The New York Times accused Brandon Flowers, the band’s lead singer and creative force, of self-importance. The Village Voice called the album "ghastly, ghostly" and compared it with the worst Steve Perry and Journey ever created. And Rolling Stone asked, "why Killers, why?", comparing them with Springsteen imitators like John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, except to say they weren’t even that good. Ouch.
But if everyone could just take a deep breath and listen to "Sam’s Town" one more time we’ll discover that, truth is, it’s not all bad. There’s no musical crime being committed here. Or at least no felonies.
Sure, "Sam’s Town" has flaws. Lyrics like "I woke up on the roadside/in the land of the free ride" are not just lame and incongruous with the synth-heavy sound, they beg the Springsteen/open road comparison. (The Voice referred to the album’s lyrics as "seventh grade poetry.") And there are a lot of references to things like back roads and thunder and "highway skylines" that pretty much force the Springsteen issue. How about "Don’t you want to come with me?/Don’t you want feel my bones on your bones? It’s only natural" for a nice little Thunder Road allusion.
On the other hand, these guys are from Las Vegas. It would seem that place has just as many broken dream/open road stories as, say Asbury Park, N.J.
"Sam’s Town" is spotty, too. Tunes like "Enterlude" and "Exitude," which bookend the album and give it a sense of a loose "concept album," are just plain awful and make you embarrassed for Flowers.
So there’s a bit of hubris, maybe a bit of a sophomore slump that inevitably had to follow the very good "Hot Fuss," and maybe even a little confusion over the band’s identity.
The album, like The Killers themselves, alternates between grand and grandiose.
The title cut, which opens the album and begins with a four-count (just like Bruce) followed by cascading synthesizer, has the drive of any song that appeared on "Hot Fuss." It’s a nice grabber if you overlook the lyrics again. "I’m sick of all my judges/so scared of lettin’ me shine" really are the sort of thing you’d expect from an angst-ridden teen.
The music itself is occasionally catchy. But it’s the music, not the lyrics, that carry the day. While "Sam’s Town" has a few tunes you’d want to hum, there’s nothing really nothing you’d want to sing in the shower.
As usual, it’s Dave Kuening’s guitar which provides the hooks that make some of the album engaging, especially on "Read My Mind" and "When You Were Young," and Flowers provides a few of his own on numbers like "Bones."
Ultimately, "Sam’s Town" shows how The Killers will have to learn to identify themselves and their sound. They’re going to have to define themselves next time out or they’ll go the way of most "Next Big Things."
"Sam’s Town" shows a band in transition. Where that transition will take them is anybody’s guess.
Bill Zaferos began his journalism career in 1981 at the Oshkosh Northwestern, later becoming a political reporter at the Appleton Post-Crescent. He is a former winner of the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship for Journalists, working as a senior staff member to U.S. Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis., and U.S. Rep. Norman Mineta, D-Cal. He later became an award-winning political reporter for the Wilmington (DE) News Journal, covering state and national politics and the Delaware Legislature.
Zaferos, was press secretary to acting Milwaukee mayor Marvin Pratt and has served as a senior communications adviser to the citys Department of City Development during the Norquist administration. He is a veteran of several statewide and local political campaigns, including those of City Attorney Grant F. Langley; Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Jeff Conen; and Appeals Court Judge Patricia Curley among others.
Previously, Zaferos has written music reviews for OnMilwaukee.com.
Zaferos is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and he received his masters degree from Marquette University.
