Busy times, but a real quick post for today. The four big questions about the new Killers record Sam’s Town:
1. Is it “one of the best albums of the last 20 years?”
No, of course not.
2. Is it trying too hard?
Yes, of course.
3. Is it full of hackneyed cliches about Jesus, weird weather/highway metaphors (“We’re burning down the highway skyline / On the back of a hurricane that started turning”), and living life the right way?
Obvi.
4. Is it awful?
No, don’t be stupid.
I think people really want to hate it, but it’s really not bad. It doesn’t quite have the catchiness and irascible charm of Hot Fuss and the ratio of bombast-to-content is definitely too high for it to achieve the meaningfulness it clearly desires, but for all that, it’s a very enjoyable listen.
The melding of faux-80s dance-rock and Springsteen-lite doesn’t produce a record for the ages but it ain’t bad. If you liked the last record and aren’t too worried about hipster-cred to enjoy some solid songs without worrying about their placement in the hype-cycle, you’ll probably like it just fine.
For a pretty reasonable sample, check out: