A Review of "The Plan" by Phil Whalley
(who gave it 6 out of 10)
November 2nd 1996

According to the Coleman biog, the studio time for this album-length demo was paid for by Tony Webb, with Gary having to play bass on one session due to the non-arrival of Paul Gardiner (is this the reason for the hesitant and slightly out of tune bass on 'Something's In The House'?). The demo is well-produced, although sounds a bit one-dimensional. This session saw Gary's first encounter with a synth, quickly utilised on a few tracks, most effectively on 'Friends'. The Plan also contains the original long version of 'My Shadow In Vain', previously only available on the Roxy bootleg.

Although The Plan contained a number of tracks destined to appear on the blue album, the menacing and gloomy drugs/underworld atmosphere that permeated the latter is not present here. This is rough-around-the-edges, guitar-led punk. That said, 'Mean Street' has a nice laid-back groove and 'Check It' riffs along neatly behind a solid 4/4, more reminiscent of a Telekon-era arrangement than early Tubeway Army.

BEST TRACK - for sheer energy and in-your-faceness, 'Basic J'.