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The Plan (The Osmonds album)
The Plan is the fifth studio album by The Osmonds, released in 1973. The album contains songs that are about the Mormon faith; its name derives from the Plan of Salvation, a key tenet of the Mormon faith.[3] It reached number 58 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.[4] Two of the album's singles, "Goin' Home" and "Let Me In", both peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100.[5][6] The album's third single, "Movie Man" (an experimental synthpop cut featuring Alan Osmond on lead vocals), did not chart. DevelopmentAccording to Alan Osmond, The Plan was written while on the road both as a statement of faith and an ambitious effort to create a work on par with The Beatles' "white album". During the writing of the album, a fire at a hotel in Tennessee destroyed much of the original manuscripts, forcing the family to restart from scratch.[7] He stated that although "Crazy Horses" was his favorite song to perform, he considered The Plan to be the group's best album and its magnum opus.[7] Alan took the name of his autobiography One Way Ticket from a track on The Plan, "One Way Ticket to Anywhere," which he said was based on the family's life philosophy of persistently pushing forward toward their goals and never conceding defeat.[7] ReceptionIn a retrospective review for AllMusic, Donald A. Guarisco gave the album a mixed 2.5 stars out a possible 5. He wrote, "Anyone who thinks of this family group as a bubblegum soul outfit will be bowled over by this incredibly ambitious outing, which attempts to explain the family's Mormon beliefs through a series of songs that cut across a wide variety of pop genres." The Osmonds proved themselves versatile at tackling a variety of musical styles, according to Guarisco, but the album was ultimately a "misfire" because the creative diversity led to a lack of cohesion for The Plan as a whole.[2] Sean Ross of RadioInsight noted that the Osmonds' singles in 1973 had fallen in popularity and radio airplay compared to 1971 and 1972, in part due to increased teen idol competition from The DeFranco Family.[8] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints considered the album a major success; by 1976, the quintet had increased the number of new converts to Mormonism by tens of thousands per year, and for this reason, the church exempted the brothers from the requirement to serve a traditional mission on the grounds that their music had evangelized more effectively.[9] Track listingAll songs written and composed by Alan Osmond, Merrill Osmond, and Wayne Osmond.
CreditsPromo videoTo commemorate the album's release, the band produced a 10-minute music video, performing a medley of the selected songs in the following order: "Traffic in My Mind", "Let Me In", "Are You Up There?", "The Last Days", "One Way Ticket to Anywhere", and "Goin' Home". This medley was performed live, and during Wayne's flute solo intro to "Let Me In", Alan announced the recent release of "The Plan". A full video version of "Let Me In" was also released from the same taping. ChartsAlbum
Singles
Certifications
References
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