2008 Woodie Awards
Panic's album is "pretty. bad."
Michael DiGrande
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: Arts and Entertainment
Everything surrounding Panic(!) At The Disco's new album "Pretty. Odd." is anything but normal.
At first it was just little things, the slightest of hints that fans morphed into an ugly snowball of anticipation.
There was the bizarre viral marketing, talks of scrapping fully completed albums, and the omission of the beloved exclamation point that normally followed "Panic" in the band's name.
However, upon listening to the new material, it's apparent that enjoying "Pretty. Odd." will hinge on listeners' abilities to differentiate the old, punctuation loving Panic At The Disco, from this new harbinger of weird.
"Pretty. Odd." finds these four Vegas natives ditching the hard electronic break beats, frenzied rhythms, and keyboard squiggles for over orchestrated 60s guitar pop that's messy rather than meticulous.
The endless comparisons to The Beatles circa "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" are fully warranted from the fluid guitar melodies and the elaborate horn segments, but it all feels tacked on and artificial.
There is no growth or evolution in the current sound from the band's former material, just a hard shift to a different style, putting the band's artistic merit in question.
And unlike The Beatles, Panic At The Disco lack the ability to stay relevant and clever, resulting in a song set that reeks of half-formed ideas and idol worship.
When the band attempts humor like in the album's introduction "We're So Starving," it comes off like self-parody as they sing, "We're still the same/BAND!"
The only reason anybody knows this is still Panic At The Disco is because of the horrible, LSD inspired fashion statements they've recently decided to sport.
The lead single "Nine In The Afternoon" is perhaps the brightest spot on the album, partially because of how the band aims to command this new sound rather than being tethered to it.
The orchestration is big and bombastic, with loopy guitar lines from guitarist/songwriter Ryan Ross, big backing harmonies, striking string arrangements, and Brendon Urie's high register delivering a plate load of hooks.
At first it was just little things, the slightest of hints that fans morphed into an ugly snowball of anticipation.
There was the bizarre viral marketing, talks of scrapping fully completed albums, and the omission of the beloved exclamation point that normally followed "Panic" in the band's name.
However, upon listening to the new material, it's apparent that enjoying "Pretty. Odd." will hinge on listeners' abilities to differentiate the old, punctuation loving Panic At The Disco, from this new harbinger of weird.
"Pretty. Odd." finds these four Vegas natives ditching the hard electronic break beats, frenzied rhythms, and keyboard squiggles for over orchestrated 60s guitar pop that's messy rather than meticulous.
The endless comparisons to The Beatles circa "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" are fully warranted from the fluid guitar melodies and the elaborate horn segments, but it all feels tacked on and artificial.
There is no growth or evolution in the current sound from the band's former material, just a hard shift to a different style, putting the band's artistic merit in question.
And unlike The Beatles, Panic At The Disco lack the ability to stay relevant and clever, resulting in a song set that reeks of half-formed ideas and idol worship.
When the band attempts humor like in the album's introduction "We're So Starving," it comes off like self-parody as they sing, "We're still the same/BAND!"
The only reason anybody knows this is still Panic At The Disco is because of the horrible, LSD inspired fashion statements they've recently decided to sport.
The lead single "Nine In The Afternoon" is perhaps the brightest spot on the album, partially because of how the band aims to command this new sound rather than being tethered to it.
The orchestration is big and bombastic, with loopy guitar lines from guitarist/songwriter Ryan Ross, big backing harmonies, striking string arrangements, and Brendon Urie's high register delivering a plate load of hooks.
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