Pretty. Odd.
Pretty. Odd. is the second studio album by American pop rock band Panic at the Disco, first released in the Netherlands on March 21, 2008, and released in the US on March 25, 2008 by Decaydance and Fueled by Ramen. 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 inspired by baroque pop and the works of the Beach Boys and the Beatles, with its psychedelic-styled rock sound differing greatly from the techno-influenced pop-punk of the band's previous album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. It is the band's only major release to not feature an exclamation point in their name, being credited as "Panic at the Disco" for all major activities until summer the following year.
To begin work on the record, Panic at the Disco retreated to a cabin in the rural mountains of Mount Charleston, in the group's native state of Nevada. Upon growing dissatisfied with their final product, the band scrapped the entire album and spent time writing and recording Pretty. Odd. throughout the following winter. Production came together quickly and each song written made the cut. Additional recording, such as strings and horns, were produced at Abbey Road Studios. It is the only album to feature bassist Jon Walker, and last to feature lead guitarist and primary songwriter Ryan Ross as both left the band in 2009, a year after the album's release.
The record received a generally positive critical response, but under-performed commercially in the aftermath of its quadruple-platinum-selling predecessor, instead only achieving platinum status in 2019. The album spent 18 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at number two, and the album's lead single "Nine in the Afternoon" was certified triple platinum by the RIAA. The album has since gathered a cult following and sold 422,000 copies by 2011.
Background
''Cricket & Clover''
The group, fresh off the major success of their debut A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, took a break after non-stop touring and began formulating ideas for their next record together during the winter of 2006. After a short period of development regarding the ideas of the album, the band arrived at a cabin in the rural mountains of Mount Charleston, Nevada in March 2007 to begin the writing process for the new album. At the time, the band set a tentative release date for autumn and had not yet settled on a producer. By April, the band had four songs completed and planned to leave the cabin to head to Los Angeles to continue work on what Ross called "a modern fairy tale with a romantic twist." Shortly before departing from the area, bassist Jon Walker remarked the album would be similar to a concept album and that the entire band would be involved in writing. "Nearly Witches " was also written for this album; however, it was rejected for inclusion for Pretty. Odd., due to not fitting within the concept of the album. Urie and Smith later finished the song for the band's next studio album Vices & Virtues.''Pretty. Odd.''
When the group began settling back in Los Angeles in June 2007, they began tracking the album, and at that point, eight new songs had been written. After recording the new tracks and performing them live over the summer, the band returned to their native Las Vegas as well as their old rehearsal studio, where they had written their debut record. During this time, the band picked producer Rob Mathes to work on the album, who had previously worked with them on a cover of "This Is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The band grew uninterested in the songs previously written and by August scrapped the entire new album and started over. "We wanted to approach these songs in the most basic form," Ross said. "We wrote them all on one acoustic guitar and with someone singing. I think that we kind of skipped that part of songwriting on the first record, and this time we're sort of paying attention to that. We've written a bunch of songs since we've been home . I think it's the most fun and the happiest we've been since we started." With simplicity the new focus and the old album shelved, the group settled in and began recording what would become ''Pretty. Odd.''Recording and production
The band continued writing for their follow-up in September 2007. In one month, the band had completed writing "six or seven songs" that contained a much more positive outlook to them, according to Ross. In October, the band entered the Studio at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas to begin recording the album. Ross became the primary spokesman for the band, remarking to MTV the band was "working backwards" for the release, stripping down its sound and going for a more classic rock approach. With Pretty. Odd. the band was not concerned with succumbing to the pressures of living up to the success of their debut, instead writing and recording songs that made them happy.The first song written for the album was actually a hold-over from the scrapped record, "Nine in the Afternoon". "We wanted to have a song people could just get on the first listen.... It was one of those spur-of-the-moment songs that came together in a couple of hours. It's just a fun song; it's not really meant to be taken seriously," said Ross of the song. The song inspired the band to write happier tracks, and, from there, the band buckled down, ripping through eight new songs in a little more than six weeks, then writing a couple more while ensconced at the Palms. By the end of the year, the group was well on their way to finishing production on the album. The album came together quickly and each song written made the cut, with "Mad as Rabbits" being the final recorded.
In January 2008, the band wrapped up recording at their home studio over one week, and headed to London's Abbey Road Studios to record strings and horns, which the band regarded as "truly a dream come true for us". While there, the band also mixed the album with Peter Cobbin. Mathes was involved in the instrumentation of the album, performing keyboards, acoustic piano, and the mandolin. Mathes arranged and conducted the orchestra at Abbey Road for all tracks except "Nine in the Afternoon". A wurlitzer can be found on "Mad as Rabbits", played by Rick Ronick.
Music
Musically the album has been described as psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, baroque pop, pop, pop rock, and folk rock. The sound of the album was described by the band as "more organic and mellower" than A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, as well as unintentionally and coincidentally similar to music of the Beatles, in both songwriting and scope. "We all like all of that, from Rubber Soul to The White Album and all of that, but even before, we were into that theatrical element of things. We didn't want to do a Sgt. Pepper's thing," explained Ross. The band never had the intention of music similar to the Beach Boys and the Beatles, according to both Ross and Walker. "It was like before we were writing these songs, we were writing things that were almost entirely orchestrated - and it kind of carried over into this stuff," continued Ross. "And I do think that half this record does sort of have that kind of 'fantastical instrumentation' thing, but we were just trying to fit the mood of each song. And in some cases, we just thought, 'We've got to have this. The difference in age did not take negative effect on the band, instead inspiring them to look through a more mature perspective, according to singer Brendon Urie.Although there was no "clear vision" behind Pretty. Odd., the band knew that they "wanted to write songs differently in the sense that not all the songs sounded the same or were part of one set genre, you know, just doing something different. With this record, we listened to a bunch of different stuff, too, so that kind of helped broaden our musical taste." Thanks to the new collaborative relationship with producer Rob Mathes, the roles within the band became blurred. Although most songs on the record are attributed to Ryan Ross, the entire band collaborated on each track, with Urie writing two tracks himself and Walker and Smith adding additional lyrics to several tracks. The Washington Post reviewed the new sound of Panic positively: "Everything is new, if old, from the baroque instrumentation, songwriting and vocal phrasing to the Beatlesque chord progressions, melodies, hooks and stacked vocal harmonies, which also owe a minor debt to Brian Wilson." The lyrics mingle ruined romances and neo-psychedelic aphorisms.
"Nine in the Afternoon" received positive reviews and critics noted the change in direction from the band's debut and Pretty. Odd. James Montgomery of MTV regarded the song similar to The Band's Music from Big Pink, and called final single "Northern Downpour" reminiscent of "an Abbey Road outtake". "When the Day Met the Night", the record's eighth track, was heavily praised by music publications. Spin regarded it as the centerpiece of the record, calling it "a sunshine pop sing-along that's as blindingly bright" and a stark contrast to the "embarrassing" A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Gigwise called the song "the track everyone will want to see the band play live," and noting that its "brass backing and glorious string-based crescendo are that of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys." National Public Radio commented that Pretty. Odd. "experimented with psychedelic pop, vaudeville and unusual instrumentation."
Promotion
The entire marketing campaign for Pretty. Odd. was based solely on grassroots and viral marketing. The band's original intention with the record, according to drummer Spencer Smith, was to have a single out by Christmas 2007 and the album out by February. The band first began promotion for the album in November 2007, with a snippet of "Nine in the Afternoon" audible in the Heroes episode "Cautionary Tales". On December 12, 2007 the group released a cryptic MySpace bulletin containing a link to their website and a message mysteriously stating "And so it begins …" The link led to the band's official website, where a puzzle revealed what most seemed to agree read "You Don't Have to Worry." Inspired by an idea when the band got drunk while recording according to manager Bob McLynn, the viral marketing campaign was the first clues to what would reveal several more clues over the following weeks, including the album title, artwork and first single."Nine in the Afternoon" was revealed as the first single from Pretty. Odd. through the puzzle aforementioned on December 14, 2007. The original message was revealed to be a disclaimer in the record's first track, "We're So Starving", which debuted in a rough mix on the band's MySpace on January 2, 2008. The demo gained 45,000 listens by the end of the day, before it was removed. The album's title, Pretty. Odd., was hinted at during the music video shoot for "Nine in the Afternoon" on December 22, where each band member wore a sash bearing the title. The title was revealed by a spokesperson for Atlantic Records on January 9, 2008. On the same date, the band unveiled a new logo and dropped the exclamation point from their name, effectively becoming Panic at the Disco, which soon caused outrage among the band's fanbase. In April 2008, the band released a short film to promote the album, titled Panic at the Disco in: American Valley.