Tuesday, January 11, 2011: The Killers - When You Were Young (Live at Abbey Road)

The Killers frustrate the hell out of me. I just can't help but think, here's a band that just never reached their full potential.

It's easy to see the 80's New Wave/Post Punk influence in their debut album Hot Fuss, but you can't get past the notion that they hadn't really fleshed a lot of those ideas out. The pumped out a couple of good singles, but the whole album just screams, "Stay tuned, better things to come"

And, indeed, Sam's Town is, for me at least, a far better effort. I realize that I'm in the minority opinion here. Obviously the obligatory "growth" and "maturity" concepts are tossed around, as with many sophomore efforts, but here it's a bit more warrented. Yes, on a certain level it sounds like Brandon Flowers had listened to a few too many Springsteen albums in between recording sessions, but that's not a bad thing in and of itself.

But, here again, ideas are left hanging, some songs seem more sketched out than realized, and it all compares to a train that has stopped just a bit before it's reached the platform.

Day & Age only seems to combine the shortcomings of both previous albums. Rolling Stone originally reviewed this album and gave it 2 stars out of a possible 5. Later, Rolling Stone reversed itself and listed Day & Age as one of the most underated albums of the decade.

They had it right the first time.

Now, despite Flowers in solo mode, it does look like there will be a fourth studio album.

And, let's hope they get it right this time, because they deserve it. And so do we, the listening public. God knows that we need a group as good as the Killers could be.