Biding time at a juncture when they don't necessarily need to, the Killers released the odds-n-sods collection Sawdust in November 2007, a mere 13 months after their second album, Sam's Town. If the title suggests that the group is digging further into a preposterous fixation on faux Americana, this grab bag of B-sides, new songs, covers, stray tracks, and re-recordings feels more like a sop to the fans who found the Springsteen worship hard to stomach. There's not as much Boss here but the ghost of The Joshua Tree still lingers, particularly in the clatter of the echoing Edge guitars, but that's married to the Killers' studied new wave moves, which is a better fit for that sweeping sound anyway. Better fit doesn't necessarily mean a perfect fit, however -- the return to the Killers' stylish throb only emphasizes their scattershot songwriting, where they can get elements right but they can't quite tie it all together. Tellingly, the best moments are leftovers from Hot Fuss -- whether it's the cool glam groove of the leftover "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf" or "The Ballad of Michael Valentine," which does the cod-Americana better than Sam's Town -- but too much of the newer stuff clatters around pointlessly, all pomp and no circumstance. This goes double for the directionless Lou Reed duet "Tranquilize," which plays as if Bowie decided to have Lou sing on Tonight, then it goes triple for a stupifyingly silly "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town," where the Killers seem like kids in cowboy hats even more than they did when they were kicking around the desert outskirts of Vegas. Covers don't treat the Killers well at all, as they reveal how hammy Brandon Flowers is at his core (swapping Mark Knopfler's sly, dry delivery for Flowers' community theater bluster robs "Romeo and Juliet" of its delicate beauty). When Flowers is in his natural setting, supported by glistening waves of keyboards and guitars that ring like synths, that ridiculous theatricality can be a bit of a guilty pleasure, and Sawdust does indeed contain some moments of grand pomp, but its scattershot nature works against the band as it winds up emphasizing the lingering question from Sam's Town, that the Killers have a hell of a lot of ideas but they just don't know what the hell to do with them.
If David Bowie had an illegitimate bastard and sent it to be raised by Vikings, then this little bastard started a band with a 17 year-old Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast, a coyote, and a disgruntled former member of The Strokes, they might produce an album similar to Sawdust, the newest offspring of The Killers. Sawdust has 18 songs, some of which you may have heard versions of elsewhere, as t...
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Another Killers song from Sawdust. Here is an early pic of the Killers....Well at least Brandon and Dave!
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The beggining of this song sounds live or a bootleg or something but it's not. Listen to the whole song. This is the final song in the trilogy.Jenny was a freind of mine, midnight show are the others!
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it was like at first listen with you, it's no secret. I have been watching you evolve musically, grow a mustache, cover Shadowplay, and invite Lou Reed over for erm, tranquilizer:I appreciate it all and I still like you, even more so.But you owe me. Oh yes, you do. You owe me a Somebody Told Me Twice. A song to jump around to for no or all the reasons in the world, with surreal and yet realisti...
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The Killers will release a complication of b-sides and rarities entitled ??Sawdust?? November 12, but NME has put together a sampler in the form of a Youtube posting of their live on one site. The page features 15 of the 17 tracks to be feature on the US version, mostly footage of performances from the Les Vegas pop superstars. "CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT":CHThe compilation will also delivers s...
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"As previously reported":PR, Killers will release ??Sawdust??, a compilation of B-Sides, November 13th. In a recently interview with AP, Killers Frontman Brandon Flowers explained how he ended up doing a duet with Lou Reed for ??Sawdust??, what other possible duets we might be able to expect from the Nevadan, as well as what his group is up to these days after the their last album ??Sam's Town?...
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The Killers are set to release a song off their upcoming compilation ??SawDust??(Island/ Vertigo) tomorrow (Octobver 12). The song, "Tranquilize" features their much publicized duet with Lou Reed and which will be available for download tomorrow.The album will also contain the songs "Shadowplay" (a Joy Division cover) and "Move Away" from the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack."With its classic rock styli...
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If there is one thing I learned this year, and perhaps that shows that I can be pretty ignorant sometimes, is that on EP's and Singles there sometimes are fantastic songs that are never put on a full-length album.I never picked up singles and EP's, but now I feel I have to catch up on that and pay more attention to it, because apparently I'm missing out.For instance, last May I saw Editors in c...
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I've never done this before (as far as I know), so I think it is high time that I do something. I am creating a Top 20 albums of 2007 list (I tried top 10, but just couldn't do it), but in a different way. It is not a Top 20 list of albums that came out this year, but the Top 20 albums that I have heard this year, regardless of when the albums actually came out. Yes, some of the albums did come
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A new Killers song has surfaced. It was never released before and will be out for the first time in November when the band releases their B-side album Sawdust. The track called 'Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf' is the first song of the band's so-called murder trilogy, with 'Midnight Show' and 'Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine' following. Both those tracks made it on the Killers' debut Hot Fuss. When p...
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The Killers’ music never sounded particularly dangerous to me, lots of angst and "woe, she left me" - nothing like what I expected just from their name. So this selection, heard by me for the first time today on Sirius Satellite Radio, was a pleasant surprise; I was IMPRESSED. My daughter and I decided to buy the album, but I couldn’t wait. This evening, I did a little research and discov
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If David Bowie had an illegitimate bastard and sent it to be raised by Vikings, then this little bastard started a band with a 17 year-old Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast, a coyote, and a disgruntled former member of The Strokes, they might produce an album similar to Sawdust, the newest offspring of The Killers. Sawdust has 18 songs, some of which you may have heard versions of elsewhere, as t...
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Ahhh, it feels good to be excited about The Killers again. Even its only because a b-side release proves that their old stuff is better than the Sam's Town accident. Shame on whatever producer convinced Brandon Flowers and co. to move away from the sleazy-melancholy and glitzy synth rock that made Hot Fuzz so memorable. Thankfully, the gems on Sawdust weren't locked away in the vaults for too...
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Another Killers song from Sawdust. Here is an early pic of the Killers....Well at least Brandon and Dave!
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The beggining of this song sounds live or a bootleg or something but it's not. Listen to the whole song. This is the final song in the trilogy.Jenny was a freind of mine, midnight show are the others!
More >
Indie Rock and Roll is the gretest thing ever to come out of our mouths...apart from everything else...
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 "Sawdust")
