By Ryan Broderick
Panic At The Disco’s “Pretty.Odd.” is exactly that. The 15-track album had buzz about it leaking out of every pore of every giggly, Fall Out Boy T-shirt wearing, stripped, fingerless glove clad, parents-driving-them-to-the-mall-to-get-the-new-Pete-Wentz-cover-of-Tiger-Beat, 14-year-old girl on the planet and now that it’s out, the question is: “Is it any good?”
Unfortunately, that question is a tough one. It’s certainly different. On their last album the band danced, hopped, crooned and wore really confusing circus clothes through a fairly solid album showcasing the young band’s desire to do something original. The album had glimpses of techno, powerpop, swing and even ragtime. Before the media circus and then backlash from hipsters who (of course) “knew better”, many critics were calling Panic’s first endeavor a spectacular feat. And it was.
“Pretty.Odd.” is a fairly natural progression from “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” and while its tenacity and scale are unbelievable, it’s not so original. Plainly put, if someone wanted to listen to the Beatles they would.
The album opens up with “We’re So Starving”, a minute and a half song serving as a message to their fans about how they’re still here and still kicking and while it’s cute, it’s also incredibly lame.
The album then moves on to their first single “Nine In The Afternoon.” Even though it will surely be radio-played into a gruesome death, it’s a fantastic pop song. And that’s what “Pretty.Odd.” is, it’s pop in its simplest, most twinkly, twangy, ’60s minimalist sense.
The album starts to be a little more reminiscent of its predecessor in the second half, but it’s still not the band a lot of people are going to be listening for. What the album is though, is catchy, well put-together and considerably more mature.
To those who don’t get the change, the clues to it are found in the band’s career leading up to the release of “Pretty.Odd.” When a band tours for so long with such a small repertoire, essentially playing every track off one album for two years, it’s no surprise that what they go back into the studio to make sounds nothing like the original.
Also the early ruminations of how the album was being made set out a blue print for this seemingly insane change of pace. Panic had originally lined up Danny Elfman, who scored “A Nightmare Before Christmas,” to produce. Also, after the first couple of months in the studio they stopped writing anything new, scrapped what they had and started over completely, looking for songs with a “a more positive outlook to them,” according to guitarist Ryan Ross.
Maybe that’s the best way to explain the difference between “Pretty.Odd.” and “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out.” Instead of using pop structures to mask usually far darker themes, they’ve instead just written pop songs. After hearing the final result, the verdict is overwhelmingly positive. For all the things that might turn someone off to the new album, there are plenty more to bring back old fans and bring in new ones.
What “Pretty.Odd.” is, is the full embrace of what Panic At The Disco could do and could be someday. That is one of the best pop bands to come out in a long time. Right now, though, they’re just laying out the map to it, and they’re doing so in the foot prints of greater bands before them.