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.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam's TownBrandon Flowers | The Killers | Play | 04:06 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 2 | EnterludeThe Killers | The Killers | Play | 00:49 | 1 MB | 4 MB |
| 3 | When You Were YoungThe Killers | The Killers | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 4 | Bling (Confession of a King)The Killers | The Killers | Play | 04:08 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 5 | For Reasons UnknownBrandon Flowers | The Killers | Play | 03:32 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 6 | Read My MindThe Killers | The Killers | Play | 04:06 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 7 | Uncle JonnyThe Killers | The Killers | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 8 | BonesBrandon Flowers, Mark Stoermer, Ronnie Vannucci | The Killers | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 28 MB |
| 9 | My ListBrandon Flowers | The Killers | Play | 04:08 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 10 | This River Is WildThe Killers | The Killers | Play | 04:38 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 11 | ExitludeThe Killers | The Killers | Play | 02:26 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 12 | Why Do I Keep Counting | The Killers | Play | 04:24 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 44 mins | 101 MB | |||||
| 44 mins | 319 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corlene Byrd | Vocals (Background) |
| 2 | Anton Corbijn | Photography |
| 3 | Max Dingel | Engineer |
| 4 | Flood | Audio Production, Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 5 | Brandon Flowers | Composer, Group Member |
| 6 | Mark Gray | Engineer |
| 7 | Suzanne Hackett Morgan | Paintings |
| 8 | Maryam Haddad | Strings |
| 9 | Adrina Hanson | Strings |
| 10 | Doug Joswick | Package Production |
| 11 | Neeraj Khajanchi | Trombone |
| 12 | The Killers | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 13 | Louis XIV | Vocals (Background) |
| 14 | Tommy Marth | Saxophone |
| 15 | Alan Moulder | Audio Production, Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 16 | Tristan Moyer | Strings |
| 17 | Tara Podolsky | A&R |
| 18 | Paul Resta | Marketing |
| 19 | Robert Reynolds | Management |
| 20 | Andy Savours | Mixing |
| 21 | Robert Stevenson | A&R |
| 22 | Mark Stoermer | Composer, Group Member |
| 23 | Ronnie Vannucci | Composer, Group Member |
| 24 | Howie Weinberg | Mastering |
| 25 | Andy West | Art Direction, Design |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |