The Killers - Imploding the Mirage (August 21, 2020) Album • Page 20

USDA Certified Lean Brandon got himself some of those good calories

 

Yeah, Wonderful Wonderful was not very good.

Just read the LA Times article where he talks about Sam's Town getting "shit on" and I just don't remember that at all. I remember him being mouthy about how good it was but jesus christ, he backed up all that smack talk. That album rules all.

Critics really hated Sam's Town? Ugh what a bad opinion.

 

Huh, that was not my guess!

Yeah, I'm sure they're not a lyrics band for a lot of people, but the lyrics were the main draw for that record for me.

I was going to say this. I remember when U2 said it in 2009 and their next album came out five years later. Ha

Sound & Color sounds so good. I feel like more artists should be hiring Blake Mills to produce. The album he did with Dawes sounds fantastic, too.

That one reminds me a lot of Flamingo.

 

Rolling Stone gave it like 2 stars and absolutely tore it apart. I think they've since deleted that review, but you can probably find it.

 

The critical response to Sam’s Town was definitely influenced by Brandon’s “this is the best album in 25 years” or whatever comment. Felt like a lot of those reviews read like “Oh so the Mr. Brightside guy discovered Bruce Springsteen and thinks he’s the savior of American rock? Eat this!”

Can’t really hate on anyone who heard Sam’s Town and felt like it was all pretty ridiculous, but that album’s got some undeniable bangers on it.

 

It is easily the highlight album of their career in my opinion

 

I absolutely love this album, having never loved a Killers album before. I do like Sam's Town. But this is just all in on the uplift and grandiosity and I am totally overwhelmed by it. In a weird way, it's kind of come at the perfect time, almost completely divorced from everything going on in the world and thus really capable of amping up the escapism. There's a couple - Dying Breed, the title track - where I just wanted them to go on forever, they were so completely locked into the melodies that you felt they could have just rolled on and on.

 

Here you go.

It's pretty much been the story their whole career, but it got particularly bad when they found out the band was actually serious-- bashed for wanting and receiving mainstream success, while other bands of that era never reached those heights. So while each album has its undeniable singles, and critics begrudgingly admit to such, they will never allow themselves to say the Killers deserve their success. Praise rarely comes without aspersion. It's gotten better over the years, but you'll still find the disdain in some of the elder statesmen of music reviewers. Brandon and Rob Sheffield were still going at it in 2015.

Anyway, Sam's Town is a top five album for me. I won't argue that there are certainly better albums out there, but it had such an impact on me, and holds up every time I go back to it.

 

So ready for this record. Waiting until tomorrow though. Got a solo 2 hour drive that is screaming for this record on a 75 degree evening. It’ll be glorious.

 

Second half of "When The Dreams Run Dry" is total WTTBP vibes.

 

I seem to remember Sam's Town being ripped and talked about in a negative light moreso than not at the time of release in the mainstream press, even though Killers fans seemed to really like it, and then it sort of having a critical reassessment in the press years down the road where the consensus became accepted that it's a great record.

Full disclosure: I don't have anything to back this up

 

Welcome to the Black Parade?

 

This is pretty accurate. They definitely lost some fans who were disappointed that it didn't sound like Hot Fuss, though, so it wasn't just the press. But I think it was definitely an album that grew in people's estimations as Springsteen became an increasingly common influence and reference point for indie rock over the next few years. By the time Day & Age rolled around, I think a lot of fans were disappointed it didn't sound more like Sam's Town.

 

All I know is I loved the shit out of When You Were Young and Read My Mind. I was only just starting to pay more attention to music so I didn't like buy albums yet but I definitely loved those songs. Not sure whether I knew those or Mr Brightside/Somebody Told You first

 

I had an averse reaction to Sam's Town when it first came out. I remember going out and telling my friends it sucked, other than a couple songs. So I kept going back to one, then another, and another. Took me about a week to realize I was an idiot.

 

Same with me. I remember I got it in the mail the same day as John Mayer's Continuum and that one just clicking way faster. I didn't care much for Sam's Town beyond the singles, "For Reasons Unknown," and "Why Do I Keep Counting," but then it kept growing on me.

 

On Sam’s Town, I think once you “get” This River Is Wild, everything starts to make sense

 

dont particularly care for this band but dying breed is undeniable

 

Has anyone heard Man and Woman enough?

 

The Weyes Blood part of "My God" reminds me so much of "The Fly" by U2.

 

They said on IG live that it would be out some day, but didn’t specify when.

 

Dang, I really wanted to like this album. Don't care for a lot of this. I think it's better than Wonderful, Wonderful. The Killers are band that have always been in my life. My family and I used to play Hot Fuss on repeat. Ever since Hot Fuss, I haven't loved any of their albums front to back. They're a great live band because they put together a 'best of each album' setlist but I can't get through any of their albums without skipping songs. Hopefully it will grow on me. I do enjoy The War on Drugs influence on the instrumentation.

 

I thought there was confirmation a few or more pages back in the thread that it's going to be a bonus track on the Japanese version of the album..... ???

 

It was listed on the tracklist of some vinyl gatefold edition, but I don't know how reliable that was. Maybe they're just being cheeky? Then there's the Japanese edition, which editions about are scarce. I have no clue.

 

I did some in-depth research i.e. I checked YesAsia.com & CDJapan.com & Discogs but I didn't come up with anything. It feels early for that kind of stuff though.