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Post by Love Plastic Love on Oct 4, 2006 4:53:26 GMT -5
Hot Fuss and Sam's Town are two different efforts to me. Hot Fuss is, to me, poppier and more immediate. Many more immediately catchy efforts. Sam's Town is not that, but I think has quality songs that are far better than anything on Hot Fuss. If you adore Sam's Town, you may not like Hot Fuss, though I think the average person will like Hot Fuss a lot better because it is catchier/more immediate.
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JamieX
New Member
Joined: October 2006
Posts: 64
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Post by JamieX on Oct 4, 2006 6:34:06 GMT -5
I love 'Read My Mind' and 'Bones'. The album is no Hot Fuss but it does have it's moments.
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bks
3x Platinum Member
Joined: October 2004
Posts: 3,130
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Post by bks on Oct 4, 2006 7:04:01 GMT -5
Sold over 100,000 first day in the UK...HUGE!
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Pulse
Diamond Member
I'm feelin' for a Pulse
Joined: November 2005
Posts: 12,890
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Post by Pulse on Oct 4, 2006 7:50:33 GMT -5
Is that a record (or close) for first day sales there?
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Post by winner2000 on Oct 4, 2006 8:30:36 GMT -5
AMG (****/5)
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 -- it's 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: they've gone and grown beards. Naturally, this means they're 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, Sam's Town.
The ghosts of Bono and the Boss are everywhere on this album. They're there in the artful, grainy Anton Corbijn photographs on the sleeve, and they're there in the myth-making of the song titles themselves -- and in case you didn't get it, Flowers made sure nobody missed the point prior to the release of Sam's Town, hammering home that he's just discovered the glories of Springsteen every time he crossed paths with the press. Flowers' puppy love for Bruce fuels Sam's 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 U2's 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 there's another key piece of the puzzle of Sam's Town: it's named after a casino in the Killers' home town of Las Vegas, and it's 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, it's the city that lies beneath the sparkling façade, the real city. Of course, there's no real city in Vegas -- it's all surface, it's a place that thinks that a miniature Eiffel Tower and a fake CBGB's is every bit as good as being there -- and that's the case with the Killers too: when it comes down to it, there's no there there -- it's all a grand act. Every time they try to dig deeper on Sam's 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 isn't 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, it's utterly unique. Yes, it's 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 wouldn't work. But not the Killers! They didn't 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 don't deserve. But even if the music doesn't really work, it's hard not to listen to it in slack-jawed wonderment, since there's never been a record quite like it -- it's nothing but wrong-headed dreams, it's all pomp but no glamour, it's clichés sung as if they were myths. Every time it tries to get real, it only winds up sounding fake, which means it's the quintessential Vegas rock album from the quintessential Vegas rock band.
AMG Track Picks: -When You Were Young -Bling -Why Do I Keep Counting
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Post by When I Ruled the World on Oct 4, 2006 22:11:13 GMT -5
I enjoy the album now. I bought it at Best Buy today for 9.99 (including bonus cd with 2 b-sides).
I think I was let down initially because it is different than "Hot Fuss", as many have already noted. With a few more listens though, I am really digging it.
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Post by Love Plastic Love on Oct 4, 2006 22:33:12 GMT -5
Sold over 100,000 first day in the UK...HUGE! Holy shit
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lsutigerfan
Gold Member
Joined: September 2003
Posts: 931
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Post by lsutigerfan on Oct 5, 2006 2:12:06 GMT -5
This album gets better with each listen. I'm not sure if it will surpass my love of Hot Fuss, but it's off to a decent start. "When You Were Young" is probably going to be my favorite song of 2006, with "Bones", "For Reasons Unknown", and "Read My Mind" growing on me. The title track "Sam's Town" is simply amazing. Personally, I could care less about how well this does at pop, because this isn't a pop album. This is not a "one-listen" album either. It will take time to sink in.
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#MusicMan
New Member
Joined: March 2005
Posts: 343
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Post by #MusicMan on Oct 5, 2006 4:51:13 GMT -5
I'm obssesed with this album. I can't get enough of Bling (Confession Of A King), IMO -- it's definitely the standout track.
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someguy
Diamond Member
Joined: October 2003
Posts: 16,037
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Post by someguy on Oct 5, 2006 10:59:42 GMT -5
I don't like this as much as I expected to, but I think it's a solid album that should grow on me with time. At the moment, I still preferHot Fuss, but that's not to say that that won't change with time. Right now, "When You Were Young" is my favorite song on the album, followed by "Bones", "Read My Mind", "Sam's Town" and "Uncle Jonny".
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Oct 5, 2006 11:30:17 GMT -5
This is the last SoundScan number I have for Hot Fuss:
4/15/06 chart:
192 KILLERS - HOT FUSS 4,990 -10 5,527 2,956,351
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Post by reception on Oct 5, 2006 14:34:55 GMT -5
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Diablo Cody™
Diamond Member
without me, you're nothing.
Joined: September 2003
Posts: 10,350
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Post by Diablo Cody™ on Oct 5, 2006 14:50:01 GMT -5
I downloaded "Bones" and "Where The White Boys" dance, awesome tracks! I want this album so bad!
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Hook
6x Platinum Member
You take me higher and higher
Joined: October 2005
Posts: 6,694
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Post by Hook on Oct 5, 2006 16:08:59 GMT -5
The album does get better with each listen, and I say that having liked it since the first listen! Sam's Town, Bones, Bling (Confession Of A King), and Uncle Jonny are my favorites.
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anafan
4x Platinum Member
Joined: April 2004
Posts: 4,450
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Post by anafan on Oct 6, 2006 17:10:50 GMT -5
Ireland:
The Killers debut at No1 on this week’s Album Chart with their second album ‘Sam’s Town’ with the highest weekly sales tally of any album so far this year (ahead of previous best Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Stadium Arcadium’). Their first album ‘Hot Fuss’ entered the chart at No52 in June 2004 and went on to spend 11 weeks at No1 last year.
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The album is up to 200k in UK according to Friday midweek update.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Oct 11, 2006 9:42:03 GMT -5
Debuts at #2 on the Billboard 200:
2 KILLERS SAM'S TOWN 314,788 999 698 315,874
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Post by Love Plastic Love on Oct 11, 2006 10:43:39 GMT -5
This album has steadily grown on me. First listen, a tad disappointed. But now I think its leaps and bounds better than Hot Fuss-shows that they are artists instead of hit makers. Love it!
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XXIX
Diamond Member
Sleeping his way to the top
Joined: January 2005
Posts: 11,315
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Post by XXIX on Oct 27, 2006 23:22:23 GMT -5
I'm obssesed with this album. I can't get enough of Bling (Confession Of A King), IMO -- it's definitely the standout track. One of my favs on the album. I don't follow their career much (singles or videos), but if is see they have an albums coming out I will always get it because they never disappoint me. Great album.
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MusicJunkie
6x Platinum Member
Joined: April 2005
Posts: 6,807
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Post by MusicJunkie on Oct 27, 2006 23:23:42 GMT -5
Read My Mind MUST be the third single. It's my favorite song by them. It's already doing well on Alt radio anyways.
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pgs71991
Gold Member
GO CANES
Joined: January 2006
Posts: 730
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Post by pgs71991 on Oct 28, 2006 5:34:23 GMT -5
am i the only one who LOVESSS "this river is wild"???
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Diablo Cody™
Diamond Member
without me, you're nothing.
Joined: September 2003
Posts: 10,350
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Post by Diablo Cody™ on Oct 31, 2006 13:07:12 GMT -5
I bought my copy about 2 weeks ago. Nothing really caught on, besides "Bones" and "When You Were Young". I haven't listened to this CD for about a week. :[
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Nov 16, 2006 14:43:55 GMT -5
Certified 1xp.
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Post by damnnnitzzjohn on Nov 16, 2006 14:47:08 GMT -5
HOT FUSS: 3.1 MILLION U.S. SAM'S TOWN: 567,000 U.S. [WORLD WIDE: 1.4 MILLION]
AS OF MID-NOVEMBER
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NORTHCOAST
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Joined: October 2003
Posts: 4,285
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Post by NORTHCOAST on Dec 1, 2006 19:08:27 GMT -5
Haven't listened to this yet. I'm waiting to get it from the library first. But just read the Rolling Stone review today and Ouch! Only 2 stars and some mighty digs. Copying Springsteen, terrible cliched lyrics, taking themselves too seriously. They say they choose "When You Were Young" because there was no other single on the album. Yikes! But I've read some really good reviews too. So don't know what to make of it until I listen for myself.
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Diablo Cody™
Diamond Member
without me, you're nothing.
Joined: September 2003
Posts: 10,350
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Post by Diablo Cody™ on Dec 2, 2006 0:53:13 GMT -5
"Read My Mind" finally caught on to me.
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MusicJunkie
6x Platinum Member
Joined: April 2005
Posts: 6,807
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Post by MusicJunkie on Jan 8, 2007 14:49:56 GMT -5
The Killers Planning Worldwide TourThe Killers just recently wrapped up their latest round of touring in support of last year's Sam's Town, but have already begun plotting for 2007. They head out on January 17 to begin touring overseas in New Zealand, Australia and Europe until April. The Killers will then return home for another round of North American dates in the spring. Frontman Brandon Flowers tells MTV.com, "We love playing the new songs because we played Hot Fuss for so long. It was great that we got to play it so much, because it was so successful, obviously. But these new songs, you worry that they're not gonna make it or stand up next to these successful songs. And they really are. And it feels great. And it feels like we're growing and we're getting better." He tells fans not to expect an extravagant production with their live show, saying,"You want to build your show and cause a scene, but there's something to be said about the four of us playing our songs. We don't want to get lost in the confetti, but we want to have confetti. We want to show that we can play. We don't play to tracks. It's something that we're still holding on to right now. And we want to get that while we're young, show people that we can do it." Also this month, the Killers will shoot the video for "Read My Mind," the third single off Sam's Town. Flowers calls the tune "kind of our favorite song" and promises the clip will find the band "in Tokyo. On bikes."
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Post by mrjedi on Jan 8, 2007 15:20:07 GMT -5
"Read My Mind" is brilliant....was instantly one of my favourites, if not my favourite track on the album. I also love "For Reasons Unknown"...to me, this album is sooooo much better than people give it credit for, is fantastic
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Post by beaston on Jan 8, 2007 16:36:17 GMT -5
LOVE this album. Read My Mind is real good, but I like Bones, Sam's Town, and Bling better.
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MusicJunkie
6x Platinum Member
Joined: April 2005
Posts: 6,807
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Post by MusicJunkie on Jan 8, 2007 16:37:29 GMT -5
LOL. I think I'm the only big fan of "Uncle Jonny."
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Post by mrjedi on Jan 8, 2007 17:21:42 GMT -5
I loooove that track too...I get chills with the final line (which is a repeat of the first line!)...just something about how it gets really dark. Great track...really love Why do I keep counting as well...damn...love them all!
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