Yes, this album is called !. As their first release, it shows the potential of what they are capable of. The songs are fast, energetic, and have great lyrics.

However, the production is murky in that "we're a teenage punk band" kind of way. It is as if The Plan didn't know how they wanted to sound on record, so they had the engineer (no Producer is credited on the disc) record them to sound like their favorite records. Which, from the sound of it, included early Black Flag, Polvo, and the Sex Pistols. Not a bad combo really, but the general fuzziness of the album causes something to be lost. One can sense that many of the songs are excelelnt, but it's hard to make them out through the production.

On the whole -- it showed their potential, and had quite a few good tunes.

This album has somewhat better production than !, but it still needed... something. The songs also are not as strong as on the previous release. Also, there is an undertone of depression that seeps through on this disc for me. Perhaps it is the lyrics, or perhaps it is because, as Tracers says, they had a lead on a new record deal with a bigger label, and it fell through. Whatever.

I like this the least of their releases.

A lot of people have dubbed this "The Best Album of 1999", and i am inclined to agree. All of the songs on this disc are well written and well played. There is not a clunker to speak of.

By the time they were recording this, The Plan had a better idea of how to transfer their music to recorded medium. The songs are clear -- you can hear the individual guitar parts as well as the keyboard drones. And the voice is very clearly recorded, although it is not pushed out in the mix, it is still blended in with the rest of the instrumentation. The amazing thing about listening to this album is that it sounds, more or less, EXACTLY like they sound live. No, really. The Plan have captured themselves remarkably well.

I truly love this album, and have foisted it upon as many people as i can. Go get it. NOW!