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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Little Disc, January 10, 2002
The `Plan seem to have settled down. Gone are the bicycle horns and well-timed bits of screaming. Gone are the punk influences and screeching guitar extros. In exchange the `Plan have picked up a more introspective and sentimental sound. The result is Change, the fourth LP from the Washington D.C. quartet.It looks as if The Emergency & I is going to go down as The `Plan's magnum opus. Change is an excellent album, but it just doesn't compare to its predecessor; and that was a goddamn kick in the teeth at an end to a disappointing year. So Change took a bit of getting used to. If it wasn't from The Dismemberment Plan it would have been much more accessible. The album sticks to its title, and if it weren't for the nearly perfect time changes and Travis Morrison's irreplaceable vocals (which easily place as best of the year) this could have been passed off as a new Desoto group. Many a critic wrote this disc off before even giving it a fair shot. Just because, as NME puts it, "It's not nearly as catchy as (their) earlier works." That's true. It's not as catchy as their earlier works, it's not as zany, and it's not as manic. But Morrison's incredible lyrical prowess is even more open to express itself in the `Plan's new, more confined setting. The eerie accuracy in which events are described (especially when describing a lady friend getting sucked into the clouds in "The Face of the Earth") and the plain, non overly descript emotions of "Super Powers" and "Secret Curse" are so powerful yet free from pretense that they ring in the mind almost like Greek Poetry. The calm spirit of the album makes its emotional bits (the few that there are) even more powerful. The desperate screams in "Time Bomb" are enough to make you drop whatever your doing and pay attention, the dreary isolation of the album's ending track "Ellen and Ben" zooms out in a manner that's certain to leave even the most angry among us (i.e. myself) wistful. The keyboard is no longer the band's chief weapon of attack; it's now confined to main lines and backgrounds rather than the zooms and effects we were used to. The guitars of Morrison and Jason Caddel still play together almost magically but without the blipping keyboard lead we were all used to. This method works pretty darned well in "Pay For the Piano," which sounds almost like something off their first two albums and "The Other Side," a pretty little distortion track. But the keyboards are noticeably missed in the Flaming Lipsesque opener "Sentimental Man" and "Following Through" which drones on a simple chord progression for nearly a minute and a half before breaking into a poorly synced vocal. Probably the best track on this album, and the only track that is keyboard dominated is the closer "Ellen and Ben." The lyrics would fit better in The Emergency & I; very descriptive with seemingly light subject matter that becomes, upon repeated listens, so true and heart-felt that they are just about as emotional as you can get. A bass lead with keyboard plinks in between lyrics and a zoom synth taking us to different emotional peaks. The Dismemberment Plan really cemented themselves as one of the very best bands in the world with this album, even if it's not their best.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not so much of a change really, but pleasant all the same, March 17, 2002
Almost every review I've seen of the Dismemberment Plan's most recent
record has invoked the album's title to discuss the earth-shattering shift
that it represents away from the band's old sound. I find this quite
amusing, partly because I'm just amused at how much artists can shape
critical response to a record just by their choice of title, but mostly
because I doubt most reviewers would have harped on that aspect of the
release if it hadn't been for the title. First of all, the elements that make the Plan one of the most distinctive
bands around are still firmly intact - clever, chiming guitar work;
complex and methodical but funky drumming; and head Planner Travis
Morrison's unmistakable dry, deliberate delivery. Certainly, there are
distinguishable differences between this and their last effort, 1999's
universally (and rightly) lauded "Emergency & I." For instance (as has
been most often commented on), this one is slightly mellower - that is,
nothing here verges on unlistenable the way "Emergency's" weakest link
"I Love a Magician" did. Also, there's nothing as glorious and cathartic as "The City" or as
inane-yet-beautiful as "You Are Invited." And, arguably, this release
definitely finds the Plan continuing to distance themselves from their
brash and raucous early work (epitomized by "!," whose title is
unfortunately not pronounced as a Bantu click). But so what - what's so
mind-blowing about a group evolving their sound? It used to be, in the
days of Talking Heads, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and even Led
Zeppelin (all of whose influence, incidentally, is apparent on this album),
that nearly every album an artist released would involve some distinct
stylistic change. So if "Change" is not noteworthy in that respect, then what does it have
to recommend it? Well, there are some dandy songs: the chiming,
propulsive opener "Sentimental Plan," the majestic and driving "Time
Bomb," the fast and funky "The Other Side." Morrison's lyrics continue to
be delightfully literate and often abstruse ("I'm an old-testament type of
guy/I like my coffee black/and my parole denied"). The band continues
to demonstrate deft musicianship, smartly upholding the proud tradition
of intelligent guitar bands in a world that has all but forsaken them. I was
excited, when I first heard it, at the thought that it would prove
everybody wrong and show that a band like this can continue to improve
even as they edge gradually towards a maturity beyond their "mature
masterpiece." But, sadly, this record, as good as it is, doesn't live up to
the standard of excellence set by "Emergency." And I can't help but think
that that failure comes not simply from the quality of the songs, but from
the dissolution of some of the rough edges of the last record - rough
edges which, come to think of it, are perfectly described in its title.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Plan continues to grow..., October 23, 2001
I've been listening to this album and letting it work its way into my psyche...After "Emergency and I", this one seems to take a little more listening to make the songs your own. But so far, I'm digging it! The songcraft is as strong as ever, but the differences between the songs (instrumentation, feel, etc.) are more subtle than on "Emergency". (I'll admit I DO wish they were a bit more sonically diverse). At first listen you might be left a little disappointed that these songs don't reach out and grab you like that previous CD did... but these songs work differently, they'll grow on you like the taste of a complex wine...or the first time you eat Korean food after weeks of burgers and pizza. The feel is a bit more acoustic, with fewer samples - definitely more introspective. The song "Time Bomb" is perhaps the most likely one to catch in your head first, and it almost sounds as if that song were a carry-over or something, it's got a different feel, in a way, from the others, but not so much as to think it doesn't belong. One thing that surprises me, whereas I usually like ALL the songs on a Plan album, I really could do without the closer "Ellen and Ben", a cute, but unremarkable chronicling of a relationship. All in all, an interesting and refreshing "change" and one I think most Planners will approve of - (but there IS a little voice in my head that worries that the Plan will go "too mainstream"...?) Aw, 'damn the worst-case scenarios, full speed ahead and pick this one up!' Remember Crowded House's "Temple of Low Men"? Remember SDRE's "How it Feels to be Something On"? CHANGE is GOOD! Embrace CHANGE.
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by The Dismemberment Plan 
