This song has probably the weakest lyrics on the album, but the instrumentals are interesting at least.
5. I Will Follow You into the Dark
This is something of a sad song, telling the story of a couple who has "seen everything there is to see/ From Bangkok to Calgary" and believe that the ends of their lives are coming soon. One spouse tells the other "If Heaven and Hell decide/ That they both are satisfied/ Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs/ If there's no one beside you/ When your soul embarks/ Then I'll follow you into the dark." It's an interesting mix of romantic thoughts and death.
6. Your Heart Is an Empty Room
This song talks about how losing the one you love is like burning down a house, losing everything you hold dear, but "you shed not a single tear for the things you didn't need/ 'Cause you knew you were finally free". Anyone who's ever lost a love can probably appreciate these lyrics. Even the end of a painful relationship causes feelings of sadness and loss (like seeing your house burn down), but it also can be a hopeful thing in that your next relationship could be a better one.
7. Someday You Will Be Loved
This is something of the reverse to the previous song. The narrator tells us that he left a girl but was sure that someday she would be loved. He says to her "You'll be loved/ Like you never have known/ The memories of me/ Will seem more like bad dreams/ Just a series of blurs/ Like I never occurred".
8. Crooked Teeth
Similar to the last song, this one is about being in a relationship where there is no love. The singer tells us "you can't find nothin' at all/ if there was nothing there all along." The song's title comes from looking at a city skyline, with the buildings resembling crooked teeth in someone's mouth.
9. What Sarah Said
Lyrically, vocally, and instrumentally, this is probably the strongest song on the album. The basic story can be summed up with these lines from the song: "'Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room/ Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news/ And then the nurse comes 'round and everyone lifts their heads/ But I'm thinking of what Sarah said/ That love is watching someone die. So who's gonna watch you die?"
10. Brothers on a Hotel Bus
This song is probably one of the weaker ones on the album, but that doesn't mean it's a bad song. It isn't. It just doesn't have the poetry and emotional power that some of the others do. It begins with over a minute of instrumentals before the vocals start. It's basically about getting older and not recognizing yourself in the mirror anymore. The most memorable part of the lyrics are "You may tire of me/ As our December sun is setting/ 'Cause I'm not who I used to be"
11. Stable Song
Just as some of the other songs on the album are piano-heavy, this one is heavy with the sound of a slowly strumming acoustic guitar, lending it something of a relaxing, dreamy quality - like floating along a lazy river in an inner tube. I can't say that I really "get" what this song is about. It talks about starting out with a "crippling doubt" and suffering a "swift defeat". For me, it's the weakest song on the album all the way around.
Conclusion
In all, I have to say I'm sorry I judged this particular book (band) by its cover (name). I'm very impressed with the poetic quality of the lyrics, the pleasant but expressive vocals, and the fact that the instrumentals are well done and fit perfectly with the lyrics and vocals. It's an album I would be happy to put on in the background while I'm working, but equally happy to bring out when I'm feeling like listening to some interesting lyrics. Few bands I can think of provide me with that combination. (The only two that spring immediately to mind are Barenaked Ladies and Bowling for Soup... and these guys are that good.)
Overall, this album gets an 8.5 out of 10 (with 10 being excellent) from me. It also focuses my attention on a band I'd never heard before, and makes me want to check out their other albums - which I intend to do.
 Death Cab for Snoozie January 5, 2006
10 out of 22 found this review helpful
I have always been a big fan of this band and when I heard they were going to a major label I was happy for them. But my lord this album is boring. What ever happened to the drummer he's great and he barely even hits a snare on this album. The lyrics in comparison to past work are just awful as well. There used to be an energy to this band that was incredible and that is history. This album just sound like Ben gibbard really likes his own voice and wants to see how many ways he can twist and turn it. Well congrats Ben it sounds awful. Well another band bights the dust at least I can still reminisce with the old records.
 Death Cab for Cutie: Plans September 1, 2005
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
Death Cab's 2003 release of "Transatlanticism" was monumental. The CD was unequivocally focused, vocally cool, lyrically beatiful, and musically sound. How the album manages to average anything less than 5 stars is beyond me. The wonder of Death Cab is nothing new. They have always been a good band. "The Photo Album" to "Transatlanticism" was a bridge between a good and an amazing album, respectively. "Plans" does not reivent the band's talent, though it, at the very least, reaffirms it. Compared to Transalanticism, Plans is less unified. It does not convey a singe, unified message. Another difference is the sound. Plans focuses on a deep, reverberant sound explored similarly by artists like Frou Frou/Imogen Heap. As it is for such musical style, you will need a good audio system to fully appreciate the depth (as stated in another review). Lyrically, Ben is just as competent as he has always been. If you liked any of Death Cab for Cutie's first 5 albums, you will like this one more. If you liked their 6th album (transatlanticism), then you will have already bought "Plans" since you realized what a masterpiece the band had created in their prior album.
sidenote: Some have been concerned about a dumbed-down mainstream album succeeding the band's major label signing. The label has in no way noticeably changed the Death Cab style. On the contrary, the seamless production of the album adds a depth that the pre-transatlanticism albums didn't have.
Indie rockers and OC groupies enjoy!
An Open-Minded Ben September 1, 2005
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
...this album is such an amazing journey through stories of death and love and the mind...i had a promo copy and it hasn't left my CD player since...i IMMEDIATELY put it on my iPod and i've been letting all of my friends in on the action...they've all loved it...i've been hearing that some fans are nothing but disappointed by "Plans"...saying that it's "too mainstream"...but that couldn't be less true...this is still very true to Death Cab...i couldn't be more pleased...Ben is and always will be viewed as one of the greatest vocalist/songwriters of our time...his voice is just so comfortable...and along with Walla and the others, he's created yet another masterpiece...BUY THIS ALBUM...it's amazing...
Music for the masses September 21, 2005
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
I've lost most of my coolness after my third kid- I can admit that. That is how it happened that I'd never even heard of Death Cab for Cutie until my (single and "out there") best friend from Philly introduced me to this incredible band from Seattle. After listening to "Soul Meets Body" for the first time, I do believe I feel a resonable facsimile of my former self seeping into my veins.
It's difficult to put a label on DCFC, as their sound rings familiar, yet unique. For example, "Different Names for the Same Thing" reminds me of an early Crowded House. "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" has lead singer Benjamin Gibbard (who writes all the songs) sounding vaugely like Paul Simon, while the lyrics are as off-beat as They Might Be Giants. "Summer Skin" reminds me a bit of The Samples. It's easy to tell who DCFC's influences may have been, but their sound is all their own. There are certainly more ballad-like songs than on their other CD's, but even still, "Plans" doesn't disappoint. Bottom line: this is CD that will quickly become a staple in your car/computer/etc.
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