Working in the IT field, I have learned over the years that the best solution to any problem is the one that makes everything work. Often times, we computer nerds find ourselves in a heated rage at our end users due to their inability to even put their hands on a desktop without causing a catastrophe. Typically, when this happens, we look for ways to make things suck for our beloved customers. I cant help but think that one or at least a few members of Panic at the Disco may have been involved in tech support at one time or another, because this is what they have managed to do.

Overview: Panic at the Disco's second album hit stores on Tuesday, March 25th. Most of you have already heard the album, so you have little need to read a review about it. For those of us who are not privileged enough to get early releases, our reviews come out on Thursday. The band has completely shifted gears in this album, with an almost completely new sound. The once makeup wearing circus performers who wrote music about God damn doors and broken relationships, now offer up a whole new palette of sounds much resembling a folk jam-band converted into a barber shop quartet.

The Good:: Along with the new sound the Pretty Odd delivers, comes a nice selection of songs, 15 to be exact (well I would call it 14.5 because the first half of the "Things have changed" song is nothing but the band stating that they're sorry for being gone for so long, we've been busy writing songs...blah blah blah). It would be unfair for me to write this review without making note of the "Nine in the afternoon" title track from the album. I was very excited about the album after hearing this song because it sounded exactly like what I wanted in a follow up from Panic. The fact that they decided to shorten the song titles doesn't hurt either. I fully expected song titles to be akin to "Walking down the street is the coolest thing one can possibly do when your tire goes flat on the side of I-95". If you don't get that joke, go look at the track list for Panic's first album.

The Bad::Almost all of the songs on this album sound the same. I can only describe this album's sound as a "depressed barber shop quartet". Panic has almost cast themselves into a different genre of music completely with their choice of instrumental sounds produced throughout the album. I remember thinking at one point that they sounded like a 1950's jazz band. This new sound isn't entirely a bad thing, however I feel a bit empty and unsatisfied with the offerings of Pretty Odd. It simply did not live up to my expectations, and I believe many others feel the same way.

Verdict::Although Pretty Odd was a valiant attempt at good music by Panic at the Disco, I believe that save for one or two songs, the entire album is not worth listening to. If you do not want Pretty Odd to ruin your hopes that Panic can make a decent album, I don't recommend that you buy this album. My ears hurt now, and I am going to down a bottle of asprin.

This album gets 2 out of 5 rofls