Pretty. Odd.

Panic At The Disco

Released on 3/21/08 by Decaydance - Fueled By Ramen - ATL
Main artists: Panic! At The Disco
Genre: Alternative & Indie

Digital booklet

Available in

16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo

Unlimited Streaming

Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps

Start my trial period and start listening to this album

Enjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription

Digital Download

Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.

Tempting as it may be, don't read the dropping of the exclamation point from Panic at the Disco's name as a sign that the emo quartet is in a rush to be taken seriously. Don't even take their blatant aping of Sgt. Pepper's on Pretty. Odd as indication that Panic at the Disco wants to be taken seriously. There doesn't seem to be a serious bone within the bodies of any of the four members, but the wondrous thing about Pretty. Odd is that it's impossible to discern what silliness is intentional and what is accidental, the product of a band discovering the Beatles long after their 2005 debut A Fever You Can't Sweat Out turned into a hit. There's a startling naïveté to PATD's sudden immersion in symphonic psychedelic pop; the band is either too young or dumb to not realize that they're putting together familiar elements wrong, or that they shouldn't be attempting the baroque ballads and vaudeville shuffles that pepper this album...but they're smart enough to send-up the opening of Pepper's, twisting the Beatles' declaration that they were now Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band around, claiming that they're they same band they always were. Of course this is a bald-faced lie, as the only clear remnants from PATD's debut are the overly complicated song titles and fussy lyrics, but few will complain as the group retain their theatrical ridiculousness while unveiling a newfound panache for pop, all derived from their desire to pattern themselves after the Beatles. Panic at the Disco are hardly the first modern rock band to slavishly follow the example of their peers -- My Chemical Romance copied every one of Queen's exaggerated moves for The Black Parade, while the Killers treated Sam's Town as if it was a Springsteen coloring book -- but PATD's clueless, audacious thievery of the Beatles pays back far greater dividends, partially because stealing from the Fab Four guarantees an emphasis on melody over style, but also because PATD shows far more humor than MCR or the Killers. That humor -- and it's possible to laugh at and laugh along with the band in equal measure here -- makes Pretty. Odd a giddy absurdity, as Panic at the Disco is determined to have it both ways: to make grand, pompous music while retaining their identity as pranksters. The album is so out of control, it's hard to tell whether the group planned Pretty. Odd to be a kaleidoscopic mess, or if occurred by happenstance, but that raggedness will appeal to the teens who loved A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, but this bafflingly blurred Brit-pop could hook in older listeners, too, either through its genuine tunefulness or through pop junkies who will marvel at how "Folkin' Around" comes startlingly close to re-creating the sound of the Byrds circa Sweetheart of the Rodeo, or how "Do You Know What I'm Seeing" is equal parts Morrissey parody and homage. It all adds up to a pretty and odd record and it erases no suspicions that the band aren't quite sure of what they're doing, but the glorious thing about Pretty. Odd is that the album works in spite of this...or perhaps because of it. Either way, this is a deliriously jumbled, left-field delight.

© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

More info

Pretty. Odd.

Panic! At The Disco

You are currently listening to samples.

Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.

Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.

From $10.83/month

We're So Starving (Album Version)

00:01:21

Mark Gray, AssistantEngineer - Tony Kadleck, Trumpet - Lewis Jones, AssistantEngineer - Jonathan Allen, Engineer - Chris Laurence, Double Bass - Andy Snitzer, Tenor Saxophone - BRENDON URIE, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Harpsichord, Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Vocals, Writer, Ukulele - RYAN ROSS, Guitar, Keyboards, Piano, Vocals, Writer, Harmonica - SPENCER SMITH, Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Writer - Panic! At The Disco, MainArtist - Perry Montague-Mason, First Violin - Peter Lale, Viola - Scott Hull, MasteringEngineer - Peter Cobbin, MixingEngineer - ROB MATHES, Conductor, Producer, Orchestral Arranger, Additional Guitar, Additional Keyboards, Mandolin, Piano - Claudius Mittendorfer, Audio Recording Engineer, MixingEngineer - Roger Rosenberg, Baritone Saxophone - Warren Zielinski, Second Violin - Richard Lancaster, Assistant Mixing Engineer - David Mann, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone - Jon Walker, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals, Writer - Peter Hutchings, SecondEngineer - Mike Davis, Trombone - Alex Venguer, Engineer - Jeff Kievit, Flugelhorn, Trumpet - Tony Pleeth, Cello - Wayne Warnecke, Engineer

© 2008 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States. ℗ 2008 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States

Nine in the Afternoon (Single Mix) (Album Version)