The Killers: Sam's Town : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

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?

ROB SHEFFIELD

(Posted: Sep 21, 2006)

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Review 1 of 141

Not Rated

Dear Rolling Stone i will work for free and rate the albums well- that´s how ROB SHEFFIELD gain is job!
Sam´s Town it´s the best album of 2007 and one of the best of this decade. You can hear and hear it and see that this album has a precise alignment- just perfect- every song is good and in the right place. You can hear a little of all the rock genders without hearing some stupid mess- because they knew what they were doing - a masterpiece.
Dear ROB SHEFFIELD keep hearing Panic! or FallOut till you grow up and be prepared to hear more than college song´s. I will hear BONES and REASONS unknown till i stop hearing because...i really enjoyed my stay at Sam´s Town!

Sep 3, 2008 15:48:57

Review 2 of 141

5of 5 Stars

Hard to follow up Hot Fuss obviously but not a bad effort. Lots of powerful songs on the record and The Killers were definitley not trying to "rewrite" Born to Run. Thats just a stupid thing to say. They said that themselves. This album shows the potential of this band to change music forever.. They ARE the next U2 and in 20 years we will be considering them to be placed on the top 10 artists of all time. Not something we can say about Fall Out Boy or Panic! This was a very unfair review of this album from my perspective. Great album. Killers 4life

Aug 18, 2008 20:38:03

Review 3 of 141

5of 5 Stars

FIVE STARS FOR IT ...DONT DAMN SAM. 'Sam's Town' by the Killers is an album that tenderly writes about change and growth! The anthemic and delicate phrasing of songs like "Sam's Town", "When You Were Young", and "Bling (Confessions of a King)" make a superbly comparable rock album. I am a native Las Vegan -- there is perhaps a Vegan tenderness in Flowers lyrics. He is passionate and eludes immediately understandable lines -- "back of a hurricane that started turning when you were young", "when I offer you survival", "I look a little bit colder", "With one deep breath I move a little bit closer, I move a little bit closer".
This album is about wanting TRUE change! Therein an American sound and anthem lies -- change for the best.

TRY THIS -- begin the album 15 miles outside of Las Vegas and drive into the city at night . . . "Have you ever seen the lights. . . Have you ever seen the lights?!" -- THEN YOU WILL KNOW SAMS TOWN IS A BRILLIANT 4 or 5.

Aug 13, 2008 20:09:01

Review 4 of 141

5of 5 Stars

2 stars? now that's just mean.
i mean, we're talking about an album that sold nearly 5 mil copies, 2 stars? it's just outrageous. and it's only now that you can truly see that. if i was his boss i would seriously start thinking about maybe letting him go, cause he is not only being biased, but he's talking like it's personal thing, that's what it looks to me at least.
it just feels like he has something with them, like he saw the wywy video and just decided he wasn't into the tache or the new look, or the song for that matter, so before even hearing the album he decided it was gonna suck.
i'm sorry, but that's the truth, that's what i believe.
on the other hand, i think the album rocks. i love it so much, it's my favorite in the last 20 years, just like brandon said. i think that it's much better than hot fuss, especially lyrically, basically, the things he hated the most i completely fell in love with.
in conclusion, this guy is obviously a jerk and i wouldn't trust his reviews if my life depended on it, actually, maybe i'll check some more of the 1/2 stars out because i have a feeling those are the truly good ones, bands i mean

Aug 13, 2008 14:20:50

Review 5 of 141

4of 5 Stars

It's been years and this review still bothers me. Sheffield probably should have done some research about the band before jumping to conclusions. His complaint against "Enterlude" and "Exitlude" is ridiculous considering the fact that the album was partly a tribute to the Sam's Town Casino, where the band got it's start. Sheffield constantly complains about the lyrics, which I thought were the best part of the whole album. The have meaning and purpose, which is more than I can say for other songs. And just for the record, Brandon Flower's brother was born on the fourth of July.

Aug 4, 2008 05:41:01

Review 6 of 141

5of 5 Stars

Read this review and could not stop laughing. I don't understand what Sheffield's problem is but he seems to be embarking on a personal attack to The Killers, as if one of the supposed girls they "Pimped" themselves out to was his own. Some advice for him in the future, he should get over his image fixation and focus on what really matters here: the fact that The Killers have produced at very worst a credible album, but in my opinion, one of the best in years. What the band have done is ditch their eyeliner deadend image and gone for something a whole lot more credible by simply showing up and delivering something no-one else can these days. Sam's Town is a fantastic effort from start to finish, packed with more substance, lyrical punch and meaning than previous effort Hot Fuss. Ultimately, if your not a fan of the band, even if you downright dislike them altogether, the album you see here is at very least, a respectable transition. But if you have any sense at all, it is a class act.

Jul 4, 2008 09:34:32

Review 7 of 141

3of 5 Stars

i know its not as good as hot fuss, we knew it wont be but its not as bad as rs says.

May 24, 2008 20:26:18

Review 8 of 141

4of 5 Stars

I'm old enough to have read a million RS reviews, and old enough to know that "snarky" is where the money is, and that you gotta pay the bills and all that, but objective reviews would be refreshing once in a while. I think these kids made a damned good album. My son's a fan, and I didn't know who these guys were, but I checked it out and liked it a lot. It's not a masterpiece--not Blonde on Blonde or Sgt. Pepper's or Physical Graffiti or OK Computer--but I thought it was first-rate. First off, I've only care for maybe 10% of what Bruce Springsteen's done, and I don't think the Killers are going all out to mimic him. There are a few overblown lyrics, but that's about it. No embarrassing Springsteenian names forced in there for the sake of silly rhymes, etc. (At least the Killers are just kids...) I thought, in fact, that the lyrics were vastly more sophisticated than those of most of their peers, while the music was earthy but professional. The RS-higher-rated Saw Dust is frothy and lightweight by comparison, and the RS-higher-rated Hot Fuss is drab and forgettable by comparison...except for the cut with Lou Reed, which kicks serious ass--though I'm an old guy, and I guess I'm bound to say that. I read in RS, in fact, where Lou Reed praised these guys, and I'd take Reed over Sheffield any day.

May 19, 2008 10:27:55

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