Let me be honest with you. Before I heard this album, I only know Panic at the Disco as a conversational piece. You know when people say, “Eh, You heard the new Panic at the Disco song? Damn cool la!” And you go, “Yes meh?” or “Ya ya ya!” when you actually heard the PatD for the first time. Then, when those people argue why it’s cool, you take mental notes so that it would seem that you know about the song when you talk to other people.

So, I experimented this album by pulling off the network. Let’s talk music: the style is an obvious rip-off of / tribute to the Beatles, particularly circa Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: the psychadelic lyrics, the baroque-ness of the horns and trumpets, the album opening. Hell, take Nine in the Afternoon video: Sgt Pepper’s costume, scenes from Help! and the band playing in the ice cream theme thing was because of a typo, actually. They were supposed to be playing in a desert – which, with the animal masks, would definitely be a copy of The Beatles’ I am the Walrus video – but somebody mistyped it into dessert. See:

What I usually do with bands that I just start to like is scour the internet for their previous albums. PatD has really changed since it was Panic! at the Disco instead. A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out is good-God-that’s-Emo, while Pretty. Odd. is anything but. The band was labeled as an Emo band and decidedly hated it. It shows. They’re obviously trying to stay away from the genre as far as possible. Every song in the latter have an upbeat sound and theme, maybe with the exception of “Northern Downpour” but even that gave a feel good vibe.

It seems they went mature, the cliche of all punk bands that started with Blink 182′s the Cure route and going on to My Chemical Romance’s Queen influence.

Gone were the days when the titles of their songs were “London Beckoned Songs About Money Written by Machines” and “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” and “Build God, then We Talk”. Instead, they’re now “That Green Gentleman”, “Folkin’ Around” and “Pas de Cheval”. A loss, I think because the former way was so funny.

Lyrics. Lord Almighty, Ryan Ross seems to pull a Lennon on “I am the Walrus” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and then decided that’s not psychadelic enough, so supplemented his acid trip with drags of MILF weed. Let me just turn on the shuffle on my Winamp and show a nonsensical lyric of the song. The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know. Even the title is confusing. Onto a piece of the song:

“I wont cut my beard, I wont change my hair.
It grows like fancy flowers but it grows nowhere.
My hair, my hair.

If I could build my house just like the Trojan horse,
I’d put a statue of myself upon the shelf. Of course,
Of course, of course…”

Trying to make sense of these two opening stanzas almost made me pull my hair in frustration. I might not be deep enough to understand the hidden meaning, though. So, please, enlighten me if you do. Indeed, Pas de Cheval is the only song that makes sense to me.

Rereading my review, I must say it sounds like I hate the album. That couldn’t be further from the truth! Originality comes hard for artists these days. You have to give credit to these kids for standing out in the crowd. That’s why I favor the ‘tribute to’ instead of ‘rip-off of’ the Beatles.

The album’s are the only contemporary songs I listen to. The beat and theme are enjoyable, the silliness of the lyrics is really fun to sing-along to, the collaboration of the vocals of Urie and Ross in some of the songs work extremely well. But most importantly it made me nostalgic of the Beatles.

Overall, I give the album a B+ – losing points through the trying too hard.

Track listing:

1. “We’re So Starving” – 1:21
2. “Nine in the Afternoon” – 3:11
3. “She’s a Handsome Woman” – 3:12
4. “Do You Know What I’m Seeing?” – 4:14
5. “That Green Gentleman [Things Have Change]” – 3:15
6. “I Have Friends in Holy Spaces” – 1:56
7. “Northern Downpour” – 4:07
8. “When the Day Met the Night” – 4:53
9. “Pas de Cheval” - 2:39
10. “The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know” – 3:43
11. “Behind the Sea” – 3:33
12. “Folkin’ Around” – 1:55
13. “She Had the World” – 3:47
14. “From a Mountain in the Middle of the Cabins” – 3:02
15. “Mad as Rabbits” – 3:43

Band Members:

Brendon Urie – Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard
Ryan Ross – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard
Jon Walker – Bass
Spencer Smith – Drums, Percussion