The Killers - Sam's Town

[Thrasha]

Does anyone else have it?

Definitely disappointed in it from the quick listen I've given it.

Their is something about "When You Were Young" that is missing that would really put it over the top. Can't put my finger on it though.

The rest of the album aside from a flash here and there seems like way too over the top.

I'm all for growth as an artist but I'm not sure if I agree with what they are doing. Some of the songs seems to have full on string arrangements, trumpets etc.

[BGarrett7]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

I've had it downloaded for a couple days now, but not in any major rush to listen to it. The lead single is decent, but nowhere near as attention-grabbing as the singles from Hot Fuss. I'll probably listen to it sometime next week once the chaos of this weekend dies down.

[skitch]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

I'm a big Killers fan, so I'll have to get this soon. I'm not too terribly excited after reading those posts, though.

[CM1847]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

I've read three reviews of it, one said it was one of the best of the year, one said it was a failure and the other was inbetween. I like the first single and I'll be picking up the album when it comes out, but I don't have huge expectations.

[Thrasha]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

I've read three reviews of it, one said it was one of the best of the year, one said it was a failure and the other was inbetween. I like the first single and I'll be picking up the album when it comes out, but I don't have huge expectations.

Not sure if you read this one, but I just checked out RollingStone.com to see if they had reviewed and they have a pitch perfect review for it IMO.

Why, Killers? Why? It's the oldest story in the New Wave book: (1) Boys get famous wearing makeup and acting tarty to impress girls; (2) Boys wash off makeup and act sincere to impress boys; (3) It never works. Loads of the original New Wave bands fell into this trap, but the difference with the Killers is that we all thought they were too smart to take themselves seriously. On their smash 2004 debut, Hot Fuss, the Killers were dance-punk New Romantic glitz pimps, goosing David Bowie's "Queen Bitch" into their own ready-made classic, "Mr. Brightside." It was a perfect pop record, and a lot less superficial than it pretended to be. But on their second album, Sam's Town, the Las Vegas party boys ditch their cheerfully fake Bowie moves and try to get heavy by copying Bruce Springsteen. Yes, that means glockenspiel solos. Yes, it means anthems about the road and looking for America and girls named Mary. No, it's not a good move.

So this is the Killers in 1980s Springsteen-clone mode: better than Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers; not as good as John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band; about even with Billy Hixx and the New Breed. (That was Rob Lowe's band in St. Elmo's Fire, though the Killers have better fashion sense.) In the single "When You Were Young," Brandon Flowers blares about highways, heartaches, mountains, Jesus and the devil, and sprains his larynx trying to sell lines like "We're burning down the highway skyline/On the back of a hurricane." (Hurricanes don't burn, actually; check your copy of Neil Young's Guide to Weather Metaphors.) So why is it the single? Because it's the closest thing to a good song on the album.

All over Sam's Town, the Killers leave no pompous arena cliche untweaked in their quest to rewrite "Born to Run" - even though one of the reasons Springsteen's a genius is that he's never tried to rewrite "Born to Run" himself. On Hot Fuss, Flowers got boyish emotion out of his flat Gary Numan voice box, which is how he charmed his way through fantastic anthems like "All These Things That I've Done." But here, he strains for a high register he doesn't have and ends up with a screech. Yet even a more deft singer couldn't save bloated epics with I-swear-I'm-not-making-this-up titles like "Bling (Confessions of a King)" and "This River Is Wild." "My brother, he was born on the Fourth of July"? "I woke on the roadside/In the land of the free ride"? "Enterlude" and "Exitlude" frame the album with a vague hotel/casino theme ("We hope you enjoy your stay" - where are we, the Paradise Theater?), but the concept adds up to nothing except faux-Boss cliches already picked clean by Eighties never-weres from Lone Justice to John Eddie.

The Killers still show musical smarts and wit, as in the Hot Fuss-style chorus hooks of "For Reasons Unknown" and "Bones," where Flowers makes a welcome return to imitating Morrissey, even if the band takes that as a cue to crank up the synth horns. But they sounded a lot smarter playing it cool and a lot more soulful pretending to be cold-hearted, bleary-eyed gigolos. On Sam's Town they seem like they're trying to make a big statement, except they have nothing to say - and who thought a band as shrewd as the Killers would fall into such an obvious trap?

Seeing as though they posted the review for free on their site I don't think it's against the TOS.

Anyway, I don't usually agree with their reviews for the most part, but this is the best one I've read from them in a while. And hit the nail on the head on every account.

These guys have taken themselves waaaay to serious now.

Get back to being "Glamorous Rock and Roll". And the faux-shallow lyrics drenched in heavy synths and great choruses.

It sucks too. I actually thought these guys would come through with another great album. Hot Fuss was borderline perfect IMO. I loved the cheesy 80's music sound.

[CM1847]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

Yeah, that is the 2 star review I read. Blender gave it 4 stars, Spin 3. There seems to be no consensus on this album, I've read impressions of the leak and htey are all over the map as well.

[skitch]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

Hot Fuss was borderline perfect IMO. I loved the cheesy 80's music sound.

Amen.

[Laettner32]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

Me too! Rick Rubin was due for a turd anyway.

[Thrasha]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

Me too! Rick Rubin was due for a turd anyway.

Huh?

Rubin didn't do anything with the Killers on this album to my knowledge.

[Laettner32]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

I could swear Blender magazine said he was producing it...of course I could be wrong. And it looks like I am, no mention of it on Wikipedia...but it looks like he will have a hand in upcoming projects of U2 and Metallica...sweeeett!

[Kodiak33]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

I think Flood produced it along with Alan Moulder...I think this CD is terrible.

[Gizmo]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

I'm getting it tuesday.

[Thrasha]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

I guess this is going to be one of those albums where you either love it or hate it.

Very little middle ground.

[CM1847]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

Picked this up today. After one listen I am pretty impressed. I think it improves on "Hot Fuss" in pretty much everyway except that nothing is as immediately catchy as "Mr. Brightside" or even "Somebody Told Me." Still, the album is much, much, much more consistent from start to finish. I rarely ever listen to "Hot Fuss" because the second half is horrid compared to the first half.

I am beginning to believe that fans of "Hot Fuss" are inevitably going to be disappointed by "Sam's Town", while mild/non-fans of "Hot Fuss" will find a lot to enjoy in "Sam's Town."

[CWood2]

Re: The Killers - Sam's Town

Getting it off iTunes now... high expectations as a big fan, so we'll see.