Rhapsody Redux From Panic! At The Disco A Light Beer Laugher

Now entering the classic song lovefest we have Panic! At The Disco doing a disservice to Queen fans the world over by essentially taking the much revered "Bohemian Rhapsody" and giving it the watered down light beer treatment. On the plus side the Las Vegas denizens stick to the original chord and method. You'd think Brendon Urie was merely superimposed over Freddie Mercury and left to his own devices from there. What's the real difference between the two versions anyway? Not a whole hell of a lot to be honest. Same hard luck story of a poor boy on a ill-timed killing junket. Poor thing was just getting started in life but elected to throw his future down the dumper. At the chorus point is where Brendon and pals make a weak as water attempt to put their on imprint on the song. Candy coated gloss reigns supreme. Guitar man Kenneth Harris won't make anybody forget Brian May for a pronounced period of time. If it smells like aural wallpaper it probably is that. The harmonies at that juncture, all things being biased in favor of the revered original, come across as the machinations of fan boys who have a Freddie fixation and wanted to noodle a bit at the altar of a childhood idol. Remember the piano shooting "Bohemian Rhapsody" into the stratosphere, high intensity raw emotion leading the charge? Well, Panic! At The Disco promptly chucked that down the porcelain facility in service to, as I said before, gloss piled upon gloss. The drumming in the later stages, which in the original was used to magical effect isn't firing on many cylinders in the redux. Blink 182 spat on Ray Parker Jr.'s fun loving, kinetic "Ghostbusters" theme. Why? Only that threesome knows for sure. Wasn't really needed in my estimation. Now I know Panic! At The Disco has suitably exhibited a flair for the dramatic on past efforts. That might have served them well here. Alas it never came to pass. Only so much juice you can squeeze out of grade A nostalgia before there has to be some sense that a band isn't merely riding on somebody else's coattails. Panic! loves its source material and makes overtures towards reverence on a sublime level. But the guys don't pull off their devotions animatedly enough to demonstrate they've in fact improved on the original in any way. Even the climactic closing cymbal isn't pulled off with any kind of aplomb. Brendon's a fine storyteller, using original material such as "Hallelujah". His chops truly set their own identity up for perusal. Compared to Freddie though, Brendon's light in the loafers which, of course would be like comparing a Corvette to a Mazda. They both get you from point A to point B, but the Corvette gets you there in style. In Brendon's hands the lyrics have drama but they don't maintain the original's resonance. One aspect of a well-spun remake is you very nearly forget the version you're listening to wasn't the original. At best a band makes a cover its own. Suffice it to say Panic! At The Disco's given us no reason to get rhapsodical over this Queen update. Barely a ripple in this pool.