Artist: Panic At The Disco
Album: Pretty, Odd.
Release Date: March 25, 2008
You wanna talk about albums that got the short end of the stick, you’d do right to talk about Panic at the Disco’s second album. Pretty, Odd. is a creative sharp left turn from the band’s formulaic pop-punk debut. But this album is by no means bad. Yes, it very clearly derives its sound from The Beatles, The Beach Boys and other “classic oldie” bands, and those hipsters who expect pure originality at every turn will find plenty to get self-righteous about. But for the rest of us, this is an album of beautifully melodic, meaningful music. On top of that, Pretty, Odd. is a HUGE risk of an album. How many artists on their second record, coming off a worldwide hit, do a complete about-face from the sound that sold them records in the first place? Not that many. And given how critical reception and record sales turned out for Pretty, Odd. it’s my personal belief that when we as a society complain that our music has gotten too safe, too generic, and no one does anything big or risky with their music, we have no one to blame but ourselves. I think Pretty, Odd. is a perfect example of that.
Of course, history now tells us this record was the result of a creative rift within the band, but let’s be real here; even The Beatles had The White Album.
Panic at the Disco – Nine in the Afternoon [iTunes] (YSI)
==TJ==
Filed under: Album A Day | Tagged: 2000s, Album A Day, Panic at the Disco
Agree 100%
When the Day Met the Night was my summer anthem! And Panic at the Disco definitely deserve credit for releasing one of the most ambitious mainstream releases. It sucks that not even the general public seemed to notice such a strong effort.
I was thinking of their first album today, as my co-teacher was singing “my favourite things” to our class. I remembered their parody version of it on A Fever.