Reviews

Apparently the mail carrier thought that this album was so important it deserved to be delivered during a blizzard. Maybe he’s a fan? Who knows, but it’s always nice to have something to do while there’s a foot of snow outside my window and the temperature has gone far below the zero mark. You know, I never did understand how anything could be colder than nothing. Can you tell I'm not a science major? But anyway, All That We Needed is pretty ordinary while certain tracks are a tinge second-rate, others happen to be a plain white treat.
 
Plain White T’s are blue jean rock. Vocally, I was never a big fan of the harmonies, as the voices just didn’t fit together and I couldn’t exactly find an area where Tom Higgenson actually took a risk in his vocal abilities. However, on this release, everything sounds pretty tight, and Higgenson displays a sound range that not too many emo bands achieve in their short lifespan of whining and crying. Everything is pretty generic, safe as hell but and generally dull with the exception of a few songs including “All That We Needed,” “Breakdown,” and future pop anthem, “Hey There Delilah.” Most of the other songs just pretty much sound the same and aren’t worth too much of a mention. However, I can’t be too critical because this is pop music we’re dealing with and with that in mind, the record sounds exactly like it should. 
 
The lyrics are all intensely catchy. “Breakdown” is going to become one of those songs I hum along to while driving.  That is because it’s about packing up and just driving away; something I’m sure we’d all love to do every once in a while. What’s so endearing about Plain White T’s is that they can take things that no one would ever give a second thought to and turn it into an appealing pop song with more hooks than a coat rack. Hence “Lazy Day Afternoon;” the story of being lazy on a sunny afternoon. This song didn’t make me re-evaluate my life, but it did do one thing: it made me smile.
 
Overall this album is decent, much more so than their previous album “Stop.” It’s going to be extremely successful in groups it’s marketed towards which include college-age boys and girls who are emotionally bland. For what they are, they do quite well and I can’t complain. Maybe some day they’ll all grow up and their music too, will hit puberty.