Four times through, I need to listen to a record four times through before I trust that my initial reaction is valid. It's not a good sign for me when I'm listening to a record and the music just fades into the background unnoticed, and that's what happens with Day and Age. I went back and looked at how many songs of the two previous Killers records I love. Hot Fuss, I could listen to the first five songs over and over again and do still on a regular basis. Sam's Town, I ended up liking that material more after seeing some of it live than I did on my first reaction but again five songs stick with me there as well (first six minus Bling and then The River is Wild). Honestly on Day and Age, Losing Touch and Spaceman are my only faves and will be on regular rotation. I'm not even that wild about Human.
This new record has made me wonder what is it then in that handful of songs that appeals to me. I think the song Jenny Was a Friend of Mine is a good example. The song has a prominent bass line and a good mixture of guitar and keyboards. But the vocals, I love that Brandon can sound like he is completely insane ("She said she loved me!"). That's what does it for me, and you usually only get that on the faster material. With an album made up mostly of mid-tempo songs, there aren't enough opportunities to hear this.
Even though I'm not happy with the record, I am still very disappointed that I missed out getting a ticket to their O2 Arena performance here in London in February when the tickets sold out in record time. I would go see them again in a heartbeat.
On a side note, The Killers will now always make me think of haggis. We stopped in a pub in Edinburgh to try this legendary Scottish dish back in October and the music overhead was a compilation of Sam's Town and Hot Fuss. My daughter A and I sang along as we waited for our meal.--J
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