Mar 25
Review: Panic at the Disco - Pretty. Odd.
Put away your dance shoes and take a seat; this is not the Panic you were expecting.
Panic at the Disco, who aptly changed their name to exclude the “!” after Panic, has come out of left field with their new album, “Pretty. Odd.” Instead of the dance-rock that skyrocketed them into stardom in “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,” Panic has decided to take a more indie approach to their sound. Gone are the days where my inner 13 year old girl can belt out “Shotgun wedding!” and dance to the old electronic breakdowns that were my guilty pleasure from the old Panic! All is not lost though, as this album is a solid release from this band that came out of nowhere to swoon teen hearts.
After my first run of “Pretty. Odd.” I was disappointed. I am accepting of a band when they decide to change their sound, but not a single song on this album reminds me of “Fever.” After my initial letdown, I forced myself to run through the album a few more times to see if it had redeeming qualities, knowing Panic at the Disco wouldn’t dare release an absolute dud of an album. I’m glad I did, as now I enjoy the album thoroughly.
Enough about what Pretty Odd is not. This album is a step towards the indie/classic rock scene, with obvious influences from the Beatles and The Beach Boys. These influences show up through slow acoustic melodies and paced rock ballads. One of the most surprising things to come out of this album is the fact that Panic has 2 vocalists. I’m not talking about backup vocals, there are 2 lead vocalists. Ryan Ross’ new sound is as opposite as “Fever” and “Pretty. Odd.” so it seems like a good time to introduce him. His voice is more stereotypical than Brendon Urie’s, which is expected because of how unique Brendon’s voice is in the first place. Ryan is featured significantly in 4 songs from the album and does an impressive job. Though his voice is very plain and sounds like most emo vocalists, he shows more control and musicianship than most. Like the album as a whole, it took me a few runs to appreciate his vocals, but now I feel he fits in the mix perfectly.
Because this album is less poppy and such a turnaround from “Fever,” my prediction is it will receive less radio time but will build a stronger core audience. There are fewer hits on this album because they moved away from the dance and pop scenes, but overall this album is more focused and solid.
The best part about the new album? Now I don’t have to roll up my windows to sing along to Panic at the Disco. Before they were purely a guilty pleasure, but this new album lends them more credibility in the music scene. So give it a couple of plays before you judge it too harshly and “Pretty. Odd.” may just be one of your new favorite albums.
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March 25th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
What does this band keep insisting on using punctuation in their work; it’s a nightmare organizing your music library and iPod. Every media player wants to handle the the files differently, my iPod shows Panic and Panic! as separate artists– it’s just a mess. I suppose taking the “!” out of their name is a step in the right direction, but then they went and spiced up the album name.
File this comment under “Why!, ‘People’:– y/WHY++?”
March 25th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Yeah, I had a bit of trouble writing this article because of that. When I wanted a comma after the album name it just looked weird to put “Pretty. Odd.,” or “Pretty. Odd.”, so I just skipped the commas altogether. Yes people, I know I am supposed to put commas inside the quotes, but I am allowed to use a little creative license when up against the wall like this, right?
Because I’m a nerd, I wonder how this will effect them from an SEO standpoint. I know engines will mostly ignore the periods in the album name, but this can still cause confusion. Will articles that leave out the periods rank higher innately because they are easier to read and because people will more than likely search for the album title as “Pretty Odd” or will it not matter at all?
March 25th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I personally think the enthusiasts will always put in the punctuation and the casual listeners will swing both ways in how the album is spelled.
March 29th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I’m still not sure about the album. Nothern Downpour is the most like the Panic we used to love, but i can’t get over how awesome the old album was.
Ryan Ross dosen’t really fit in with Brendon’s voice - purley because Brendon has such an unusual sound & can get away with slightly flat notes all the time.
I doubt it’ll become as much of a favourite as Fever, since i absolutley adore it.
but, as i haven’t listened to the WHOLE album yet, I reserve absolute judgement.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
[...] the end, my prediction of this album is not quite as enthusiastic as when I reviewed Panic at the Disco’s Pretty.Odd., but is still positive. This doesn’t seem like much of a radio album, so I think Death Cab [...]