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The Killers –
Sam’s Town
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Call me
crazy but I might be the only one who appreciates Mr. Brandon
Flowers confidence in their second album. Sam’s Town is one of
the rare second albums around. Like a Pearl Jam album titled
Vs. that exploded beyond its predecessor Ten, Sam’s Town goes
for the same one-two punch. Unlike most bands that go for the
interesting, yet sometimes dull second album, the fab four from
Vegas want to blow the lid off every roof of every house with no
apologies, and people need to start respecting that.
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You
could say that I am a big fan of not only The Killers, but of
arena rock. And if you haven’t taken a look around lately,
arena rock is the endangered species of music. In about
five-ten years, when U2, Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling
Stones are no longer around to take meaningful music and make it
a spiritual experience at MSG, we’ll all be shaking our heads in
disbelief, therefore it’s very important to help a band such as
The Killers grow because we’ll need them to carry the torch. I
say all this because I was appalled to read a Rolling Stone
review of 2/5 stars of Sam’s Town, especially since Rolling
Stone, I always thought supported arena rock. If you’ve read
that review it’s almost like he didn’t even listen to the whole
CD.
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Sam’s Town is a
great album, packed with epic songs that make you want to get in
your car and drive as far as your car can take you. After the
monstrous, opening track Sam’s Town begins; we’re barely given a
rest. A short Enterlude sets the stage and we’re off again.
Bling tells an honorable story about Brandon’s father and For
Reason’s Unknown is a good gap between the two albums. Bones is
a typical, twisted Killers love song but with a full brass
section in the background, probably one of the most fun songs to
come out in years, without any mention of rims, gold teeth and
Patron. Another favorite, This River is Wild; the grand finale
of the album takes a classic Springsteen formula and makes it
their own. Brandon’s writing is maturing, Ronnie (Drums), and
Mark (Bass, and newly elected backup vocalist) are even tighter
than on Hot Fuss.
The
important thing is that Mr. Flowers confidence, although I felt
hurt him critically, (“best album in twenty years”) is a very
good thing to have. Right now it may not be the best
album in the past twenty years, but let’s see what people say
when these guys save arena rock. Because instead of constantly
comparing them and holding them up to other bands, like all the
pre-album hype, we need to realize that The Killers are their
own sound. Whether it’s a ballad or not, every song is of epic
proportions and if this is the type of music they make now, I
can’t wait until their real masterpieces start to surface. If
these guys want to carry the torch, I support them
whole-heartedly, you should too.
-Brendon Bedell of
Suffolk County Community Colleges Newspaper, The Compass
http://www.thekillersfansite.com |