I'm not in the mood to look for my BOTC notebook where I do all of my planning, nor am I in the mood to write up notes in one of my other notebooks. So, here we go with an unorganized blog post (just like the good ol' days).
I truly didn't know what to expect with this album. I could only take in consideration that their first two were very different from each other and that Ryan Ross was no longer around. Scratch that, I didn't care at all that AFYCSO and Pretty. Odd had very little in common (I just didn't know what to expect from Brendon without his partner in crime). Congratulations Brendon Urie for winning my respect even further. I had seen his vocal abilities grow over the past years to the point where I consider him a phenomenal singer, but now I feel I can respect him even more as a writer/musician. I can't speak for all Panic fans, but I think as a whole people expected Vices & Virtues to sound more like A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Correction: it's a lovely blend of their previous two albums.
The video for "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" was released before the album and did a wonderful job of getting me psyched for the entire album. I feel their second single, "Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)" is the perfect catchy follow up while taking their video visually somewhere new. Panic! at the Disco may just be the cutest little theatrical band around and the closest I've ever been to a theater kid was drooling over Razia's Shadow (oh yea, and Brendon Urie fucking killed it then too).
I think it's fairly well known that all good albums have at least one acoustic song that "has a special place in your heart" (more or so most albums do I mean). I like to think I'm not biased and simply don't hand my heart over to any sob-story/romantic/cute acoustic song that comes my way like some cheap whore, but Panic deserves hearts to be handed over for "Always." You got me there. Where I am a little biased though, is when it comes to vocalists. It's not that I only listen to phenomenal vocalists and nothing less, I can just... appreciate "epic" vocal parts. Like I said before, Brendon Urie's a phenomenal singer, but his actual melody lines are beautiful and catchy. That's what I mean by being biased. I appreciate songs/albums that have melody lines that are fun and emotional to sing as a singer myself. As a vocalist, I want to cover and practice every song off of Vices & Virtues and that's a beautiful thing.
Anyone that downloads certain songs off of this album, shame on you. No really, shame on you. Each song compliments the others and the flow from one song to another is something to appreciate and be proud of on its own. Sorry if you take this advice and don't like every song off of the album, but I don't say this about all albums either (Sorry, Hey Monday's Beneath It All EP). My apologies for not having much to say about Spencer Smith, but all of the extra little sound effects that wouldn't be found on a traditional drumset are a nice touch throughout the entire album.
Ryan Ross (and Jon Walker), I love you both but "Panic! at the Disco" (whatever a band title means to a musician anyways) can stand on its own.
<3Becca
