Panic at the Disco: Pretty. Odd
Panic at the Disco return with a tribute to their parents' music collections in Pretty.Odd
Monday, 24, Mar 2008 06:41
Fuelled By Ramen/Atlantic Records, out now.
In a nutshell...
Spasmodic. Unexpected. Eclectic. Meandering.
What's it all about?
The previously-teenaged quartet from the bright lights and tacky temptations of Las Vegas resurface with the follow-up to their 2005 debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, 2.2 million copies of which were snatched up by the chipped black nail varnished paws of emo kids the world over.
That follow up is Pretty. Odd, and the question should not be 'what's it all about' but 'who does it sound like?' After the digitally compressed guitars, 80s synths, polished production and innovative take on the often contrived genre of emo on their debut, Pretty. Odd sounds like an experimental cocktail of the Beatles circa 66, Pet Sounds, Ogden's-era Small Faces and, oh how it breaks the heart to taint their good name in such a manner, Super Furry Animals.
Who's it by?
Panic (previously Panic!) at the Disco formed around childhood amigos Ryan Ross (guitar and lyrics) and Spencer Smith (drums) in suburban Vegas in 2004, later recruiting singer Brendon 'not Brandon' Urie and bassist Brent Wilson.
They contacted the beating heart of commodity emo, Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, through LiveJournal who, after hearing them, signed them up to his Decaydence imprint.
Brent Wilson, according to Wilson himself, was fired by PATD for financial reasons. The band denied this and replaced him with friend Jon Walker. A whole lot of album sales, a whole lot of bottling at the Reading festival in 2006 and one aborted album later, PATD hit upon raiding their parents record collections as inspiration for Pretty. Odd.
As an example
"You don't have to worry 'cause we're still the same band." - We're So Starving
"Picking up things we shouldn't read/It looks like the end of history as we know/It's just the end of the world." - Nine in the Afternoon
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
If Pretty. Odd follows the lead of PATD's debut album and sells enough copies to buy Atlantic Record's board of directors ocean-sized, ivory-lined swimming pools filled with Bollinger, then pretty likely.
If Pretty. Odd's new direction alienates PATD's existing young fan base, does not gain an older audience due to them being perceived as an emo boyband and stiffs like a Darius album of Gareth Gates covers, then pretty unlikely.
What the others say
"Most of us have witnessed or heard the essential DNA of Panic at the Disco yet the essence of that band seems to have drifted away on this release, leaving a mass of different sounds and styles that bear no positive relation to one another." - Ben Eagles, Gigwise
"Yes, this record does sounds a lot like Panic at the Disco raping and pillaging the Beatles back catalogue, but it also sounds good. Possibly even great. Potentially incredible." - Rock Sound
So is it any good?
Despite Panic at the Disco's much vaunted reinvention of their sound, your appreciation of Pretty. Odd will rest heavily on what you make of Brendon Urie's voice. To some it is smooth, charming and lithe. To others it is overly showy and as passionate as a former member of One True Voice doing a voice over for a toilet cleaner commercial.
Whatever your opinion of it though, there is no denying that first single Nine in the Afternoon is an excellent song. Ignore the Revolver-esque licks and backwards bits, this piano-driven bait is hook laden enough to catch a great white.
Urie manages to rein in his glitziness on the In My Life lilt of Northern Downpour and Do You Know What I'm Seeing is like a country take on the Furries Show Your Hand punctuated by Muse's cover of Feeling Good.
But do you see a pattern emerging here? While PATD have obliterated the angsty, kohl-eyed, 'I-hate-my-happy-safe-white-middle-class-upbringing' cliché of emo, in becoming musical magpies they have lost something of themselves.
Mad As Rabbits and When The Day Met The Night are fine imitations of the Kinks and the Beach Boys respectively, while We're So Starving is a replica of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band in all but name. Could it be that Panic at the Disco got rid of a lot more than punctuation with that exclamation mark?
4/10
Kelvin Goodson