He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman like you imagined...

First, he proclaims they have the best album ever coming out. Next, he disses Green Day and anyone who is in his view “anti-American” (read anti-Bush). Brandon Flowers gives a lot of reasons for me to hate his band, despite my liking for feminine post-wave rock-disco stylings. But I was already somewhat won over by the first single, “When You Were Young”, and of course picked up resulting album, Sam’s Town, named for the local-yokel casino in their native Las Vegas, with an open mind. While I can safely say the Hall of Fame doesn’t need to clear a place real soon, The Killers’ Sam’s Town is a somewhat enjoyable pop-rock piece that offers a convincing change of direction for the group. Meant to emulate Bruce Springsteen (by default, Born To Run most likely), Flowers et al feel the need to prelude the prelude (here called the “Enterlude”) with the Title song, a long, ok but sort of forgettable, descript of the desert-city scene. After the prelude comes the first of their two big guns, “When You Were Young”, where the Killers succumb to the Boss’ influence most convincingly, even to the false break in the middle of the wall of sound, though twisting it enough to direct an almost scorn to his supposed audience. The other is “Read My Mind”, which new-waves it up a notch, and telling that they chose the Pet Shop Boys to remix it. While most of the tracks do bear the Springsteen-esque stamp, songs like “Bones” owe just as much to Morrissey’s turn of phrase. Besides the singles, most of the rest of the album is mildly memorable, though “Why Do I Keep Counting” works the best, and “Bling (Confession Of A King)” and “My List” work the least. I wanted to like “Uncle Jonny” and its seemingly biographical honesty, but I wish it weren’t so muddled and “kitchen-sinkish”. “For Reasons Unknown” and “The River Is Wild” are both good representations of the band, but not notable for any reason but that. As a whole, Sam’s Town isn’t a bad listen, maybe not as enjoyable as their shiny-suit debut Hot Fuss, but a little too strained to be the all-American album Flowers tried for it to be. But for I-Tuners and the like, you can’t go wrong at least buying “When You Were Young” and “Read My Mind”, two of the best singles from 2006. (My edition had a bonus disc with 2 songs, "All The Pretty Faces" and "Daddy's Eyes", both of which are better than a big chunk of the regular CD.)

Grade: B-
Best Cuts: “When You Were Young”, “Read My Mind”
Weakest Links: “Bling (Confessions Of A King)”, “My List”

Sam's Town hit #2 in the US and #1 for 3 weeks in the UK.
"When You Were Young" hit #14 pop singles, #15 Adult top-40, #5 dance club play, #4 dance airplay, #1 modern rock, and #2 in the UK.
"Bones" made #21 modern rock and #15 in the UK.
"Read My Mind" made #62 pop, #1 dance club play, #1 dance airplay, #8 modern rock, and #15 in the UK.
"For Reasons Unknown" so far hit #53 in the UK.

and for the clips....first of, you can really tell they were throwing every bit of hammy drama into this clip for "When You Were Young"....