The Killers | ||
| Allmusic Biography : As they matured from their indie dance-rock roots into torchbearers of new wave and Americana-inspired anthems, Las Vegas rock quartet the Killers earned global success. With a mix of 80s-styled synth pop and fashionista charm, the bands multi-platinum 2004 debut, Hot Fuss, became one of the decades biggest releases, spawning four hit singles -- including their most enduring hit, "Mr. Brightside" -- and catapulting the group into the international spotlight. After the abrupt stylistic shift on 2006 sophomore effort Sams Town -- which de-emphasized the groups new wave revivalism in favor of the heartland rock of Bruce Springsteen and Rattle and Hum-era U2 -- they struck a balance between their two sides on a consistent run of Top Ten releases that peaked with 2017s chart-topping Wonderful Wonderful. Founding foursome Brandon Flowers (vocals/keyboards), David Keuning (guitar), Mark Stoermer (bass), and Ronnie Vannucci (drums) first came together in 2002, two years before Hot Fuss introduced their band to the public. Flowers had been sacked by his former synth pop band, Blush Response, after refusing to move to Los Angeles with the rest of his bandmates. Instead, he remained in Las Vegas, where he soon met local guitarist and Oasis fanatic Keuning. The two began collaborating on material; within weeks, theyd composed their soon-to-be radio hit "Mr. Brightside." Stoermer, a former medical courier, and Vannucci, a classical percussion major at UNLV, eventually joined the fray, and the band began playing small clubs in its hometown. A U.K. representative for Warner Bros. caught wind of the Killers brewing hype, and although he neglected to bring them on board the Warner roster, he did pass along their demo to the London-based indie imprint Lizard King. The British label quickly signed the Killers, who temporarily moved to the U.K. and issued a limited-edition single for "Mr. Brightside." The Killers buzz had effectively traveled back across the Atlantic by fall 2003, and the band was offered a prime spot at the annual CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. A worldwide deal with Island followed shortly thereafter, positioning the Killers to join the ranks of fellow indie/post-punk revivalists Interpol, the Rapture, and the Strokes. Shared U.K. dates with British Sea Power and stellastarr* in 2004 gave the Killers an opportunity to showcase material from their debut album, Hot Fuss, which was released that June. "Somebody Told Me," "Mr. Brightside," "Smile Like You Mean It," and "All These Things That Ive Done" all became worldwide chart hits, and Hot Fuss peaked at number seven on the Billboard Top 200. Buoyed by such success, Flowers became a sought-after media presence, often lashing out at such groups as the Bravery for riding his bands coattails into the mainstream. The frontmans confidence was not unwarranted; by 2006, Hot Fuss had earned five Grammy nominations and sold over five million copies. Rather than take a break to recover from their heavy tour regime, the Killers immediately set to work on a second album. A newly built facility at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas became the bands studio, and legendary producers Flood and Alan Moulder (who had previously worked together with U2 and the Smashing Pumpkins) were chosen to helm the controls. Instead of mining the glamour and glitz of their hometown (as they did to a successful extent on Hot Fuss), the group instead focused on nostalgia and the demise of old-fashioned American values, citing veteran songsmith Bruce Springsteen as a chief influence. The popularity generated by leadoff single "When You Were Young" led up to the highly anticipated release of Sams Town in early October 2006. While the album did not match the popularity of the bands debut, it nevertheless sold 700,000 copies worldwide during its first week, eventually spawning three U.S. singles and gaining the Killers two additional Grammy nods. Sawdust, a collection of B-sides, rarities, and remixes, followed one year later, serving as a stopgap recording between the bands proper studio albums. The Killers returned in 2008 with Day & Age, which eschewed the Americana tangents of Sams Town in favor of pop pastiches and sleek, Bowie-inspired oddball dance-rock. The bands return to the dancefloor was emboldened by Stuart Price, a veteran producer who had previously worked with Madonna and Gwen Stefani, and the Top 40 single "Human" helped the Killers continue their commercial streak. A lengthy tour carried the band into 2009, which also saw the release of the concert album Live from the Royal Albert Hall. Solo work filled many of the next few years, including Brandon Flowers Flamingo, Ronnie Vannuccis Big Talk, and Mark Stoermers Another Life. After reconvening in early 2011, the band got to work on its fourth studio album, enlisting a small army of notable producers, including Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite, Damian Taylor, Stuart Price, and Brendan OBrien. The resulting Battle Born was released in September 2012. The set peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, while lead single "Runaways" landed on the Hot 100. In early 2013, the Killers announced that they would be releasing their first greatest-hits collection. Entitled Direct Hits, the November release featured two newly recorded songs, "Shot at Night" and "Just Another Girl," which were produced by M83 and Stuart Price, respectively. In 2015, the Killers began working on new material for their fifth studio album, eventually choosing producer Jacknife Lee to helm the bulk of the tracks. The resulting album, 2017s Wonderful Wonderful, featured cameos by Mark Knopfler and Brian Eno, as well as the radio hit "The Man." It debuted at number one on the U.K., Australian, and U.S. charts. Before the Killers embarked on the road to support the album, the band announced that Mark Stoermer and David Keuning would not be participating in the tour, yet they had not left the group. Flowers and Vannucci forged forth, traversing the globe with touring musicians Jake Blanton, Ted Sablay, Robbie Connolly, and Taylor Milne. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 11 Title: Hot Fuss Released: 2004-06-07 Tracks: 11 Duration: 45:37 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Jenny Was a Friend of Mine (04:04) 2 Mr. Brightside (03:42) 3 Smile Like You Mean It (03:54) 4 Somebody Told Me (03:17) 5 All These Things That I’ve Done (05:01) 6 Andy, You’re a Star (03:14) 7 On Top (04:18) 8 Change Your Mind (03:11) 9 Believe Me Natalie (05:05) 10 Midnight Show (04:02) 11 Everything Will Be Alright (05:44) |
| Hot Fuss : Allmusic album Review : There are so many garage rock/dance-rock tunes perfectly stylized and glamorous for the pop kids in the city and in the suburbs of new-millennium America. Whats nice about these the bands producing these songs is how they strive so desperately to individualize themselves. On a commercial level, they do quite well in delivering catchy pop hooks. When it comes to having actual talent, a select few actually do possess attention-worthy integrity. But there are others who dont, and they disappear from the American consciousness after a brief flirtation with success. Such theories, however, are left up to the individual music fan, so lets put that aside for a moment to experience the decadent pop world of the Killers. The Las Vegas foursome introduce a perfectly tailored new wave-induced art rock sound on their debut, Hot Fuss. They wooed MTV audiences and modern rock followers with the success of "Somebody Told Me" during summer 2004. This chunky-riffed single loaded with androgynous mystery and a dalliance with new romantic energy captures the infectious delivery of the Killers as a band. Vocalist/keyboardist Brandon Flowers does his best Simon LeBon imitation; the sex appeal and the boyish charm are perfectly in place as the rest of the band accents his rich, red-hotness just so. "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" and "Mr. Brightside" are equally as foxy as the albums first single, affirming that a formula is indeed in motion. Its hard to deny the sparkle of Depeche Mode beats and the sensual allure of Duran Duran. After 25 years, those sounds still hold up; by 2004, however, its an incredible task to pull this kind of thing off without selling yourself to the tastes of the masses. Interpol and the Walkmen have pulled it off; Franz Ferdinand and Hot Hot Heat have potential. The difference with the Killers is that the dynamic doesnt firmly hold together. The gospel/rock jaunt of "All These Things That Ive Done" doesnt quit fit around the Cure-inspired synth reveries of "Everything Will Be Alright" and "Believe Me Natalie." "Midnight Show," as much as it plucks from Duran Durans "Planet Earth" and "Is There Something I Should Know?," does show promise for the Killers. Hot Fuss came at the right time because the pop kids needed something to savor the summer with, and "Somebody Told Me" served that purpose. Now pull out your Duran Duran records and dance like no one is watching. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 11 Title: Sam’s Town Released: 2006-09-27 Tracks: 14 Duration: 52:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sam’s Town (04:06) 2 Enterlude (00:49) 3 When You Were Young (03:40) 4 Bling (Confession of a King) (04:08) 5 For Reasons Unknown (03:32) 6 Read My Mind (04:06) 7 Uncle Jonny (04:25) 8 Bones (03:47) 9 My List (04:08) 10 This River Is Wild (04:38) 11 Why Do I Keep Counting? (04:24) 12 Exitlude (02:27) 13 Where the White Boys Dance (03:26) 14 All the Pretty Faces (04:45) |
| Sam’s Town : Allmusic album Review : Not even the Killers, the champions of retro new wave, think that synth rock is music to be taken seriously, and Lord knows that this Vegas quartet wants to be taken seriously -- its a byproduct of being taken far too seriously in the first place, a phenomenon that happened to the Killers after their not-bad-at-all 2004 debut album, Hot Fuss, was dubbed as the beginning of the next big thing by legions of critics and bloggers, all searching for something to talk about in the aftermath of the White Stripes and the Strokes. The general gist of the statement was generally true, at least to the extent that they were a prominent part of the next wave, the wave where new wave revivalism truly caught hold. They were lighter than Interpol and far gaudier, plus they were fronted by a guy called Brandon Flowers, a name so ridiculous he had to be born with it (which he was). And although it was hailed to the heavens on various areas of the Net, Hot Fuss became a hit the old-fashioned way: listeners gravitated toward it, drawn in by "Mr. Brightside" and sticking around for the rest. Soon, they made the cover of everything from Spin to Q, earning accolades from rock stars and seeing their songs covered on Rock Star, too. Heady times, especially for a group with only one album to its name, and any band that receives so much attention is bound to be thought of as important, since there has to be a greater reason for all that exposure than because Flowers is pretty, right? One of the chief proponents of the belief that the Killers are important is the band itself, which has succumbed to that dreaded temptation for any promising band on its sophomore album: theyve gone and grown beards. Naturally, this means theyre serious adults now, so patterning themselves after Duran Duran will no longer do. No, they make serious music now, and who else makes serious music? Why, U2, of course, and Bruce Springsteen, whose presence looms large over the Killers second album, Sams Town. The ghosts of Bono and the Boss are everywhere on this album. Theyre there in the artful, grainy Anton Corbijn photographs on the sleeve, and theyre there in the myth-making of the song titles themselves -- and in case you didnt get it, Flowers made sure nobody missed the point prior to the release of Sams Town, hammering home that hes just discovered the glories of Springsteen every time he crossed paths with the press. Flowers puppy love for Bruce fuels Sams Town, as he extravagantly, endlessly, and blatantly apes the Springsteen of the 70s, mimicking the ragged convoluted poet of the street who mythologized mundane middle-class life, turning it into opera. The Killers sure try their hardest to do that here, marrying it to U2s own operatic take on America, inadvertently picking up on how the Dublin quartet never sounded more European than when they were trying to tell one and all how much they loved America. That covers the basic thematic outlook of the record, but theres another key piece of the puzzle of Sams Town: its named after a casino in the Killers home town of Las Vegas, and its not one of the gleeful, gaudy corporate monstrosities glutting the Strip, but rather one located miles away in whatever passes for regular, everyday Vegas -- in other words, its the city that lies beneath the sparkling façade, the real city. Of course, theres no real city in Vegas -- its all surface, its a place that thinks that a miniature Eiffel Tower and a fake CBGBs are every bit as good as being there -- and thats the case with the Killers too: when it comes down to it, theres no "there" there -- its all a grand act. Every time they try to dig deeper on Sams Town -- when they bookend the album with "enterlude" and "exitlude," when Flowers mixes his young-hearts-on-the-run metaphors, when they graft Queen choirs and Bowie baritones onto bridges of songs -- they just prove how monumentally silly and shallow they are. Which isnt necessarily the same thing as bad, however. True, this album has little of the pop hooks of "Mr. Brightside," but in its own misguided way, its utterly unique. Yes, its cobbled together from elements shamelessly stolen from Springsteen, U2, Echo & the Bunnymen, Bowie, Queen, Duran Duran, and New Order, but nobody on earth would have thought of throwing these heroes of 1985 together, because they would have instinctively known that it wouldnt work. But not the Killers! They didnt let anything stop their monumental misconception; they were able to indulge to their hearts content -- even hiring U2/Depeche Mode producers Alan Moulder and Flood to help construct their monstrosity, which gives their half-baked ideas a grandeur to which they aspire but dont deserve. But even if the music doesnt really work, its hard not to listen to it in slack-jawed wonderment, since theres never been a record quite like it -- its nothing but wrong-headed dreams, its all pomp but no glamour, its clichés sung as if they were myths. Every time it tries to get real, it only winds up sounding fake, which means its the quintessential Vegas rock album from the quintessential Vegas rock band. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 11 Title: Sawdust Released: 2007-11-09 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:12:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Tranquilize (03:45) 2 Shadowplay (04:07) 3 All the Pretty Faces (04:45) 4 Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf (03:38) 5 Sweet Talk (04:18) 6 Under the Gun (02:33) 7 Where the White Boys Dance (03:26) 8 Show You How (02:46) 9 Move Away (03:49) 10 Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll (04:16) 11 Who Let You Go? (03:42) 12 The Ballad of Michael Valentine (03:50) 13 Ruby, Dont Take Your Love to Town (03:05) 14 Daddy’s Eyes (04:14) 15 Sams Town (Abbey Road version) (03:45) 16 Romeo and Juliet (live) (05:27) 17 Mr. Brightside (Jacques Lu Conts Thin White Duke remix) (10:39) |
| Sawdust : Allmusic album Review : Biding time at a juncture when they dont necessarily need to, the Killers released the odds-n-sods collection Sawdust in November 2007, a mere 13 months after their second album, Sams Town. If the title suggests that the group is digging further into a preposterous fixation on faux Americana, this grab bag of B-sides, new songs, covers, stray tracks, and re-recordings feels more like a sop to the fans who found the Springsteen worship hard to stomach. Theres not as much Boss here but the ghost of The Joshua Tree still lingers, particularly in the clatter of the echoing Edge guitars, but thats married to the Killers studied new wave moves, which is a better fit for that sweeping sound anyway. Better fit doesnt necessarily mean a perfect fit, however -- the return to the Killers stylish throb only emphasizes their scattershot songwriting, where they can get elements right but they cant quite tie it all together. Tellingly, the best moments are leftovers from Hot Fuss -- whether its the cool glam groove of the leftover "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf" or "The Ballad of Michael Valentine," which does the cod-Americana better than Sams Town -- but too much of the newer stuff clatters around pointlessly, all pomp and no circumstance. This goes double for the directionless Lou Reed duet "Tranquilize," which plays as if Bowie decided to have Lou sing on Tonight, then it goes triple for a stupifyingly silly "Ruby, Dont Take Your Love to Town," where the Killers seem like kids in cowboy hats even more than they did when they were kicking around the desert outskirts of Vegas. Covers dont treat the Killers well at all, as they reveal how hammy Brandon Flowers is at his core (swapping Mark Knopflers sly, dry delivery for Flowers community theater bluster robs "Romeo and Juliet" of its delicate beauty). When Flowers is in his natural setting, supported by glistening waves of keyboards and guitars that ring like synths, that ridiculous theatricality can be a bit of a guilty pleasure, and Sawdust does indeed contain some moments of grand pomp, but its scattershot nature works against the band as it winds up emphasizing the lingering question from Sams Town, that the Killers have a hell of a lot of ideas but they just dont know what the hell to do with them. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 11 Title: Day & Age Released: 2008-11-18 Tracks: 12 Duration: 48:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Losing Touch (04:15) 2 Human (04:06) 3 Spaceman (04:44) 4 Joy Ride (03:33) 5 A Dustland Fairytale (03:45) 6 This Is Your Life (03:41) 7 I Can’t Stay (03:06) 8 Neon Tiger (03:05) 9 The World We Live In (04:40) 10 Goodnight, Travel Well (06:51) 11 A Crippling Blow (03:36) 12 Forget About What I Said (02:57) |
| Day & Age : Allmusic album Review : The Killers great gift is that they -- and in particular their frontman, Brandon Flowers -- have utterly no recognition of the ridiculous. More than that, theyre drawn to the ridiculous, piecing together sounds that dont belong together, reaching far beyond their grasp, aiming for profundity and slipping into silliness. All this weighed the band down mightily on Sams Town, their convoluted Americana theme park of a sophomore album, all false façades and paper-thin pretension, but on its 2008 sequel, Day & Age, the Killers shrink the canvas and brighten their palette, opting for a big sound over big themes. Since the Killers are at their core poseurs and not prophets, style over substance is the right move and Day & Age has style for miles and miles, exceeding even their debut, Hot Fuss, in its stainless steel gleam. If anything, Hot Fuss was a little too monochromatic in its obsession with 80s synth rock, a criticism that can hardly be leveled at Day & Age, a record that stitches together sounds with an almost blissfully idiotic abandon. Anchored in dance-rock though they may be, the Killers no longer sound like mere disciples of New Order and Duran Duran: emboldened by the left turns of Sams Town, no matter how misguided they may have been, the Killers will try anything, goosing "Losing Touch" with growling saxophones, creating a Strokes disco for "Joy Ride," flirting with worldbeat à la Vampire Weekend on "This Is Your Life," dancing the bossa nova on "I Cant Stay," and riding a tight soulful rock & roll groove on "The World We Live In," bringing it close to a mad fusion of Steve Millers "Abracadabra" and Hall & Oates "Private Eyes." Like before, its impossible to tell if such improbable juxtapositions are intentional or accidental, but given the overall tightness of Day & Age, it feels as if the Killers do indeed mean to create these odd, often pleasing, pop pastiches. And the emphasis damn well should be on the sound and melody, for Flowers remains a downright goofy lyricist, whether hes misinterpreting Hunter S. Thompson on "Human" or recounting an alien abduction on "Spaceman." Ridiculousness is much harder to stomach in words than it is in music, but the nice thing about Day & Age is that not only is Flowers voice relatively buried, the Killers are unwittingly comfortable with their ludicrous, outsized pop, which turns the album into terrifically trashy pop. Not the serious rock they yearn to be by any means, but these fashionable threads fit them better anyway. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 11 Title: Hot Fuss / Sams Town / Sawdust Released: 2008-11-24 Tracks: 41 Duration: 2:42:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Jenny Was a Friend of Mine (04:04) 2 Mr. Brightside (03:42) 3 Smile Like You Mean It (03:54) 4 Somebody Told Me (03:17) 5 All These Things That I’ve Done (05:01) 6 Andy, You’re a Star (03:14) 7 On Top (04:18) 8 Change Your Mind (03:11) 9 Believe Me Natalie (05:05) 10 Midnight Show (04:02) 11 Everything Will Be Alright (05:44) 1 Sam’s Town (04:06) 2 Enterlude (00:49) 3 When You Were Young (03:40) 4 Bling (Confession of a King) (04:08) 5 For Reasons Unknown (03:32) 6 Read My Mind (04:06) 7 Uncle Jonny (04:25) 8 Bones (03:47) 9 My List (04:08) 10 This River Is Wild (04:38) 11 Why Do I Keep Counting? (04:24) 12 Exitlude (02:27) 1 Tranquilize (03:45) 2 Shadowplay (04:07) 3 All the Pretty Faces (04:45) 4 Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf (03:38) 5 Sweet Talk (04:18) 6 Under the Gun (02:33) 7 Where the White Boys Dance (03:26) 8 Show You How (02:46) 9 Move Away (03:49) 10 Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll (04:16) 11 Who Let You Go? (03:42) 12 The Ballad of Michael Valentine (03:50) 13 Ruby, Dont Take Your Love to Town (03:05) 14 Daddy’s Eyes (04:14) 15 Sams Town (Abbey Road version) (03:45) 16 Romeo and Juliet (live) (05:27) 17 Mr. Brightside (Jacques Lu Conts Thin White Duke remix) (10:39) 18 Questions with the Capitan (Hidden Track) (00:51) |
 | Album: 6 of 11 Title: Live From The Royal Albert Hall Released: 2009-11-06 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:18:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Human (05:29) 2 This Is Your Life (03:38) 3 Somebody Told Me (03:21) 4 The World We Live In (04:24) 5 I Cant Stay (04:51) 6 Bling (Confession of a King) (06:28) 7 Shadowplay (04:04) 8 Smile Like You Mean It (04:18) 9 Losing Touch (04:10) 10 Spaceman (05:24) 11 A Dustland Fairytale (04:57) 12 Sams Town (acoustic) (04:03) 13 Read My Mind (04:22) 14 Mr. Brightside (03:53) 15 All These Things That Ive Done (05:55) 16 Jenny Was a Friend of Mine (04:27) 17 When You Were Young (04:43) |
| Live From The Royal Albert Hall : Allmusic album Review : Culled from a two-night stand at the legendary Royal Albert Hall in London in July of 2009, the CD/DVD set Live from the Royal Albert Hall wont win over any skeptics -- the kind who may sneer at the Killers covering Joy Division, as they do rather early on here -- but the group doesnt care. Theyre unflappable, confident in their command, not messiahs looking to convert (a trait they managed to not take from U2) but to satiate their flock. And that does give the lengthy Live from the Royal Albert Hall -- a whopping 22 tracks on the DVD, shortened to 17 on the CD -- considerable momentum, one that flattens the excesses of Sams Town and pumps up Day & Age, one that makes the hits from Hot Fuss sound as if theyve always existed. The Killers build up a force that causes Brandon Flowers to occasionally be short of breath, but by the time hes panting on "All These Things That Ive Done," hes earned it: he and his band command a large audience through plainly evident hard work. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 11 Title: (RED) Christmas EP Released: 2011-11-29 Tracks: 6 Duration: 26:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 A Great Big Sled (04:19) 2 Don’t Shoot Me Santa (04:04) 3 Joseph, Better You Than Me (04:51) 4 ¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe! (04:33) 5 Boots (05:28) 6 The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball (03:30) |
 | Album: 8 of 11 Title: Battle Born Released: 2012-09-14 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:06:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Flesh and Bone (04:01) 2 Runaways (04:06) 3 The Way It Was (03:54) 4 Here With Me (04:54) 5 A Matter of Time (04:13) 6 Deadlines and Commitments (04:24) 7 Miss Atomic Bomb (04:54) 8 The Rising Tide (04:20) 9 Heart of a Girl (04:36) 10 From Here on Out (02:30) 11 Be Still (04:35) 12 Battle Born (05:15) 13 Carry Me Home (03:46) 14 Flesh and Bone (Jacques Lu Cont remix) (05:47) 15 Prize Fighter (04:39) |
| Battle Born : Allmusic album Review : The great open secret about the Killers is that they only make sense when they operate on a grand scale. Everything they do is outsized; their anthems are created for fathomless stadiums, a character quirk theyve grown into over the years as theyve gone from scrappy wannabes fighting their way out of Las Vegas to the international superstars theyve longed to be. Nearly ten years after Hot Fuss -- a decade that flashed by like a falling rocket -- the Killers arent quite the new U2 or the Cure, to name two of their inescapable role models, but theyre not Echo & the Bunnymen, either, doomed to be playing for an ever-selective audience. They are new millennium superstars, filling stadiums and flying under the radar, maintaining a popularity that justifies -- even demands -- albums as overblown as Battle Born, their fourth full-length and first to bear the stamp of the utter ease of a veteran. Unlike their three previous albums, the Killers dont necessarily have anything to prove on Battle Born: theyve carved out their kingdom and now theyre happy to reside within it, taking their time to ensure their palaces are overwhelmingly opulent. And Battle Born is indeed a dazzling spectacle, an inversion of the blueprint handed down from 2008s Day & Age, where the band emphasizes songs over sound. Battle Born is constructed on a smaller scale -- there are no interludes, most songs are trimmed of fat, with "From Here On Out" breezing by at under 2:30 -- but the group has internalized the sprawl of Sams Town so they retain the wide-open spirit of the desert, not to mention the bands persistent obsession with Bruce Springsteens mini-operas of love won, lost, and gambled. In fact, the Killers are slowly stepping away from any dance-rock trappings they once displayed, all while refusing to abandon synthesizers, which leaves Battle Born as this curious fusion of the aesthetics of 1983 applied to the roots rock of 1989; not quite so futuristic as willfully out of time. All this is reconfirmation of how the Killers exist in their own world, one thats tethered to an alternate classic rock history where Born to Run is ground zero, MTV the British Invasion, The Joshua Tree, and Sgt. Peppers. Of course, all of this music is now far, far in the past, so its no surprise the Killers no longer sound like kids. Theyre veterans at this game, a group who has been trading in these stylized, glamorized fusions for a decade, and that slightly weathered attitude is now part of the bands appeal; theyre veterans that know how to use their tools, so even if the raw materials may not be quite as compelling as their earliest singles, the overall craft on Battle Born is more appealing. And if age has changed the Killers attack, it has done not a thing for Brandon Flowers as a lyricist, who remains committed to gobsmacking poetry and allusions, and cracked observations that somehow sound endearing when encased in the well-lubricated machinery of Battle Born. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 11 Title: Direct Hits Released: 2013-10 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:01:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Mr. Brightside (03:42) 2 Somebody Told Me (03:17) 3 Smile Like You Mean It (03:54) 4 All These Things That I’ve Done (05:01) 5 When You Were Young (03:40) 6 Read My Mind (04:06) 7 For Reasons Unknown (03:32) 8 Human (04:06) 9 Spaceman (04:44) 10 A Dustland Fairytale (03:45) 11 Runaways (04:06) 12 Miss Atomic Bomb (04:54) 13 The Way It Was (03:54) 14 Shot at the Night (04:02) 15 Just Another Girl (04:22) |
| Direct Hits : Allmusic album Review : Almost ten years after "Mr. Brightside" helped turn the Killers into new millennial rock sensations, the time has come for a hits collection. Calling the compilation Direct Hits -- a punning title that feels timeless but has rarely been used before, a nifty encapsulation of the groups style and attributes -- the Killers cannily use the singles-centric conceit to showcase the band at their overblown best, emphasizing their arena-sized neo-new wave just slightly over their Springsteenisms. Both are on display on the two new songs -- "Shot at the Night" and "Just Another Girl," songs that sound as if U2, Springsteen, and the Cars created a supergroup in 1988 -- but the main benefit of Direct Hits, especially for those listeners who have always doubted the skills of the Killers, is how the operatic ambitions of Sams Town feel not so extravagant when bookended by selections from Day & Age and Battle Born. All three of the albums -- which are represented by three cuts a piece -- sound strong here but what really has lasted are those singles from 2004s Hot Fuss, especially the initial breakthroughs "Mr. Brightside" and "All These Things That Ive Done," which now seem to capture a particular moment in time and yet also transcend it. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 11 Title: Dont Waste Your Wishes Released: 2016-11-18 Tracks: 11 Duration: 49:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 A Great Big Sled (04:19) 2 Don’t Shoot Me Santa (04:04) 3 Joseph, Better You Than Me (04:51) 4 ¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe! (04:33) 5 Boots (05:28) 6 The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball (03:30) 7 I Feel It in My Bones (03:35) 8 Christmas in L.A. (04:23) 9 Joel the Lump of Coal (03:58) 10 Dirt Sledding (04:27) 11 Ill Be Home for Christmas (05:58) |
 | Album: 11 of 11 Title: Wonderful Wonderful Released: 2017-09-22 Tracks: 13 Duration: 54:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Wonderful Wonderful (05:09) 2 The Man (04:10) 3 Rut (04:24) 4 Life to Come (04:31) 5 Run for Cover (03:42) 6 Tyson vs Douglas (04:33) 7 Some Kind of Love (04:38) 8 Out of My Mind (03:43) 9 The Calling (04:01) 10 Have All the Songs Been Written? (04:09) 11 Money on Straight (03:34) 12 The Man (Jacques Lu Cont remix) (04:15) 13 The Man (Duke Dumont remix) (03:51) |
| Wonderful Wonderful : Allmusic album Review : In 2017, its hard to figure out where Brandon Flowers ends and the Killers begin. Just prior to the September release of Wonderful Wonderful -- their fifth album and first in five years -- the band announced that neither bassist Mark Stoermer nor guitarist Dave Keuning would be touring in support of the record, all the while stressing that neither musician had left the group. Listening to Wonderful Wonderful, its hard to discern their contribution because Flowers completely dominates the proceedings, to the point where this feels like a sequel not to 2012s Battle Born but to his 2015s solo album, The Desired Effect. To an extent, Flowers always has been the focus of the Killers, but at the dawn of their career they were unified in their fusion of new wave and arena rock. Ghosts of that sound flutter through Wonderful Wonderful, but they get pushed aside by disco struts, brooding celebrity name-drops, Mark Knopfler cameos, and Fleetwood Mac harmonies so uncannily real youd swear Lindsey Buckingham guested on the record. Such odd juxtapositions and untrammeled ambition have been the Killers stock in trade since at least Sams Town, but the impressive thing about Wonderful Wonderful is how the Killers are able to execute Flowers overstuffed ideas so precisely. Being able to evoke certain sounds and eras is a skill that means Wonderful Wonderful can sound diffuse, as if its racing in opposite directions simultaneously, but that grandly inflated pomp is ingratiating not in the least because the years have proven theres not a hint of irony in Flowers stadium-sized emotions. By this point, Flowers obsessions and signatures are so idiosyncratic, hes clearly the auteur behind Wonderful Wonderful just as he was with The Desired Effect, and the record charms because its ridiculousness is sincere and his sincerity is ridiculous -- two qualities that make him and his art messy and quite genuine. | ||