Review: “Pretty. Odd.” Panic At The Disco
Giving the new CD by Panic At The Disco a first spin, you initially get the idea that these Las Vegas youngsters found Mom and Dad’s Beatles albums in a closet somewhere. Pretty. Odd. is that, but it’s much more: it’s the sound of a talented band expanding their horizons. If you were one of the millions who bought the group’s first emo-drenched album, you may not dig this collection of trippy-cute tunes that recall the second-wave British invasion days of the 1960s. “She Had The World,” with a harpsichord plunking and a string quartet, conjures a picture of Brian Jones wearing a frilly shirt and sniffing a flower in the park. To balance that kind of silliness, the band also offers pop gems like “Nine In the Afternoon” that, despite the psychedelicized title and strange lyrics, have a nice melodic sense and hooks galore. Get past the druggy jokes and the odd titles, and you have a very listenable album here. The sun’s come out and all of those emo clouds have burned away — let’s go play among the big plastic flowers.
