Music Reivew: "Sam's Town" by The Killers
It is not often I buy new music the first week it is out. I think this is mostly because I buy a lot of old music (the sidebar contains both a "Last CD(s) Bought" and a "In Heavy Rotation" section). As you can tell right now, I am on a Kinks kick.
I enjoyed The Killers prior release, Hot Fuss, but at the time, I thought Franz Ferdinand (yes, named after that Franz Ferdinand) was a much better band, as FF's eponymous rookie disc wowed me much more than Hot Fuss had. I actually was going to wait on Sam's Town until I heard feedback from friends, but noticed that Rainbow, a local Newark music/used books/DVD shop on Main Street had it for the same price as the iTunes download. I was able to pick up Sam's Town with a copy of "The Penguin Complete Father Brown" by G. K. Chesterton, which at $6.00 is a steal.
Anyway, on to the review. I was pleasently surprised by this CD. I think this is miles better than Hot Fuss, which seemed to rely too much on the New Wave/80's dance gimmick. The songwriting is superb, and the music itself sounds vaugely 80's to me, but still follows logically from Hot Fuss. Fans of that release may think that they sound very different, but this reminds me of the differences between Rush's pre/post-synth albums compared with their synth-heavy albums.
Some of the tracks are stronger than others, but overall a solid album, which seems to be unusual these days. The title track, "Read My Mind," and "Bones" particularly stick out in my mind. Some people are comparing this album to a late 70's-early 80's Springsteen album. I think I understand why they are saying that, but I still think that particular attribute is off the mark.
Overall, a solid effort, and I would recommend it. Definately one of my top three albums of original material this year thus far, the other two being The Raconteurs' Broken Boy Soldiers and The Eagles of Death Metal's Death By Sexy, though overall, I think the best release of the year is Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions (that doesn't count because it the music itself is old).
More insight into my music tastes here and especially here.
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