| |
Full Review | User Ratings (145) |
| Summary: Pretty poor effort. |
10 of 16 thought this review was well written
Despite all the bitching about their young female fans (mostly by slightly less-young boys), Panic at the Disco!’s debut album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out was probably one of the best pop-punk albums released this decade, and easily the catchiest. In each high octane rock-fueled song glazed with glitzy techno, the sound calls the boys’ hometown of Las Vegas: the bright lights, the dazzling sin, and the guilt and anger boiling underneath. Vocalist Brendon Urie sang with a blend of indignant outrage and emotional whininess over some dangerously unforgettable pop hooks and guitar riffs. The lyrics suggested a sense of cynicism that seemed almost depressing considering the bands’ age; songs like “Lying is the Most Fun” and “Build God…” conveyed a bitterness unseemly for such a young group of lads. And the band’s vaudevillian and burlesque allusions worked as a weirdly effective metaphor for the absurdity of the bands’ lyrical concerns: the dating scene and the dying music industry.
But something happened over the course of the next couple of years. Basically, the band learned to suck. Attempting to be “the new Radiohead” in the words of Urie (he also called emo “bullsh*t”), the band decided to stop doing what it does well in favor of becoming a second-rate Beatles cover band. Too bad this bands’ ability doesn’t match its’ ambition. It becomes clear that the record was nothing but a sad attempt at winning more critical favorability and increase its already large fan base (over 1,000,000 sold).
The album begins promisingly. A predictably ironic intro lets us know that Panic at the Disco (they lost the “!”) are “still the same band.” It then becomes “Nine in the Afternoon,” the first single and best track on the album. As catchy and tuneful as anything on Fever, this track features a melody so irresistible that it actually does evoke the Beatles for a few shining moments. But even here, you’ll get the sense all is not right here; the lyrics seem to aim for a psychedelic zaniness that the band just doesn’t pull off. So sorry, but how did bitter, cynical Panic! become sunny, hippy Panic?
It’s hard to review anything that has no structure to it. This album is an absolute mess. It goes from weird Morrissey parodies (“Do You Know What I’m Seeing?”) to almost-revolting Beatles’ rip-offs (“Behind the Sea”). “Folkin’ Around” has to be the worst folk song/faux-folk song I have ever heard. It literally seems that this band stumbled upon their parents’ album collection for the first time and said “Hey! I kind of like this sh*t! Let’s change the chords slightly and add some kitschy lyrics!” Maybe that’s the point. If it is, it isn’t funny or clever. It’s just lazy. A collection of songs aping the sounds of random other artists’ work isn’t original and certainly isn’t enjoyable. It’s just annoying.
The lyrics are absolutely atrocious. Granted, their first album was hardly Dylan, but they were clever and fun to sing along to. And “Camisado,” when read in context (Ryan Ross’s father was apparently an alcoholic), was actually quite impressive. Compare it to some of the following lines featured on this album:
“Come save me from walking off a windowsill
or I'll sleep in the rain.
Don't you remember when I was a bird
and you were a map?”
-Mad as Rabbits
“You will only hear these elegant crimes,
Fall on your ears from criminal dimes.
They spill unfound from a pretty mouth.”
-That Green Gentleman
“You've never been so divine
In accepting your defeat
And I've never been more scared to be alone”
-Folkin’ Around
Just because Jim Morrison got away with writing nonsense doesn’t mean it’s okay for anyone else to.
The question for many people is: why did Panic make this album? Well there’s a few possible reasons. The obvious one (and the most disappointing if true) is to assume they simply wanted to “prove all the haters wrong” by making an album that attempted to be mature. But self-deprecating lyrics that imply that the band was fully aware of their unoriginality imply otherwise. Maybe the band just wanted the attention of a more elite crowd, perhaps to make people unashamed to admit they actually liked this band all along. After all, no snobs are going to claim to like this band as long as its primary demographic is 14-18 year old girls. “What’s that? Your sister doesn’t like their new album? Now I can wear that sweet Panic at the Disco shirt and not be ashamed!”
Or maybe the band members are all really dumb. Who knows?
The simple fact is that this album hasn’t done well compared to their last effort. It’s selling about as good as Def Leppard’s newest album (yeah, they are still around!) Their live show has also been stripped down in favor of a more “intimate,” “softer” show, in sharp contrast to their tour following Fever, which featured carnival-like antics and crazy make-up.
This band simply isn’t meant to make this music. They don’t have the skill and it couldn’t be clearer that it was forced and calculated unlike their impassioned first album. I think I speak for everyone else when I say that I want the circus performers and synth beats again. Basically, I want the “!” back in Panic at the Disco.
|
Album Rating: 1.5
I know I'm gonna get more "flip-flop" allegations than George Bush innacurately flung at John Kerry in the 2004 election from certain people (HighandDriving) for writing such a negative review of an album I once had rated really high. But meh, opinions change over time. After about 5 good listens it became apparent this really was sh*t.
Digging: Panic At the Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out | | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
I really don't like your reviews very much. Also, you seem to really, really hate this website so I'd suggest packing it in and heading off to RYM.
Digging: The Drones - Havilah | | | Album Rating: 1.5
^RYM is bland. Also, just saying you don't like the review very much without any details doesn't really help me improve very much.
This Message Edited On 06.29.08
| | |
Quote:
|
I really don't like your reviews very much. Also, you seem to really, really hate this website so I'd suggest packing it in and heading off to RYM.
|
dazaaamn. someone didn't eat their wheaties
Digging: Esperanza Spalding - Esperanza
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
I think he (and some others) are a little pissed about some comments I've made about the people who use this site is all. No0 biiggggggggggggg!!!!!1111
| | |
i mean there are a lot of elitist pricks but i still love it around here for the most part
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
^Yeah overall I like the website, just some people who use it annoy me, and I addressed them in a review in an admittedly derogatory/probably not really necessary way. I was just frustrated. I don't know if he thought I was talking about him or what.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
I know you weren't talking about me, I'm just tired of you addressing "elitists" and how you hate them so much, when really everyone is an elitist in one way or another.
Also, the fact you rate this over Crap is What We Aim For is a big no-no.
This Message Edited On 06.29.08
| | |
Good review, and figured. =/
I'll + this
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
^^(atavan)Ah but have you listened to Cute's new album? Because I didn't like their first one either and the new one's pretty good.
And I see what you're getting at with elitist and I guess it kinda sorta is true, but um, there's only a few select as*holes on this website that go into threads for bands they know they don't like just to bring down other peoples' tastes. That's who those comments were directed to.This Message Edited On 06.29.08
This Message Edited On 06.29.08
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
I heard that Doctor song, and I hated it.
And just because you comment on a review of a band you don't like, doesn't make you an elitist.
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
^True. But dissing someone because they didn't like your band and then subsequently commenting in their reviews with dumb comments about their screenname or things like "Don't listen to him, his music taste sucks anyway" definitely does make you an elitist. And I see that/GET that on this website all the time.
And Doctor is awesome.
This Message Edited On 06.29.08
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
Haha, I have one of the most easily targetable music tastes on here, and I've never really gotten anything like that.
| | |
The review feels far too biased to be able to try and take something away from it, which is what people read reviews for; to gain some idea of whether or not the album is worth a listen. I take all reviews with a pinch of salt, as anyone should do, but lines like "the band learned to suck" turn someone like me off a review quite quickly.
You obviously write eloquently and there are good parts to the review, you just need to cut a lot of the parts that make you look like more of a bitter, cynical outfit than Panic ever were.
I'm nowhere near an expert reviewer but that's just how I felt while reading the review. Hope it helps in someway.
Digging: The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
| | | Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
i disagree with a lot of this but this is an amazing review. pos'd.
Digging: Emery - While Broken Hearts Prevail | | |
Pretty Odd > Rotation
Digging: Opeth - Ghost Reveries
| | |
^ I second that.
On the other hand, this is so much better than the other review. Pos.
This Message Edited On 06.29.08
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Quote:
|
The review feels far too biased to be able to try and take something away from it, which is what people read reviews for; to gain some idea of whether or not the album is worth a listen.
|
Yeah, on a re-reading I agree with this. Granted I'm not one for reviews that just sit there and describe every little detail but this needed a few more details and just a tad less biased opinion so I'll try to improve that in the next review.
Oh and to the person that negged: a reason would be nice. Though I can bet it was probably just that you don't like me/ my Rotation review/ my anti-PTH stance.
| | |
This isn't an amazing review, it's too well written to be negged, but it fails as a review. It just reads as one big rant on how such and such is awful and there is hardly any description of the music itself. Anyone can say this band sucks in 100 different ways but it takes skill to persuade someone why something sucks. This reads out like a Pitchfork review, grammatically privileged but arrogant and offensive to fans of the band. I am not much a fan of the genre nor Panic at the Disco, but if I was a fan I would just be offended by this and indifferent to the reviewers opinion.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
idk i thought the review was awesome
| | | | Page 1 of 6 | Next > | >> |
|
|
