Punk-pop bands don’t always age well, but the boys in
Simple Plan check their adulthood at the door for
Get Your Heart On!, a zippy album whose title alone (the second penis joke in the band’s discography) speaks volumes about the music itself. These songs only take themselves half-seriously, with names like “You Suck at Love” and cheeky lyrics that compare a new relationship to being “stuck like two pieces of Velcro.” But when it comes to hooks,
Simple Plan are almost business-like in their ability to pack melodies into every verse, chorus, and guitar riff. The guys have been taking notes during their decade-plus career, and
Get Your Heart On! manages to sound young at heart without making most of the mistakes that plague albums by younger groups. There’s a star-studded guest list to help liven things up -- over a third of the songs feature cameos, with people like
Rivers Cuomo,
Natasha Bedingfield, and
All Time Low’s
Alex Gaskarth all lending their help -- and the production is punchy and to the point, emphasizing the band’s guitars and anthemic vocals without cluttering up the picture with strings, electronics, or other studio trickery.
Simple Plan may be too old to write this sort of music, which sounds as though it’s still aimed at teenagers, but that doesn’t mean they’ve lost their knack for it, and
Get Your Heart On! is every bit as tuneful as the group’s debut. ~ Andrew Leahey