exsequar: (Girlyrock - Panic! - Pretty. Odd.)
exsequar ([personal profile] exsequar) wrote2008-03-18 08:51 pm
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Unpopular opinions time!

I feel like I'm the only one not freaking out about Pretty. Odd. In either a positive or negative sense. I don't love it; I don't hate it. It certainly didn't make me want to cry. I'm irritated with their claims to aiming for a more stripped down, natural sound actually turning out to yield an album just as overproduced as the first, just with a lot of strings instead of synths. Some of the songs are lovely and pleasing - my favorite is Northern Downpour, and I love That Green Gentlemen, except for the word salad lyrics. I haven't listened to it enough to pick out other favorites (I've been out all day with the fam). I tend to agree with the critics on Folkin' Around - that is, I don't like it. The one that has the lyric "You remind me of my famous friends" just makes me facepalm.

I think it's a very pretentious album, and while sometimes that can be cute and adorable in interviews or whatever, in an entire album it's a little hard to swallow. It feels like they're tugging at our hands and going "Look! Look! I've been listening to new music! Aren't you PROUD?" It's entirely too derivative in places, and while I think there's a lot of talent backing it up (they do write some damn catchy melodies!) I really really want them to find their own sound. I guess I was hoping for an MCR-style sophomore effort. Three Cheers is 100% MCR for me, with many and various influences subtly and brilliantly interwoven into something that is entirely their own, greater than the sum of its parts.

They're still really young. They have a lot a lot of potential, and I am certainly not giving up on them. Hopefully this album will grow on me too, because hi, I paid 70 freaking dollars for the deluxe version (what was I thinking???). I still think they're preciouses, and I love Ryan singing (most of the time - he still makes me cringe a couple times here), and I will continute to giggle fondly over their shenanigans, but I've been sorta sensing this direction in my feelings for them for a while - sort of more "aw, how cute" than all emotionally involved, or declaring their music GEEENYUS! I do still think Brendon is ridiculously talented, and the way they've really become a band is wonderful, so I have high hopes for those kids. For kids they are, and kids they will not always be.
trinity_clare: (procrastinate doom)

[personal profile] trinity_clare 2008-03-19 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
I have a post forthcoming on the album, but here's my reaction to your reaction: We have totally different music preferences. Rock on. I listen to a lot of Broadway and a lot of experimental alternative-pop-ish stuff, so I'm thrilled with this sound. But as far as the individual songs go, it sounds like each track is 2 or 3 songs instead of just one. I personally think that Brendon found a more fitting vocal style here compared to Fever (he still oversings live, though, which bothers me). I've also got a couple of bulletproof kinks when it comes to music, and a few of these songs hit them on the mark, so.

Overall I think it's a decent album that I'm happy to pay $14.99 for. It's a bunch of guys who have grown up a lot in a relatively short period of time and yeah, they're a little pretentious, but I still love them. :D

(B-sides? Where??)

[identity profile] spritesam.livejournal.com 2008-03-19 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know if you have gotten these yet, but the B-sides are from the Australian release of NITA. Someone put them up here (http://community.livejournal.com/patd/2202552.html). Er, if those are down, you can go to my journal (http://spritesam.livejournal.com/tag/pretty.odd.) and click on Ryan Ross for the alternate of Behind the Sea as I don't want to offend anybody by sharing links directly on someone else's journal
trinity_clare: darren criss as harry in a very potter musical (hatp shh)

[personal profile] trinity_clare 2008-03-19 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! (And I'm sure she doesn't mind, since it means I don't have to make her dig them up for me.)