Nearly every week, we round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Today’s installment covers Panic at the Disco’s Pretty. Odd, which lead singer Brendon Urie said should be described in a way that should make at least one reference to its awkwardly punctuated title. Did critics take Urie’s challenge? Let’s find out!
• “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.” [EW]
• And there are loads of gorgeous pop songs, including ‘Northern Downpour,’ an acoustic gem that sounds like Panic’s take on a Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ballad. Like their mentors Fall Out Boy did on Infinity on High, Panic at the Disco has taken a quantum leap forward in terms of ambition and execution. Pretty. Odd. is the exact opposite of the sophomore slump–a sophomore smash they can be proud of.” [Newsday]
• “This isn’t the most original album you’ll hear this year, but don’t panic. At least PATD had the good sense to steal from the best.” [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
• “Pretty. Odd. is a brave change and a wildly elaborate project. ‘I can’t prove this makes any sense but I sure hope that it does,’ Mr. Urie declares in ‘The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know.’ Nearly every song is packed with vocal harmonies and orchestral flourishes, and Panic at the Disco has obviously studied the Beatles’ melodies as carefully as their arrangements. But for all its craftsmanship, Pretty. Odd. comes across as mannered and overbearing, more studied than exuberant, the magnum opus of a talented band charging wholeheartedly down a blind alley.” [NYT]
A “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ballad”? Does that mean “She’s Leaving Home”? Because that’s the only song I can think of that would qualify as a “ballad”. Why must Newsday be so obscure? Or is it just a matter of word count?
This record is alarmingly good.
I can’t imagine what the reviews would say if they didn’t have the strings / horns etc.
A Silver Tongued Devil shout out? Really? That can’t possibly mean I should listen to this band does it?
Sold.
I’d rather listen to Jellyfish if I want to hear some good Beatles rip-off stuff!
I almost want to hear this thing now.
@musicquizking: Jellyfish were equally as good at ripping off Queen as they were the Beatles. That is why they were the best band ever.
…and I continue to be contented with Argybargy.
Horns and strings are wonderful things and I wholeheartedly look forward to bands which stretch out far enough from the ubiquitous and mined-to-extinction guitar, bass and drums format to try their collective hands out at things like these - raise your hand if you like Vampire Weekend.
That having been said, when a major name act tries out something like this, I dread a cover up, a high budget dressing up for something that’s on the verge of running out of ideas.
And I don’t suppose I like PATD enough to risk wasting my time with this. I’ll chicken out and wait for other people to declare it 2008’s Masterpiece before I head over to scrounge around some Bit Torrent site or other.
@musicquizking:
Somewhere Chip Z’Nuff is waiting in vain for a Beatles ripoff shout out…
@joe bananas: Shockingly (considering my low esteem of all things P!ATD), I agree. I can’t even bring myself to hate “Folkin’ Around”, and Jellyfish doing Sgt. Pepper isn’t exactly a bad thing to aim for.
i think it’s a little unhealthy how much i love this record.
My inherent prejudice against PATD is such that even if this album was universally hailed as the best record of 2008, or for that matter, of all time, I still couldn’t bring myself to listen to it.