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Prior to releasing Pretty. Odd., their sophomore effort, Panic at the Disco literally took the excitement out of their name. Reemerging without the infamous exclamation point is probably their attempt at being taken more seriously than they previously were. With Pretty. Odd. all they accomplish is putting forth more of the same. While their debut was their Revolver, the new album can be justly characterized as their Sgt. Pepper.

The opening track could not illustrate this better. We're So Starving, is a welcome back to old fans with the band apologizing for being gone so long. They then proclaim that “you don't have to worry because we're still the same band.” Isn't the point of a new album not to be the same as last time, but evolve?

The pop-punk Beatles sound is alive and well in first single Nine in the Afternoon. This song infringes on Magical Mystery Tour territory and if you strip out all the allusions to the Beatles it is a very simple pop-punk song. It will definitely succeed in making you want to break out all the mid-career Beatles albums and give them another spin.

The more and more that this album drags on, the more it becomes a survey of the Beatles complete works. Nothing on this album is very original or different from their debut. It's unclear whether they tried too hard to make a Beatlesque album or didn't try hard enough to be original.

If you like their previous work you will undoubtedly like Pretty. Odd., but even though it is a somewhat enjoyable listen there is almost nothing here that hasn't been done before.