My Ivory Ecstasy

There are some days when the piano just beckons for me, sings my name, almost pulls my fingers towards it’s glossy, sleek keyboard top like iron filings to a magnet. On these days, my mind is distracted, I cannot think about anything, anything, except the black and white pieces of ivory on my beautiful piano at home. On these days, my fingers itch and and impatiently fidget around until I remove the dull dust cover off of the instrument, revealing its beautiful smooth finish, expose the keys to my fingers, and poise my hands above the keyboard. It is at this moment when, finally, my fingers will stop fidgeting, and my mind’s tension releases. And then…

I play.

I play. And I play. And I play.  Sparks of electricity shoot through my fingers as my mind dances it’s way through Czerny’s finger repertoire, bolts of fire shoot out from my toes as they pedal for Faure’s Dolly optitude, tears of emotion leak out of my eyes as my fingers connect to Streabogg’s Sadness. The syncopated rhythms of Paul Harvey’s Rumba Toccata pulse in my ears as my fingers tap out the rhythm. Waves of notes flow delicately in the air as my fingers glide on the semi-quavers of Stephen Heller’s Prelude in C. I surface from a Sonatina, and dive into an Etude, ending it in a breath-taking fermatta, running into an Invention and then finishing it all with a Fughetta.

And there ends my musical hy.

I am mentally exhausted, and I am physically tired, sweat dripping off of my forehead and my clothes wet. I am about to put the dust cover back on.

But wait.

There’s one left.

I lift the keyboard cover off of the black and white slice of ecstasy I just took in and sit down on the sturdy mahogany bench once more. I feel my body’s molecules tingle again as new found energy makes it’s way into my being from my surroundings. Again, I poise my hands over the keyboard. And then again, I play.

I play, and play, and then play again. I play the piece three times. You Are the Moon. I let the soft voice of the piano singing this delicate, starry piece as my body swings in it’s slow time, as not only my fingers, feet and mind are playing but my entire entity is singing this elegant, beautiful song, and I can feel every cell in my body dancing gracefully and energetically to the music. Soon, my voice, unable to keep quiet, bursts into song, and even though my voice isn’t as melodious as that of the piano, it still gives me more energy.

‘Shadows all around you as you
Surface from the dark.
Emerging from the gentle grey
Of night’s unfolding arms…’

And I feel more alive than I have ever felt before.

When, for the third time, my fingers press on the last F of the piece, I lift my hands off of the keyboard, and wait, in silence, until this last note slowly drifts away.

Fever vs. Pretty. Odd.

This one’s for all of us Panic! At the Disco lovers out there. For the ones who fell in love instantly when we heard their first album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, and have remained infatuated for these last 5 years. For the ones who marvel at every video, and dance to every song. For those of us who cried when we heard of their split. In short, for those of us who just think that P!ATD is one of the awesome bands in existence.

All of us P!ATD fans have definitely heard both of their albums, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, and Pretty Odd. When I heard them, I fell in love at first sight(well, in this case, first listen).  Both of the albums are very different from each other, and I’m sure all of us were surprised, pleasantly of course, when we heard Pretty Odd.

My question is, which one is better? I have never been able to conclude this myself. Neither have many of you, most probably. I’ll try to answer this question by answering another question: Which album is more complete in all perspectives?

I’ve devised a little point system with which to mark how many points each album gets as I critically examine them. There will be five categories, each one being marked out of 10. Let’s go!

1.Instruments/Sounds:
P!ATD uses a very wide variety of instruments in both albums, and they make sure that the sounds made from each of them are all blended together perfectly. However, I’m going to give Fever a few more points here, since I liked a lot of the more unusual sounds, such as those of the introduction of I Write Sins Not Tragedies, among many other songs, something I missed dearly in Pretty Odd.They almost defined Panic! at a point of time for me, and it was a very original thing that I hadn’t heard anywhere else.

Fever: 9/10
Pretty Odd: 7/10

2. Vocals:
Brendon Urie, as the band’s lead vocalist, does the main vocals for both of the albums, and his voice is exquisite on both. I have to say, he has an amazing vocal range, and manages to reach notes both high and low with such apparent ease, it boggles me. But I think I’ll have to give a few extra points to Pretty Odd. The thing I liked about Pretty Odd that Fever didn’t have was that the lead vocal duties were split up between three of the members of the band(they hadn’t split up yet), Brendon Urie, Ryan Ross and John Walker. Behind the Sea wouldn’t have had the same effect if Brendon had been singing, nor would Northern Downpour if Ryan hadn’t shared vocal duties.

Fever: 8/10
Pretty Odd: 10/10

3. Lyrics:
I think the thing most of us loved the most about both of Panic!’s albums was the lyrics. Whether it was There’s a Good Reason Those Tables are Numbered, Honey from Fever, or When the Day Met the Night from Pretty Odd, both albums had some of the best lyrics I have ever heard. I honestly can’t say which one has better lyrics, Pretty Odd, or Fever.

Fever: 9/10
Pretty Odd: 9/10

4. Vidoes:
The I Write Sins Not Tragedies video won a Grammy in 2006 for Best Music Video of the Year. Ironically, it had one of the lowest budgets for a music video ever, only $3,000. Considering the budget, the video was a very good quality video. It is even if you don’t consider the budget. Although later, while making Pretty Odd, they had more money to spend on videos, the videos just weren’t the same as far as quality was concerned. Oh, they were wonderful, but they just somehow didn’t have the magic that those of Fever did. The I Write Sins Not Tragedies and But It’s Better If You Do videos are simply unforgettable, and I don’t think a single video from Pretty Odd could rival either of them.

Fever: 10/10
Pretty odd:7/10

5. Brain Activity
Ah. This is an interesting one. I recently read an article on how music affects brain activity. I decided to test this out on Fever and Pretty Odd.

A hobby of mine is to do sudokus. My average time for a easy-medium sudoku is around 2 minutes. For this test, I did sudokus, about 15 per album, while listening to the songs from both of P!ATD’s albums, and recorded their timings. While listening to Pretty Odd, not a single timing of mine was above two minutes. However, while listening to Fever, only two or three of my timings where below 2 minutes. However, it didn’t affect my average score too much, since none of my timings exceeded 2:20.

I have decided to give points from this category based on the affect on brain activity, with 5/10 being having no effect on brain activity, less than 5 having a negative effect, and more than 5 having a positive effect.

Fever: 4/10
Pretty Odd: 7/10

Totals:

Fever: 40/50
Pretty Odd: 40/50

Wow. They both got the same score! I had thought this all along, that both albums were equally good. I could never choose one.

I want to see your views on these two excellent albums by P!ATD! Leave a comment, and if possible, rate them in the way I have. I’m particularily interested in seeing the results for brain activity, because I want to see if everyone’s brain responds to Pretty Odd more than A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, or if it’s just me 🙂 Oh, and one more question. What do you expect from Panic! At The Disco in the future? Do you think the four members will ever get back together, and do you think Brendon and Spencer will be able to keep it up? Don’t forget to leave a comment!

Signing off,
The Dancer.