Everybody seems to agree on the idea that Plans is an amazing album that it hasnt got one weak song. Most people also seem to share the same idea that because almost the entire album is brilliant - complex but enjoyable tracks - that it is an album that, regardless of your mood, situation etc, it is awesome to listen to. Pick it up and put it on and its fantastic to listen to. Maybe you discover a new component of a song (ie Chris in 'Someday you will be..') that you find amazing...
For me recently, this same appreciation for an album has happened with Narrow Stairs. I put it on and every song just amazes me! When previously all i'd thought about 'Cath...' and 'Twin size..' and 'Pity and Fear' was that they were decent songs but not Death Cab. Now its soo much more, and makes me enjoy the album even more! I cant get off this album now! Love it!

Does anyone or has anyone experience this same facination???

It's not on a par. Plans is soooooooo good, Narrow Stairs is lackluste. It's not a mess, but some songs shouldn't have passed as B-Sides to be fair.
The best songs on Narrow Stairs aren't better than anything of Plans, it's a wonderful record. Narrow Stairs is lyrically good, but feels over=produced and lacking emotion.

I agree.
Tracks like 'Talking bird' and 'long divison' are poor imho. Should 'ave been released on a 5 track EP mid-09.
But for me tracks like 'No Sunlight' and 'Grapevine' and others have just popped out from nowhere and sound like totally new songs, much like 'your heart is an empty room' and 'stable song' did for me on Plans...

Plans sounds more like a Death Cab album than Narrow Stairs does. Even though Chris Walla would argue that it is certainly the more "over-produced" album of the two, Plans sounds more familiar and less forced. Plans encompasses the low-fi Death Cab aesthetic in its fundamental structure, but as a whole it is much more cohesive and elaborate than previous albums. You can definitely hear more of Chris's influence on Stairs. Fidelity wise, it sounds like a pop album. Very crisp, treble heavy tones that you wouldn't expect to hear on a Death Cab album when basing said expectations around their older material. I'm all for a band evolving, but it seems like they're trying too hard to reinvent their sound, as if they're only doing it for the sake of change. I think if Narrow Stairs was recorded and mixed differently, rather than written differently (although it may have benefited from that as well) it would have been received better by long-time fans.

Not dissing Chris's taste or skillset here in any way, just saying that certain aspects of the album may have benefited from a different approach.

As an album, Plans is definitely the stronger of the two. Since it's release I've found Narrow Stairs to be over produced and lacking the same songwriting brilliance of previous records. There are a couple of songs (...Cath and Long Division - the latter being a direct descendant of We Laugh Indoors) that are better than anything on Plans, but overall it was disappointing. And I still can't listen to I Will Possess Your Heart... even the 4 minute 7" edit annoys me.

One of my major issues with Narrow Stairs is that it is very bare-bones. If you listen to say, Talking Bird, you can easily pick a part each layer. Listening closely is a wasted effort because you can already hear everything. I'm assuming this is so the songs can translate better on stage, but it leaves a lot to be desired when listening to the recording.

But ignoring the production, many of the songs just aren't very good. All albums have at least one weak song. This one has about 10 of them. I think some of them can be blamed on the production or performance, (Long Division, Cath) but others are just flat out terrible. If you look at some mainstream or studio-designed artists, their music may not be complex or meaningful, but it can still be enjoyable. Narrow Stairs is none of those.

I think Na1577 has it. The album is very stripped down and it sounds pretty eaxct to what they sound like live, but there's not a whole lotta depth beyond that. I think some decent production can compensate for some lackluster lyrics here and there, but the production of narrow stairs isn't quite as deep as the older albums.

I think this album has a bit of a let it be/get back vibe to it except without the fighting. I don't think that means there will be an abbey road or anything that great next, but I'm sure whatever they were thinking they've gotten out of their systems by now.

BTW I don't know where all this long division hate's comin' from! I think it's one of the better songs on the album- maybe not lyrically, but everything else wise. The only drawback production wise is the synth keyboard part sounding kinda anemic.

The main thing that I noticed after my first listen through was the album's lack of flow. It seemed that none of the songs really went together and that, except for Bixby and maybe The Ice..., there was no thought involved when it came to picking an order.

I do like Long Division as Steven said, the rare 3rd person point of view worked really nicely for the song and it had lots of different vibes: bouncy, mellow, catchy, heavy etc. And that synth part (moog I'm guessing? It had that Motion City Soundtrack sort of sound to it) didn't quite work for the track, but I don't mind it all too much.

Like I said though, the album overall didn't flow like much of the band's back catalog. The sudden cuts and the differences between subsequent songs were very much a curveball for me, I was expecting some more interesting production as well as more of the little nuances that we all love in Death Cab's albums.

Right. Great point. Have you heard the end of YCDBTM or the beginning of Grapevine Fires?

Or maybe the end of Cath... and beginning of Talking Bird?

No regard for placement. What a tool.

to be honest no, narrow stairs is by no means a bad record but it is the only record i listen to last, plans is amazing and dare i say it will probably be death cab's sgt peppers and honestly as amazing as the clips have been, i don't think they could do a directons for this album.

quote:

Originally posted by Clever Death Cab Lyric Goes Here:
Right. Great point. Have you heard the end of YCDBTM or the beginning of Grapevine Fires?

Or maybe the end of Cath... and beginning of Talking Bird?

No regard for placement. What a tool.

Yes, I do realize that some songs segue together. But I was more referring to the general mood/feel of each song. For example: No Sunlight being after IWPYH, there's a big mood change and I think they could have chosen a better song to go after it. Also there's that weird cut at the end of Pity and Fear that, for me, interfered with how the record flowed. Just because some songs are gapless like that doesn't make it a more flowing record. Have YOU heard We Have the Facts?

I posted it before in another thread, but I think this song order works a lot better for me:
1. bixby
2. iwpyh
3. talking bird
4. long div
5. pity and fear
6. grapevine
7. twin sized bed
8. no sunlight
9. cath
10.ice

It's just quite boring, I think the next will be better, it's underwhelming, not awful or 'disjointed' or anything.

I like it, just a couple of bad songs, I think it does flow, but overall it's really quite underwhelming after 'Plans'.

I will agree that the transition from Cath into Talking Bird and the other ones you mentioned sounded nice.

Looking back on this record, I think it's the end that I dislike. I haven't listened to it in awhile though and I should really make an attempt to give it a few more tries. The flow thing was more of a first impression that I noticed.

I suppose Stairs is more of a grower, agreed?

I would like to think that, but I think it won't really get much better. It's mediocre at best. However, one thing we have to consider is that it did reach number 1 (in America) thus giving it something that maybe i just don't see...

To be honest though, and quite pessimistic, I think it's a number 1 that Plans would've been more well deserving of. I think there was a lot of hype building up to Narrow Stairs that gave it almost instant success that was only partially based on what the album actually consists of.

I know it sounds lame, but I think it would be cool... what if they released an album of some-what rarities and new versions of old songs? I wouldn't be surprised to see something like that. With some live tracks thrown in. I noticed that a lot of the older songs were given new life when played live. I wouldn't be surprised to see something like that after a number 1 album.