| All the Plans | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Starsailor | ||||||||||
| Released | March 9, 2009 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2007-2008 | |||||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock, Piano rock | |||||||||
| Length | 41:59 | |||||||||
| Label | Virgin Records, EMI | |||||||||
| Producer | Steve Osborne | |||||||||
| Starsailor chronology | ||||||||||
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All the Plans is Starsailor's fourth studio album. It was announced on October 16, 2008[1] and was released on March 9, 2009. The album was released via iTunes in the US on April 28, 2009.[1]
Initially named All the Plans or Boy in Waiting, the album title was revealed on October 16, 2008. This release is Starsailor's first album with Virgin Records. Starsailor worked with Steve Osborne, who previously worked with the band on their debut album Love Is Here, and with engineer Dan Austin, who was also working with Doves on their fourth studio album Kingdom of Rust at the same time. Most of the information about the release of the album has been taken from the messages written by James Walsh on the band's MySpace page.
Contents |
The band recorded the album in Henley-on-Thames, and Richard Warren worked with the band in the studio. It was announced in February 2008 by James Walsh that the album was finished and that the band was mixing the album in a studio in Chiswick called "The Sofa Lounge."[2] They were simultaneously "putting the finishing touches to a busy summer schedule."
According to The Sun, Ronnie Wood from The Rolling Stones had agreed to work with the band on their new album after an approach with lead singer James Walsh.[3] James said to The Sun: "We thought we may as well ask. We expected he'd be too busy but he agreed. He said he liked our stuff and came in for the week. It was amazing."
According to the band's MySpace messages, the new album would be a mixture between their heavier side and the romantic side shown in their previous albums. James said in an interview with the digital newspaper Scotsman.com: "I'm sure a lot of fans will be excited by the following: It's closer in spirit to the first album - it's got real soul to it. We've gone more for the emotional, tugging at the heartstrings approach. We went off on a bit of a rock tangent on the last album. It was good fun but it's time to get back to our roots."
On March 21, 2008, James Walsh wrote:
There has been an emphasis on strong melodies and simple arrangements for this album and the guitar playing of Richard Warren has definitely enhanced the sound. I'm not one for slagging off the last album and saying this one is 100 times better because the last album definitely had its merits. However we have spent a lot longer writing and recording this one and the result is the perfect companion to Love Is Here.
According to Manchester Evening News, there isn't a particular theme to All the Plans but "married life and international politics are some of the key ingredients." James said "We've tried to write classic songs."
In an interview with James Oldham, James Walsh expressed that he thinks perhaps they got a little bit too defensive to media impressions:[4]
We wanted to prove people wrong. Working with Phil Spector on the second record [he actually only produced two tracks before he was fired] and then making a more American sounding rock record [2005's On the Outside] was just our way of trying to prove ourselves to our detractors. The new album is us realising that that was unnecessary and returning to the sound that we love and established us in the first place."
The album was postponed one week in order to not clash with U2's then-forthcoming album No Line on the Horizon. According to James Walsh, when the band was recording a live session on Radio 2 on January 13, 2009, radio hosters Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie highlighted the fact that Starsailor would release All the Plans on the same day as U2 and else suggest to call Bono and "toss a coin for who moves their release date." Bono called heads winning the toss and All the Plans was postponed for a week.[1]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Drowned In Sound | [5] |
| Entertainment.ie | [6] |
| The Guardian | [7] |
| PopMatters | [8] |
| The Skinny | [9] |
| The Times Online | [10] |
Initial critical response to All the Plans was generally favourable. According to Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 61, based on 7 reviews.[11]
On February 5, 2009, the newspaper Washington Square News posted the world's first review of All the Plans, giving a generally positive assessment. Kadeen Griffiths from Washington Square News wrote that: "The band's fourth studio album is both its first with Virgin Records and with Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. The result is a cohesive blend of solid beats and fantastic harmonies. The addition of subtle, simple sounds like the tambourine on "Boy in Waiting" and the piano intro to "Change My Mind" gives the album a homey, personal feel. Tambourine and piano may not be the most innovative, but they provide a glimpse into the heart and soul of the band through their simple sounds."[12]
On February 13, 2009, Nigel Goulds from Belfast Telegraph stated, "The band have served up another collection of heart-tugging tracks which again benefit from James Walsh's — who's based in Belfast much of the time — unique set of vocal cords. There's really nothing new to add to the Starsailor repertoire but when they produce songs of uncluttered grandeur they really are in a league of their own."[13]
On February 26, 2009, The Guardian gave the album its first rave review, praising the quality of the songs, the emotional core, and Ron Wood's guitar work, summarizing "With no one expecting it but themselves Starsailor have delivered."[7] PopMatters called the lyrics "a rather pedestrian litany of breakup woes" but concurred that the melodies were well-written and asserted that they, and most especially Walsh's vocals, more than made up for such flaws. They concluded "Starsailor are the most consistently good of the English pop troupes, with each of their efforts succeeding gracefully at what they attempt to accomplish."[8]
On March 8, 2009, Dan Cairns from The Times claimed that, "What has changed is that the self-consciousness and anxiety that marred 2005's On the Outside has gone. On All the Plans, Starsailor sound like a band in love again with being a band," and added that "there is a real sense here of a band finally settling into their own skin, and rather liking the feeling."[10]
On March 9, 2009, Andrew Hirst from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner said that, "Now nine years into their topsy turvy career, Starsailor have reached a new peak with an album of stunning elegance and presence."[14]
On March 12, 2009, The Glaswegian named All the Plans as "album of the week," stating that, "After their last misfiring album, All the Plans can be seen as something of a comeback. It's also a return to form, as, while the Chorley lads may have lost a little ground, they've not lost their way with emotional, melodic music. The title track, which boasts an appearance from Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, could be Oasis at their most anthemic, while James Walsh's voice has rarely sounded better than it does on "Hurts Too Much." The real stars of the show are the rootsy "Stars and Stripes" and the album's penultimate track "Listen Up," which might be the best song the band ever wrote."[15]
However, Mojo wrote a negative review, stating that, "You try to remember a single melody or hook from the record and you're found wanting",[11] while James Skinner of Drowned in Sound went as far as to single out the lyrics to 'Change My Mind', stating that "Starsailor are so wantonly unoriginal, so brazenly mediocre on every level, it’s almost like they don’t even realise that they are and totally mean all this stuff." [5] Entertainment.ie's review echoed these sentiments, remarking "If you're looking for any more reasons to dislike Starsailor, you'll find them in abundance on album number four, which is a continuation of the dull pub-rock sound that they've rarely deviated from during their nine-year career."[6] Gillian Watson of The Skinny was yet another voice in this chorus, asserting that "The culprit here is frontman James Walsh, whose banal lyrics and achingly sincere vocals are a wearying and occasionally embarrassing listen."[9]
The lead single "Tell Me It's Not Over" was released on March 2, 2009. The song has been played in various gigs since 2007 while they were recording their new album.[1] "All the Plans" was officially announced by the band as the album's second single on April 16, 2009. The song was released as a digital download on June 22, 2009.
On December 2, 2008, Starsailor announced their first tour in four years to support the album. According to the official website, the All the Plans tour "is about to be sold out."[1] On June 3, 2009, it was confirmed on their official site that the band will tour Germany, else adding that they were waiting to confirm more tour dates.[1]
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK 2009 Tour | |||
| March 26, 2009 | Glasgow | Scotland | Manchester Ritz |
| March 28, 2009 | Sheffield | England | Sheffield Leadmill |
| March 30, 2009 | Liverpool | England | Liverpool Academy |
| March 31, 2009 | Leeds | England | Leeds Met Uni |
| April 1, 2009 | Wolves | England | Wolves Wulfrun |
| April 3, 2009 | Oxford | England | Oxford Academy |
| April 4, 2009 | Portsmouth | England | Portsmouth Pyramid |
| April 5, 2009 | Bristol | England | Bristol Academy |
| April 7, 2009 | Cambridge | England | Cambridge Junction |
| April 8, 2009 | Norwich | England | Norwich UEA |
| April 9, 2009 | London | England | Shepherds Bush Empire London |
| April 15, 2009 | Belfast | Northern Ireland | Spring & Airbrake |
| April 16, 2009 | Dublin | Ireland | The Academy |
| June 2, 2009 | London | England | Crisis Hidden Gig series |
| June 28, 2009 | London | England | Hard Rock Calling festival |
| July 11, 2009 | Balado | Scotland | T in the Park |
| July 12, 2009 | Kildare | Ireland | Oxegen Festival 2009 |
| August 22, 2009 | Chelmsford | England | Hylands Park, V Festival |
| August 23, 2009 | Staffordshire | England | Weston Park, V Festival |
| August 24, 2009 | Edinburgh | Scotland | Edge Festival |
| Europe | |||
| May 28, 2009 | Prague | Czech Republic | Prague Hard Rock Cafe |
| June 8, 2009 | Athens | Greece | Ejekt Festival, Olympic Fencing Center Of Hellinicon |
| June 21, 2009 | Istanbul | Turkey | Efes Pilsen One Love Festival |
| August 5, 2009 | Lokeren | Belgium | Lokerse Festival |
| September 9, 2009 | Zurich | Switzerland | The Kaufleuten |
| September 10, 2009 | Le Noirmont | Switzerland | Chant du Gros Festival |
| September 19, 2009 | Eindhoven | Netherlands | Effenaar |
| September 21, 2009 | Hamburg | Germany | Fabrik |
| September 22, 2009 | Berlin | Germany | Postbahnhof |
| September 23, 2009 | Munich | Germany | Theaterfabrik |
| September 24, 2009 | Milan | Italy | Magazzini Generali |
| September 27, 2009 | Köln | Germany | Gloria |
| September 28, 2009 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | Melkweg |
| September 29, 2009 | Brussels | Belgium | Ancienne Belgique |
| September 30, 2009 | Paris | France | Elysee Montmatre |
| North America | |||
| May 1, 2009 | West Hollywood, Los Angeles | United States | Troubadour Club |
| Asia | |||
| July 24, 2009 | Gyeonggi-do | South Korea | Jisan Valley Rock Festival |
All songs written and composed by James Walsh, James Stelfox, Ben Byrne, and Barry Westhead.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tell Me It's Not Over" | 3:23 |
| 2. | "Boy in Waiting" | 2:31 |
| 3. | "The Thames" | 3:14 |
| 4. | "All the Plans" | 4:11 |
| 5. | "Neon Sky" | 5:19 |
| 6. | "You Never Get What You Deserve" | 4:17 |
| 7. | "Hurts Too Much" | 3:41 |
| 8. | "Stars and Stripes" | 4:33 |
| 9. | "Change My Mind" | 3:28 |
| 10. | "Listen Up" | 4:19 |
| 11. | "Safe at Home" | 2:57 |
A deluxe edition of All the Plans was simultaneously released, featuring a bonus disc of acoustic versions (including the new track "Merry Go Round").[16]
| Bonus disc | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Listen Up" (Acoustic) | 4:06 | |||||||
| 2. | "Tell Me It's Not Over" (Acoustic) | 3:44 | |||||||
| 3. | "All the Plans" (Acoustic) | 4:08 | |||||||
| 4. | "Merry Go Round" (Acoustic) | 3:31 | |||||||
| 5. | "The Thames" (Acoustic) | 3:56 | |||||||
| 6. | "Change My Mind" (Acoustic) | 3:48 | |||||||
| 7. | "Stars and Stripes" (Acoustic) | 4:36 | |||||||
| Country | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Argentine Albums Chart | 10[17] |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) | 12 .[18] |
| United Kingdom | 26 [19][20] |
| Swiss Albums Top 100 | 31 [18] |
| Austria Albums Top 75 | 60 [18] |
| Dutch Albums Top 100 | 90 [18] |
| France Albums Top 150 | 140 [18] |
Production:
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