Panic At The Disco Let The Strings Come In

Nearly every week, we round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Today’s installment covers Panic at the Disco’s Pretty. Odd, which lead singer Brendon Urie said should be described in a way that should make at least one reference to its awkwardly punctuated title. Did critics take Urie’s challenge? Let’s find out!

• “It’s almost–dare we say it?–a headphones album, a dense, largely enjoyable layer cake of ideas and instrumentation that might actually alienate its teenage fans. Or, one hopes, it may inspire them to delve into their parents’ record collection for Sgt. Pepper’s, Cheap Trick at Budokan, Kris Kristofferson’s The Silver Tongued Devil and I, and all the other stuff that, you know, ‘old’ people dig. And that may be Pretty‘s best surprise of all.” [EW] • And there are loads of gorgeous pop songs, including ‘Northern Downpour,’ an acoustic gem that sounds like Panic’s take on a Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ballad. Like their mentors Fall Out Boy did on Infinity on High, Panic at the Disco has taken a quantum leap forward in terms of ambition and execution. Pretty. Odd. is the exact opposite of the sophomore slump–a sophomore smash they can be proud of.” [Newsday] • “This isn’t the most original album you’ll hear this year, but don’t panic. At least PATD had the good sense to steal from the best.” [Cleveland Plain Dealer] • “Pretty. Odd. is a brave change and a wildly elaborate project. ‘I can’t prove this makes any sense but I sure hope that it does,’ Mr. Urie declares in ‘The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know.’ Nearly every song is packed with vocal harmonies and orchestral flourishes, and Panic at the Disco has obviously studied the Beatles’ melodies as carefully as their arrangements. But for all its craftsmanship, Pretty. Odd. comes across as mannered and overbearing, more studied than exuberant, the magnum opus of a talented band charging wholeheartedly down a blind alley.” [NYT]