The debut album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out released 3 years ago introduced a band from Las Vegas Panic! At The Disco (PATD) to the public. With the hit single I Write Sins Not Tradgedies surprised people on MTV Awards, more and more underground bands found a new way to reach success. If you knew PATD, you must have heard the way of this band getting famous: after posting message on Pete Wentz’s livejournal, PATD got the chance to send demo to this bass guitar player from Fall Out Boy. After listened to a few songs of PATD, Wentz signed these four guys, who did not have any performing experience, under his company Decaydance Record without hesitation. Taking this turning point, Panic! At The Disco started their journey of glory. They were on the cover of Rolling Stone earlier than Fall Out Boy!
After years of silence, group members determined to delete the exclamatory mark from the band name into Panic At The Disco and released their second album Pretty Odd this year (2008). Compared to their first album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, this album was more about classic Brit-rock, which the former dance-punk style has nowhere to be found.
Since their debut album has received so many accomplishments, their second album has to face the comparison. As an Indie-rock band from Las Vegas, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out is defined as an emo record; meanwhile, electric element has been added to the album. This marriage made the album stand out to other similar bands; also, this was very smart. At that time, emo-rock represented by Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance was prevalent in the record industry. It was too popular even parents have to oppose their children to listen to this genre of music (It was reported that a teenage girl committed suicide because she listened to emo music frequently before she died). As the rookie at that time, it was normal to build a relationship to emo (lyrics and arrangement). However, they knew they would never be outstanding if they only follow the trend; therefore, they put electric-dance style into the songs. Based on their success, audiences and fans already define PATD as a dance-emo band. Thus, when Pretty Odd came out, the people who waited from the dance-emo felt disappointed about PATD, thinking that they were making a poor album.
But if we listened to Pretty Odd carefully, we could find that they have actually improved. Even though it was odd, it was pretty. If we said the debut album was dramatic in order to draw attention from the public, then their second one represented their seriousness in treating music. This could understand why they took out the exclamatory mark from the band name.
Although the major part of Pretty Odd was recorded in Las Vegas, the orchestra part was recorded in London, UK. The cover of the album was eerie as usual, but compared to the first one, this one was more retrospective. Opening song was no longer using the Intro format like A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out did; We’re So Starving was a song describing the status quo: “We’re so sorry we’ve been gone/we were busy writing song for you/…/you don’t have to worry/cause we’re still the same”. One thing ambivalently that it was explicit PATD changed their style, then why they still promised to the fans they didn’t change. Perhaps what they meant was their passion of making music. In total, this 1-minute-and-half length song was still same as an Intro. It not only introduced the whole album, but also put sound of approval into the song, sounded assertive, but it was also the spirit of youths, wasn’t it?
Nine In the Afternoon was the first single from Pretty Odd. Most people understood briefly in what direction was PATD about to change after heard this song, so this song is very "pretty-odd", which was very classic-pop. Reducing distorted sound from the guitar and increasing the use of orchestra, this song sounded fresh and innocent. If not knowing PATD, people would believe they were listening to a ballad band. Furthermore, the lyrics were no longer full of satiric and ironical attitude, on the contrary, they were more positive and sunny. Distorted guitar was utilized at the beginning of the song She’s a Handsome Woman, which made people believe PATD put their last album’s song in it, but after then, it was a retro-pop song from arrangement to chord.
Personally, their second single That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed) was my favorite one. The setting of the MV was based on Russian Matryoshka with beautiful pastoral scene, which was completely different from the former MVs. Therefore, this song contained to feeling of Brit-pop no matter watching MV or listening to it. Brendon’s voice sound comfortable. “Things have changed for me/and that’s okay…”. These kinds of lyrics even made people fall into a cozy classic-pop environment. Besides, most of the songs utilized retro Element, such as a effect of phonograph in I Have Friends In Holy Spaces seemed to take us back to those period, having orchestra at the beginning of Do You Know What I’m Seeing? matched perfectly to the feeling of the album cover, also, harmonica played a crucial role in this song. Other than that, songs like Behind the Sea and Pas De Cheval fully expressed the idea of getting retro. Northern Downpour and Folkin’ Around have a taste of country-folk which provide a fresh experience.
The whole album was better than the former one in both sound arrangement and the depth of lyrics. There still have something that worthy for applause. Although it was a shock to those who love dance-emo, Pretty Odd debuted No. 2 on both UK Chart and the U.S. Billboard. That was the reason why Pete Wentz has said Pretty Odd was the most exciting album in the year.
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