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Boys in emo bands have it pretty good these days, don’t they? The chords are easy, the girls adoring, and the Facebook friends bountiful. Plus, for all the specificity of their tribal markings — the guyliner, the geometric swoops of hair, the exquisitely tight jeans — today’s scene makers cut an increasingly large swath demographically: Last year alone, Fall Out Boy dabbled in hip-hop by nabbing a Jay-Z cameo (”Thriller”); Gym Class Heroes repurposed a decades-old Supertramp hook for a top 10 pop hit (”Cupid’s Chokehold”); and the Plain White T’s pleased tweens and moms alike with a sweet acoustic ballad (”Hey There Delilah”).
As for Panic at the Disco? Just barely out of their teens, the Las Vegas foursome sold more than 1.7 million copies of their propulsive 2005 debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, and in 2006 snagged MTV’s Video of the Year award. Though they scrapped a mysterious concept CD last year, they’ve managed to bust through any remaining confines of the genre with Pretty. Odd., an admirably ambitious musical bonanza. There are arena anthems (”Nine in the Afternoon,” ”That Green Gentleman,” ”Pas de Cheval”), fiddle-ridden goofs (”Folkin’ Around”), intricate Beatles psych-outs (”She Had the World,” ”Behind the Sea,” ”The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know”), orchestral Smiths-ian rambles (”Do You Know What I’m Seeing?”) — even a kicky juke-joint swinger (”I Have Friends in Holy Spaces”).
Meanwhile, the twisty song titles of the past — e.g., ”The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage” — are gone. And the band’s arch, almost smarmy lyrics are here replaced by more sincere, if less clever, sentiments: ”Oh how it’s been so long/We’re so sorry we’ve been gone/We were busy writing songs for you,” singer Brendon Urie coos cozily on ”We’re So Starving.” In fact, nearly all the signposts of modern-day emo are AWOL; this is a showy, sprawling, old-fashioned pop experience, pure and simple.
In the end, Pretty. Odd. is more pretty than odd. The band may occasionally outpace themselves in an eagerness to make a Big Important Record (the songwriting occasionally falls flat, and their inspirations are sometimes too transparent), but they succeed an impressive amount of the time. It’s almost — dare we say it? — a headphones album, a dense, largely enjoyable layer cake of ideas and instrumentation that might actually alienate its teenage fans. Or, one hopes, it may inspire them to delve into their parents’ record collection for Sgt. Pepper’s, Cheap Trick at Budokan, Kris Kristofferson’s The Silver Tongued Devil and I, and all the other stuff that, you know, ”old” people dig. And that may be Pretty’s best surprise of all.
Panic at the Disco - That Green Gentleman (*)
Panic at the Disco - Pas De Cheval (*)
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
jasdf 03.26.08 at 7:15 pm
new cd is booooring & too slow :< shit
Anonymous 03.26.08 at 7:16 pm
“A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” is sooooo much better!
Jakie 03.26.08 at 7:18 pm
Commend them for having the stones to release something that was only going to alienate their (close-minded) existing fanbase. Truly it surpasses a Fever in every possible way.
britz 03.26.08 at 7:21 pm
Definitely an album that is “meh” at first listen and then amazing after the third or fourth listen.
TRFWRK 03.27.08 at 6:18 am
since when is Gym Class Heroes emo?
Anonymous 03.27.08 at 5:36 pm
since forever… lol
rachel 03.28.08 at 12:36 pm
I loved the old album, and i love the new one just as much. They may be way different, but that doesnt make the new one any less amazing.
allie 03.28.08 at 1:51 pm
I agree with britz, except for “Nine in the afternoon” (which I downloaded the CD for), I didn’t care for it my first time through. But now, with each listen, it’s getting better. I really love “folkin around” and I like how this cd is pretty, but still has that quirkiness that makes Panic what they are.
Dean McKey 03.28.08 at 2:49 pm
Being as big a Beatles fan as I am, I almost wouldn’t let myself like it at first. The orchestration, and even some guitar and string tones are identical to Beatles music. However, I must say that Pretty Odd is hands down the best complete album I’ve heard in years. It’s an old fashioned experience that just feels right. Perfect album.
kidult 03.30.08 at 1:29 pm
hmmm.. not sure about it, i really want to like it, but i must admit i miss the heavy stuff that gave it abit of balls and drive.. reinvention is fine but unsure of this direction.. saying that i thought that about ok computer but i agree the influences are a bit obvious peter gabriel springs to mind, only time will tell.
William 03.31.08 at 9:13 am
I thought it was average and slow first time round. And even though I do feel they shouldn’t have tried to put orchestration on nigh on every track, I now think it is brilliant. I’ve been listening to it non stop since Thursday and I don’t think I could listen to the first album now.
MCR_sdmasldnas,n d 04.01.08 at 3:45 pm
sorry but panic! its not EMO u know what emo is? is like punk rock - pop and the dress like dark .. panic its like pop alternative or something like that— I LOVE PANIC but this new album its not as good as the first one
offy56 04.02.08 at 3:29 pm
great cd.
“When the Day Met the Night” and “Pas De Cheval”
are my faves
MTKB 04.09.08 at 10:12 pm
boring and contrived… i understand what they’re trying to do and i empathize with musicians that don’t want to get stuck writing the same material album after album, but this record doesn’t innovate, inspire or awaken any real emotion inside of me. personally, i don’t see myself listening to this one very much.
Anonymous 04.10.08 at 10:02 am
I think a new albom is pretty cool, because they show themselves in diffirent genre.