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Battle Born (new The Killers album) |OT| We're all just runaways

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F

Fry

Member
Osietra said:
Opinion: Validated.
Click to expand...

:lol

I think Brandon gets better with each album. He sounds amazing on Battle Born.


Just noticed this on my last.fm:

ib0IryOPjMGnq4.png


BB almost reaching D&A already. I listen to most of my favorite songs through Live from RAH, but still, I thought I had listened more to it.

Also, just realised my LFRAH is missing. It was probably stolen =(
 
J

JehutyRunner

Banned
I'm on my first listen right now. Already four songs down and this is already better than Day and Age. Whether it'll be better than Hot Fuss or Sams Town is doubtful (I'm guessing no), but I'll go with it so far. Anything that's better than Day and Age is good in my book.
 
The Shift

The Shift

Banned
Have had the deluxe edition since Saturday, these tracks are doing it for me so far -

» Flesh And Bone
» Runaways
» Matter Of Time
» Battle Born
» Prizefighter

Matter Of Time is all kinds of greatness, just wow. This song is like a Killers medley of sorts, especially if you like Hot Fuss/Sam's Town - has everything packed in there.

So my current playlist for driving goes something like this(sort of album/era based I guess - I skipped Day and Age and the solo stuff so will have to follow that up soon)

» Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
» Mr Brightside
» Smile Like You Mean It
» On Top
» Believe Me Natalie
» Midnight Show
» Sam's Town
» When You Were Young
» Bling (Confession Of A King)
» This River Is Wild
» Why Do I Keep Counting
» Where The White Boys Dance
» Flesh and Bone
» Runaways
» Matter of Time
» Battle Born
» Prizefighter

I will have to look at the the track order but feel the songs sit nicely as is, that might change when I add the Day and Age tracks.
 
The Shift

The Shift

Banned
I know, considering I rate Why Do I Keep Counting and Where The White Boys Dance above them. Read My Mind and For Reasons Unknown just come off as a bit flat to me, sort of unfinished tracks/ideas or b-sides if you will. Oh well, I still have to do a good week with Day & Age yet so that will mix things up a bit. The best thing is that all of those tracks in that playlist a very good in their own right and so having that as a' drive to work and back' list is great.
 
The Shift

The Shift

Banned
Fry8 said:
Both are really growing on me, especially Battle Born. I loved the other 3 from the start.
Click to expand...

The combo of music and lyrics at 02:45 on Matter Of Time is just so good -

Laughing with your girlfriends
Not a care in the world, not a burden on your mind
(You laid it on the line)
It was just a matter, it was a matter of time
We found ourselves a place
We belong in it forever
Ain't that what it's all about
Make the promise and keep it
Come hell or high water
We'd figure it out
It was the night, it was the moon It was the green grass in the garden
The victory and the sin
I know you're weary, look at me
Flailin' in the corner
Here's the towel
Go on, throw it in
It was a matter of time
Can't you see that it's tearing me up inside?
Look what's laying at our feet
That's the wreckage of broken dreams
And burned out hells
And it's here on our street
 
S

Solo

Member
With only hearing Runaways/MAB/Flesh And Bone off BB so far, my Killers compliation would be something like...........

1. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
2. Mr. Brightside
3. Smile Like You Mean It
4. Somebody Told Me
5. All These Thing That I've Done
6. Sam's Town
7. When You Were Young
8. For Reasons Unknown
9. Read My Mind
10. Bones
11. Shadowplay
12. Human
13. Spaceman
14. A Dustland Fairytale
15. Flesh And Bone
16. Runaways
17. Miss Atomic Bomb
 
J

JehutyRunner

Banned
Including Sawdust stuff, my compilation would look like this:

  • Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
  • Mr Brightside
  • Smile Like You Mean It
  • All These Things That I've Done
  • Andy, You're A Star
  • On Top
  • Change Your Mind
  • Natalie
  • Midnight Show
  • Sam's Town
  • When You Were Young
  • For Reasons Unknown
  • Read My Mind
  • Bones
  • Tranqulize
  • All The Pretty Faces
  • Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll (Sawdust version, not Hot Fuss version)
  • The Ballad of Michael Valentine
  • Under the Gun
  • Move Away (Spiderman 3 version, not different Sawdust version)
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Human
  • Spaceman
  • Flesh and Bone
  • Runaways
  • The Way It Was
  • Miss Atomic Bomb
  • Battle Born
 
The Shift

The Shift

Banned
Solo said:
With only hearing Runaways/MAB/Flesh And Bone off BB so far, my Killers compliation would be something like...........

1. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
2. Mr. Brightside
3. Smile Like You Mean It
4. Somebody Told Me
5. All These Thing That I've Done
6. Sam's Town
7. When You Were Young
8. For Reasons Unknown
9. Read My Mind
10. Bones
11. Shadowplay
12. Human
13. Spaceman
14. A Dustland Fairytale
15. Flesh And Bone
16. Runaways
17. Miss Atomic Bomb
Click to expand...

Matter Of Time really steps it up - if you like all out rock assault Killers then yeah, this track is something else. Vanucci just goes full beast on this - a big reason I really love listening to this band.

I'm picking up Day & Age this week - have only really heard Human and A Dustland Fairytale but haven't spent any time with it as an album. The Joy Division cover Shadowplay seems to get referenced a lot. Will have to check that out and maybe get Sawdust too.
 
i_am_ben

i_am_ben

running_here_and_there
You're all forgetting the awesomeness of Goodnight, travel well.

By far their best album closing. Sorry Battle Born.
 
K

kingellesar

Member
My deluxe copy arrived this morning :) had two listens so far, Runaways, Deadlines and Comitments and Miss Atomic Bomb my top 3 so far. First listen I felt it was quite weak compared to Hot Fuss and Sams Town but second time through I started to like a few more tracks. It certainly grows on you the more you listen. Killers are my favourite band ever so I am probably biased but meh they are awesome :)
 
T

TheLucifer

Member
I'm really loving the album, except for two song (F&B by Jacques Lu Cont and Deadlines and Commitments) the rest is absolutely amazing. The top 3 has to be Miss Atomic Bom, Runaways and Flesh and Bone, but with tracks like Prize Fighter and A Matter of Time it gets quite difficult to decide. It may need some time to grow on some people, though.

Driving during night with this album is really awesome. Like, really, really awesome.
 
H

Holy Wars

Banned
This album is so fucking boring. I'm listening on Spotify now.

I love Sam's Town and Hot Fuss :(

e: Matter of Time is pretty good.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
omgomg I'm listening right now! (couldn't wait)

Tier 1

Flesh and Bone
Runaways
Miss Atomic Bomb
From Here on Out
Prize Fighter (maybe my favorite)

Tier 2

A Matter of Time
Battle Born
Carry Me Home

Tier 3

Here With Me
The Rising Tide
Heart of a Girl
Be Still

Tier 4

The Way it Was
Deadlines and Commitments

The Flesh and Bone Jacques Lu Cont remix is catchy, but hard to categorize because it's so different from the rest.

It's definitely the slowest and most ballad-y album yet, though that's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
S

Solo

Member
Looks like I'm the only one holding strong til the 18th :lol

By this time tomorrow, I'll have heard it though.
 
T

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Just saw on my Twitter feed that Tegan & Sara are going on tour with....the Killers

Two birds one stone much? That show is going to be godly.
 
M

Medalion

Banned
I may be hearing things

but while listening to the album version of "Miss Atomic bomb" I can swear a bit of the "Mr.Brightside" arpeggioed STYLE-riff in the mix
 
F

Fry

Member
Metacritic scores:

Hot Fuss
66

Sam's Town
64

Sawdust
65

Day & Age
69

Battle Born
70

More reviews:

Spin

8 out of 10

Think back to what constituted "rock" when the Killers broke out in 2004. Bands were back. New York rediscovered post-punk. Disco was no longer a dirty word to dudes with guitars. And even the emo kids started buying drum machines. But eight years on, what happened to all those dressed-up guys rocking the dance floor? The White Stripes, LCD Soundsystem, Fall Out Boy, all gone; the Vines, the Bravery, Panic! at the Disco, all forgotten; Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, the Hives, barely hanging on. Who would've predicted that beyond the Strokes (and should they ever get it back together, those abominable Kings of Leon), the only remaining band with a seemingly unbeatable blazers + hooks + riffs + grooves + cheekbones combo still threatening to sustain their run as an international, cross-generational arena-rock phenomenon would be the one behind "Mr. Brightside"?

And yet the indie crowd and much of the media still slam them. Many critics can't accept a bridge that unites the seemingly incompatible kingdoms of Morrissey and Bruce Springsteen, and therefore an incredulous, bullying tone follows the Killers everywhere. There's the implication that frontman Brandon Flowers' Mormon faith and apparent lack of self-destructive tendencies makes him unfit to rock; it's the 21st century, dudes have been wearing eyeliner since Elvis, and yet even Pitchfork has called the band's stage presence "prissy." Their lyrics are shot full of holes, yet if Animal Collective had come up with "Are we human, or are we dancer?" they'd be hailed as cryptic geniuses. Rarely do the Killers get credit for being one of the few working-class bands with the temerity and talent to achieve populist yet defiantly arty rock stardom at a time when even middle-class musicians with better educations don't dare dream of transcending the Brooklyn boho ghetto.

This innately Vegas quartet have aspirations, it's true, and to some, that makes them uncool, maybe obsolete. Battle Born, which refers to the insignia on the flag of their beloved Nevada, their own Vegas home studio, and quite possibly their own stance within the music world, boasts the roar of a band working extremely hard in a manner that's become not just aesthetically unfashionable, but also economically unfeasible. Their fourth album (and first in four years) employs five hotshot producers, sometimes in pairs, and required a year of recording. Had it been made entirely in New York, it might've bankrupted a smaller label. Fittingly, the outcome is huge: Those who found 2006's divisive Sam's Town overly bombastic will have a field day with this one.

Starting with synth bleeps that give way to a galloping spaghetti Western extravaganza, opener "Flesh and Bone," like first single "Runaways," piles the white-knuckled histrionics high. Years spent touring and taking singing lessons have reached critical mass, and so Flowers wails notes way outside the range of the clipped 22-year-old who sneered through "Somebody Told Me," and he's describing his struggles via the equally operatic pop-culture shorthand that defines his writing style: He's a "raging bull" who is "penetrating the force fields" but "running out of time." Accordingly, the Springsteen-isms of Sam's Town have returned in a big way, but this time those thunderous power chords and Phil Spector-schooled drum rolls are complimented by synth balm far more soothing than the quartet's usual New Order riffs. In rebuffing their critics, these dreamers embrace the super-emotive '80s bands the critics of that era also loathed — Alphaville, Simple Minds, Ultravox, Tears for Fears, Cock Robin, Icehouse, even Mr. Mister — with results that are more heartland-friendly and more Euro-romantic than ever.

It's a perverse, audacious strategy, but it works because there's never a moment when the melodrama is doodle-y, dull, or indulgent, as it was on all the group’s recent solo jaunts. By contrast, Battle Born is a full-on band opus: This is where the Killers confront their personal and professional doubts, and achieve an unmistakable, unrelenting us-against-them cohesion.

The album’s structure is just as solid. Beginning and ending with a bang, BB rises and falls and accelerates and slows down with a classic LP arc that disappeared when frontloaded CDs took over. For the first time, the ballads are as memorable as the dance cuts, particularly "Here with Me," a tearjerker written by Flowers and Travis frontman Fran Healy in the mold of, yes, Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is." The singer pines for his lost love, but when he spots her at a restaurant, he can't bear a confrontation, and turns tail. That's what real people do, and it signals a breakthrough: Every lyric is rooted in relatable, everyday experience, not just other pop songs. Several struggle with domestic arrangements on the verge of collapse: Flowers longs for "The Way It Was" with his beloved, while on "A Matter of Time," he despairs over a relationship's seemingly inevitable end, moaning, "Here's the towel, throw it in."

Flowers is now 31; the others are 35 or 36. Saxophone sideman Thomas Marth killed himself last April; Flowers' mom died in 2010. And so Battle Born tackles maturity and mortality with a newfound sense of gravity. But all of this wouldn't matter if the songs didn't soar, and it's the combination of lyrical weight and melodic weightlessness that makes this record work. On "Deadlines and Commitments," Flowers' words are compassionate, but it's really his uplifting vocal, and the interconnected harmonic hooks that swirl around him, that pulls the song skyward.

Everything here takes flight like that, and it'll all stay in your head longer than something allegedly much more of-the-moment, which explains why the Killers have already outlasted so many of their peers. Although Battle Born acknowledges hard times, it’s ultimately hopeful, and although it may not be in style, it's there when we need it. Like now.
Click to expand...

Virgin Media

4/5

All Music

4/5
 
J

JehutyRunner

Banned
I realise bitching about Meta scores will lead to the likelihood of getting blood from a stone, but how the hell does Day and Age have a better score than Hot Fuss/Sam's Town?
 
F

Fry

Member
JehutyRunner said:
I realise bitching about Meta scores will lead to the likelihood of getting blood from a stone, but how the hell does Day and Age have a better score than Hot Fuss/Sam's Town?
Click to expand...

Don't read too much into critics I guess. The albums don't have a high rating to begin with.

As mentioned in Spin's review, 'Rarely do the Killers get credit for...'
 
H

Holy Wars

Banned
JehutyRunner said:
I realise bitching about Meta scores will lead to the likelihood of getting blood from a stone, but how the hell does Day and Age have a better score than Hot Fuss/Sam's Town?
Click to expand...

Music reviews are easily the least reliable and most meaningless of all art criticism. It's still crazy to me people still write and care about them.
 
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