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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.

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WORD.

WORD WORD WORD.

WORD WORD.

WORD.

WORRRRRD.

I haven't listened to it yet, but this is kind of the way I've been feeling about them for awhile now. I've tried not to say it too much because the last thing I want to do is squee harsh. I've been enjoying other's excitement and also I'm an utterly ridiculous Panic fangirl, so no matter what it's like I'm sure I'm going to listen to it on repeat for weeks. I've liked some of what I've heard so far; I've disliked some too. I haven't liked any of it as much as I like Fever. (Which has its own issues, I really do know that, but God I love it). The keep saying it sounds "older" and it doesn't seem like that to me at all, though again, I haven't heard the whole thing yet and I suppose my opinion on that might change.

I am *incredibly* emotionally invested and weird about Panic. And I am *weird* about the depth of my love for Fever and I know that going in, so I have been trying to consciously make sure my reaction is not disproportionate or, you know, insane. I don't know. I think they are very talented, but I have also been afraid for awhile now Pretty.Odd. was going to come off as pretentious.

Anyway, sorry to dump all that when I haven't even heard the whole thing yet. I may be back after I have.

I only got to listen to half of the album before work, but yeah, holy pretentious. It's not bad, it's not great, it's just there. I'm sure there are some real quality songs and I'll have to give it a better listen, but I still maintain that they were trying to do too much too fast here.

Also, um. There was a $70 version of the album?! What, do you get a member of Panic delivered to your house with it or something?

It sounds incredibly full of itself, like a set of experiments and showing off rather than coherent, independent songs that come together to form an album. Maybe that's too high expectations? Whoops, sorry, that was bitchy >.<

There's a $50 version - comes with vinyl, DVD, many paged booklet thingy, and other doodads. I'm annoyed by it, really, because mostly I just want the DVD, but I bought it in a bout of fangirl insanity, spurred by my inability to see them play in the UK. The other $20 is shipping to Ireland >.

I'm sure they're making a fortune off that deluxe edition, damn. It annoys me because, as with the last deluxe thing they did, everyone pretty much just wants the DVD and yet has to pay some astronomical price for the whole thing. I feel like that is not a very good way to treat your fans :(

I think it's probably one of those albums you have to grow into. I'm already liking it more on this listen through than I did the first time (i.e. 90ish minutes ago) and I really like songs like Behind the Sea and When The Day Met The Night, which were ones we'd already heard.

(Also every time Ryan sings I have to squee out loud because RYAN. SINGING. *cough*)

I'm not gonna lie, I kinda hate the album version of Behind the Sea, but I love the B-side. Perhaps I will swap that into my playlist, heh.

I'll definitely be giving it a more of a chance, but my musical tastes have been veering towards loud and angry and guitar-driven lately, not plucky and "clever". *shrugs*

okay, I'm sorry, I have NOTHING TO CONTRIBUTE except about your icon...haha JON WALKER, YOU ARE ADORABLE!

Hai Linds! Good ta see ya! <333

Jon Walker is, in fact, adorable. :D

Mm, I love the B-side about a hundred times more than the album version. It's... simpler, I guess. I like all the plucky, twiddly sounds they've got going, but I'm not really sure I get the point of them. (Mainly I'm listening for their voices and their lyrics, just like normal.)

I kinda hate the album version of Behind the Sea, but I love the B-side.

I agree. Though I think perhaps the reason I hate it is because I was exposed to the glory of the b-side first (the b-side totally owns me btw). like maybe i wouldn't be ick-ing if i didn't know how awesome it COULD sound.

i have really different feelings than you on this album but on this point i agree wholeheartedly.

To be fair, Three Cheers was in many ways analogous to Fever, in that it was the first album from each band on a major label with real money behind it. Bullets is awesome, and very My Chem, but it was also recorded in eight days in some dude's mom's basement. It has more in common with the demos that Brendon and Ryan worked up in their garage than it does with a multi-platinum selling, massively produced album.

And if you make the parallels between Pretty. Odd. and TBP, I think that there's a lot more to see- They're both trying to prove themselves, and they're going about doing so in ways that are very much true to the bands they are- Even on their second major release (Decaydance is an indie but the kind of distribution and promotion that they got for Fever was as enthusiastic as the promo for any first release by a baby band that I have ever seen, major or indie) Ryan is still, what, the same age that Mikeyway was when they started My Chem? They've got a lot of growing up to do, sure, but I don't necessarily think that comparing P.O. with Three Cheers is necessarily accurate, leaving off the question of whether or not it's fair.

(Full disclosure: I've heard the B-sides but I haven't downloaded the album yet, given that it's raining out and I'm getting roughly 4k/s download speeds right now. Hopefully I'll have it by tomorrow.)

OMG MIKEY'S NECK IS ALL THERE AND TURNING AND OMG

I LIKE WHERE YOUR MIND IS AT BB.

Mmm, the album is pretty much exactly what I expected. When they were talking about a "stripped-down" sound, my reaction was: AHAHAHAHAHHAAHAH. In utter skepticism. Because -- if I want stripped-down, I'm not listening to PATD, all right?

I'll agree that the album's overproduced, but that's an incredibly forgivable sin in my mind. I listen to Peter Gabriel religiously. You have not heard overproduced until you've gotten through his oeuvre, seriously.

The nonsensical lyrics work for me, for now, but it's possible that'll change. We'll see. I don't have lyrics right in front of me, and when I do, I expect my impressions of several songs to change. Mostly, I'm pleased that they're trying something new. If I'd gotten Fever 2.0, I'd've been annoyed.

I hate hate hate HATE the album version of "Behind the Sea", but I have the b-side version and have already passed it along to friends, fandom and non-fandom alike. It's no skin off my teeth to swap out my iTunes playlist.

I definitely agree with what

fallingfortruth is saying -- P.O. is much more comparable to TBP as opposed to Three Cheers.

Personally I'm liking the album a lot so far, but as with the first album, I can easily see why others aren't. I think keeping an open mind in either direction's a good idea.

Well, I had hopes! Because some of these songs, to be quite honest, sound a lot better live, without all the trimmings and trappings they tossed on top in the studio. I feel like I probably would have liked the album they had before they ever went to Abbey road much better. I much preferred the live performances of Fever to the album itself - I think my Live In Denver tracks have twice as many plays as the actual album ones.

I suppose it is a forgiveable sin, but then again, I lean much more towards raw and unpolished sounds. MCR's Bullets is gorgeous to my ears, and I adore things like Pencey Prep and the Foo Fighters and Green Day (the old stuff more than American Idiot) - music that lets the guitars, drums, and vocals do the work, without frills that distract from the core of the music. It's just a matter of my personal preference.

I don't like songs that mean nothing coherent :-/ I mean, maybe it makes some twisted kind of sense to them, but music can't be one big injoke - it has to communicate with an audience.

Also, if P.O.'s more comparable with TBP, well then, all the more reason for me to not like it, because while I enjoyed TBP for a long time, it definitely grew tired for me, precisely because it is more about concept than rawness.

I really do hope I come to like it more.

You don't know me but Hi!

I'm pretty much regretting downloading this. I only did because I've had a shit day and I wanted to be cheered up, and my excitement for this album has been stupid. And it didn't cheer me up.

From what I've read so far, I am the only person who isn't loving Northern Downpour. I'm decidedly unimpressed with that song. But bizarrely I do love Folkin Around (clearly I just have ludicrous taste in music). She Had The World is my favourite at the moment.

Don't get me started on the album version of Behind the Sea. It drowns Ryan out too much. Brendon's voice would work on that version, but Ryan's voice isn't that powerful and he's lost on it, which was why I love the alternate version. I managed about 30 seconds of the album version before having to skip. Plus the album version is missing the comedy "haoom" thing lmao.

I do think this album will grow on me after further listens, I think it's just the mood I'm in today. And like you say, they're wearing their influences too visibly on their sleeves, but they are young and stupidly talented (Brendon especially) so they have to time to work out who they really are. It feels to me like they've just tried too hard to distance themselves from Fever (which I loved on first listen apart from Lying).

If it makes you feel any better, I kind of adore Folkin' Around and I'm not as madly in love with Northern Downpour as everyone else. So it's not just you on that one!

Oh good lmao. I was feeling like an outcast

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.
True, true. :/

I'm sorry you're so disappointed! I only listened to it once, because I actually want to wait until the album drops to really listen to it and pay attention to the lyrics and all. I liked Pas de Cheval and She's a handsome woman the best, I think. But it didn't make me flail or anything, like I would have expected. I'm more intrigued by the new Donots album, which was streamed today on their website, too, it'lll drop March 28th and they're my favorite german band. So maybe this Pretty. Odd. not being so great isn't too disappointing for me because I'm busy flailing about their new album? IDK. I definately was disappointed when everyone was flailing over NITA and the video for it, I didn't like it that much. SIGH.

Anyway, maybe the album will grow on you? Maybe we'll have to listen to it more often until we realize we like it? Or something. I don't know, I need sleep. Ha-

And also, I'd be so pissed if I payed 70 dollars for that deluxe version of the album. I'M SORRY YOU DID. *hugs*

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??)

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

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.)

I haven't been able to download the album yet (DAMN YOU SENDSPACE RELINQUISH IT FROM YOUR SERVICE IS AT FULL CAPACITY GRIP) but that's sort of the vibe I've been getting from them for a while. I mean, I still love them, and I still think they're precious and I'll still buy the album even after I've downloaded it and all that, but pretentious pretty much knocks it on the head.

You've definitely got a good point and you know? I'm honestly kind of disappointed in the songs I've heard so far. It's not bad, not really, but it feels... the most definite thing I got from the album version of Do You Know What I'm Seeing? was that it sounded... busy, for lack of a better word. It's like it could have turned out much better but they focused too much on seeing how many instruments they could throw in (on that one in particular).

And the frustrating bit is that Nine in the Afternoon and its two B-side versions of Do You Know What I'm Seeing and Behind the Sea are really good.

The whole album feels incredibly busy, and it's just distracting. It takes away from the musicality and pureness of the work. Because there are very good songs buried in there, it's just that they disguised their own skills with a bunch of frilly fluff. Meh.

Oh god, I almost feel like I'm betraying fandom by not LOVING this album. I just...IDK.

*facepalm*

trinity_clare said, yeah, I guess we just have completely different music tastes ;) Because man, I grew up with a fuckton of Jazz/Big Band and Latin music, and I've got the biggest girl-boner for classical/orchestral music, so that means this album hits just about every single music kink I've got *giggle* All those horns and strings and bells and woodwinds (not to mention that deep sax on a couple songs, omg) just make me shiver and dance. The more layers the better.

But man, that's just me. It makes me sad that we can't be excited about it together, and that you feel a little let down (*hug*) but I'm not trying to convince you. if I've learned anything, it's that music is one of those things that goes really, really deep and there's some kinds of music for people that just don't work. So yeah, I'm gonna have to disagree with you, unfortunately, but like, I HOPE WE CAN STILL BE FRIENDS, OKAY? D: *CLINGS*

Bari sax! I think my life is complete!

Oh god, I KNOW. My uncle plays baritone sax in a Big Band and it's like my FAVORITE THING EVER.

*shrugs* We have very different views of this my dear. But it's okay we can still be friends. :) *kotc*

so I am leaving you a completely random comment here (I don't know you, but hi! I'm erica!) to say that you've basically summed up my feelings on the album, down to the smallest details. I think I actually deleted 'I Have Friends in Holy Spaces' (aka, the one about the famous friends~) from my computer, because I'm a douche. I'm also pretty relieved because I thought I was the only person in the entirety of the internet who didn't like Folkin' Around.

yes. *sneaks away*

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