Pretty. Odd
| Panic at the Disco
Pretty. Odd
Pretty. Odd. (stylized as Welcome to the Sound of Pretty Odd) is the second studio album by American rock band Panic at the Disco. Recorded at the Studio at the Palms in Paradise, Nevada with additional production at Abbey Road Studios in London with producer Rob Mathes, the album was released March 25, 2008 on Decaydance and Fueled by Ramen. Inspired by baroque pop and the works of The Beatles and The Beach Boys, the psychedelic-styled rock album differs greatly from the techno-influenced pop punk of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (2005).-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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ALTPRESS
Pretty. Odd. can be summed up in one word: Ambitious. Panic have created the best album of 1971, loaded with dense arrangements, multi-tracked vocal harmonies and assorted keyboard, tuned percussion, string and horn charts seemingly lifted out of a dirty, faded box in Sir George Martin’s garage.
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Rolling Stone
Panic At The Disco Grow Up, Quiet Down on “Pretty. Odd.”
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DROWNED IN SOUND
It may not be an album to die for, but it is a rare album of note, as much for its context as its content.
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NME
‘Pretty. Odd.’ is a victory for artistic ambition over cynical careerism, and we should all rejoice in their decision to follow their instincts as opposed to their instructions and actually do something different. Well, that and the fact that they’ve also produced one of the feel-good psych-pop albums of the year.
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IGN
Their follow-up album, entitled Pretty. Odd, is a vast departure from the debut and most of the music sounds like it was inspired by repeated listens to albums from the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Kinks.
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sputnik music
While Pretty. Odd. might have just been a detour in the musical journey of Panic, it manages to be the most musically diverse and impressive album they’ve released yet.
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NME
‘Pretty. Odd.’, released ten years ago this week, was a stylistic heel-turn that alienated huge swathes of Panic!’s fanbase. But given Panic! At The Disco’s subsequent return to more punchy, pop-punk influenced material, and a more recent transformation into a straight-up pop behemoth, ‘Pretty. Odd.’ stands up as an interesting experiment in an admirably varied career, rather than the failed footnote I had presumed.
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Digital Spy
Pretty.Odd. is the best kind of album from a band that's still in chrysalis: bold, ambitious, as likely to raise eyebrows as sales figures; in short, an exuberant mess.
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Slant Magazine
Every song on Pretty. Odd. is played and sung with the exuberant delivery of Rent on Broadway.
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PopMattters
If you assembled a Who’s Who convention of every artist in mainstream rock, on the other hand, Pretty. Odd. would outshine nearly all of them on a ten-to-one basis.
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SPIN
Pretty. Odd. lives up to its title because it dares to be optimistically beautiful at a time when sadness and ugliness might have won them easier credibility.
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ROCKHAQ
Pretty Odd is the second album from Panic at the Disco. The album shows a drastic change from its predecessor A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out as it takes on more musical genres and incorporates a diverse range of instruments.
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ALLMUSIC
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.
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50THIRDAND3RD
Each and every song features an infectious vibe that never fails to lift my spirit. It’s a criminally underrated, psychedelic record that strangely remains one of my favorite mainstream pop releases of the last decade.
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THE YOUNG FOLKS
In some ways, Pretty. Odd. is exactly what the band set out to make: an album with no clear direction except to expand their musical talents and influences.
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Common Sense Media
Pompous, but more pleasant than first album
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IT'S ALL DEAD
Pretty. Odd. is an amazing album that will truly never receive its due credit. The diversity of sound and surreal, dreamlike paintings throughout the record are mesmerizing in ways that no other band has been able to replicate.
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ALTERNATIVE ADDICTION
This is a great album and Panic at the Disco’s ambition here is worth noticing and appreciating.
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THE STUDENT PLAYLIST
Pretty. Odd. is that one Panic! At The Disco album that can and does stand on its own. Its optimistic, romantic tone, unheard of lyrical flourish and the rich and heady musical material that keeps on giving with every new listen is the peak of the ‘old Panic! At The Disco’, symbolizing the end of the Urie-Ross partnership that created the specific flavour and urgency that A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out began to show and which blossomed fully with Pretty. Odd.
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ACRN
Instead of applying modern production techniques, Pretty Odd takes on traditional methods to fully encapsulate the ‘60s feel, playing with panning and stereo space for all instruments. Surprisingly, it worked very well for this album and style, proving that going back to the roots are sometimes the best.
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plugged in
Instead of giving fans another round of cynical emo and pop/punk, the band's upbeat second disc sounds like a 21st century tribute to playful, Beatles-esque psychedelia. Lyrically, it's abstract and very much as advertised: Pretty. Odd. Not great, but not panic-inducing.
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Amino
Even though I never listen to this style of music outside of Panic! And the Beatles, I really enjoy the overall feel and tone of this album.
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Entertainment
In the end, Pretty. Odd. is more pretty than odd. The band may occasionally outpace themselves in an eagerness to make a Big Important Record (the songwriting occasionally falls flat, and their inspirations are sometimes too transparent), but they succeed an impressive amount of the time.
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POPBUZZ
Panic's second record, Pretty. Odd, departed sharply from their ultra industrial debut album and veered sweetly more toward a sound and aesthetic that they would come to lose on their third release.
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npr music
Now Panic at the Disco is back with Pretty. Odd and a more mature sound.
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People
And Pretty. Odd. does well to assure that they won’t go down as some emo dudes who got lucky thanks to the MTV hit “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.”
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The Guardian
After emerging as emo big hitters with 2005's platinum-selling A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, Panic at the Disco's 2008 album Pretty. Odd. saw them drop the exclamation mark in their name and switch to baroque classic rock.
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contactmusic
Any band that makes a departure from their usual output instead of playing it safe should always be commended for broadening their horizons. In this particular case the results have varied and it certainly isn't the album that Panic were expected to release, but it has its moments, even if it may alienate their core audience.
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CLUAS Album Reviews
A badly-misjudged attempt to break free from the emo standard that collapses under the weight of its own platitudes - every sub-genre of sixties pop music used on Pretty Odd has been tackled before, and in ways vastly superior to this effort.
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OMAKASE MAGAZINE
I think anyone who looks at Pretty. Odd. in the proper context will hopefully realize how audacious and ambitious of an album this was, even if the final product was not entirely laudable.
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BULLZ-EYE
Pretty. Odd – they appear to have moved the awkward punctuation out of their band name and into their album titles – is as massive as pop records get these days, trading overstuffed verses for unabashed melodrama.
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Spunky Bean
The songs are well-crafted, multi-layered gems that won’t disappoint new fans and old alike.
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THE COLLEGIAN
Pretty. Odd is a great step in Panic’s evolution from high school emos playing music to serious rock band.
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Mibba
The album title, "Pretty. Odd.", tells all about what lies ahead. Overall, this is probably one of the best Panic performances. This album was worth the wait.
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Tuned In To Music
If you like melodic pop and especially if you like the Beatles, give Pretty. Odd a listen. You’ll have a good time.
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BUZZNET
However, “Pretty. Odd.” has music that is just…fun. There’s a feeling of giggly joy to it. It’s a summer album, the sort of thing you put on when the sun is shining and you want to feel GOOD.
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