Review Summary: Doesn't everyone like to be "T'sed" a bit?
Plain. Also meaning dull, simple, or basic. White. All of the members in this band are Caucasian…except for one. And he’s the drummer. T’s. Hey, who doesn’t enjoy a nice cotton t-shirt from time to time? Put all of this together, and what do you get? You get a lot of rambling nonsense that, in hindsight, may have been better off being deleted from my Microsoft Word document. But I’m lazy. And I really couldn’t think of a better way to introduce this review. Deal with it.
This collection of Plain White T’s songs, otherwise known as their sophomore album, All That We Needed, takes a good listen or three to get into, but once you do, I dare you to try and take it out of your CD player.
With a drumbeat intro that sounds all-too-familiar to Fall Out Boy’s “Dance, Dance” and a lead guitar riff that could have been playing in the background to any John Hughes movie, “All That We Needed” makes quite the delectable title track. Catchy as a case of herpes on Hooters Airlines, this song makes me want to get up and dance…dance.
At this point, I start to think that perhaps the boys of PWT are listening to a bit too much of their peers’ music catalogs. This might be more of a stretch, but “Revenge” sounds quite similar to All-American Reject’s “Night Drive.” Coincidence? Probably. Still, the track offers some fun fast-driving rhythms to listen to as you drive away from an ex-girlfriend’s house that you just covered in asbestos. Mmmm…retribution.
The first single, one I heard from a Warped Tour Compilation, is “Take Me Away,” a song of rage directed towards—you guessed it—an ex. Only, the rage is a bit muted. In fact, while Tom Higgenson fumes about the love that walked out on him, the guitars flick some sort of powerpop opium towards its listeners’ ears that takes away any of the sting that a real heartbreak would ensure. Like a bee that got its hiney caught in pair of honey-soaked scissors, this song floats by harmlessly, without getting under your skin.
“My Only One” strives to be the sweet, endearing, John Cusack-with-a-radio-over-his-head moment of the album, but unfortunately rests at being a cute song with little sentiment. Likewise, the titled-to-be-categorized “Sad Story” fails to establish the key emotion that the title holds. The only thing sad about this song is the fact that it fails to move me to do much of anything than sing along mindlessly. But hey, at least the tempo is fun.
The passion only gets injected back into the music with the arrival of “Breakdown,” a truly sad story about a family that is in danger of crumbling beneath its problems. Though the vocals could have used some more aggression when singing lines like “I’m gonna drive and never ever slow down,” they don’t dilute, nor do they dull the overall tone of the song. In the end, it levels out.
A groovy guitar line leads “What More Do You Want?” alongside some poetry-by-numbers lyrics. Ever-generic lines like “Tell me what you want/tell me what you need” attempt to rip the soul from this album out through its throat, Shang Tsung style. It’s only saved by the next track, “Lazy Day Afternoon,” which doesn’t try to be anything other than a fun, weekend driving song. Put the windows down, turn the volume up, and soak in this Cars-esque guitar riff.
“Anything” is virtually pleading the listener to empathize with lead singer, Tom Higgenson’s situation. To its credit, this song does contain a truly standout lyric: “I see the bracelet you gave me back then/Made it for me so I’d never forget/It must have worked because I haven’t forgotten you yet.” It symbolizes the album’s direct simplicity. Speaking of simple, here comes “Sing My Best,” a possible sequel to “Lazy Day Afternoon.” It’s at this point that the band sounds less like their pop-punk brethren, and more like a Beach Boys cover band. Good vibes, man.
“Faster” misleads the listener into thinking they’re in for some rollicking guitars and ferocious drums. Don’t worry grandma, you’re not. You don’t have to leave the room. Instead, it follows a similar mid-tempo rhythm to “Revenge” or “Breakdown.” But lo and behold, they deliver the rollick, albeit a tad behind schedule, with “Last Call.” The chorus cranks out some speedy riffs and a quick-stepping vocal progression. Nothing special or distinct, but a great song nonetheless.
For the album’s closer, they opt to take the road less traveled and pick up their acoustic guitars. A sweet ode to the perfect life lived through a distance, “Hey There Delilah” sees Tom serenading his woman through a set of speakers. A beautiful way to close out an album, I must say.
Overall, All That We Needed, quite frankly needed a little something extra if it wanted to become a classic pop-punk record. Still, it contains more fun than you might expect.
