Last night in London, The Killers debuted a brand new track from their new album Wonderful Wonderful that comes out next week. I really like it, but I do feel that it reminds me quite a bit of Depeche Mode's song Personal Jesus. And in fact, last night the song was introduced by Woody Harrelson quoting from the New Testament:
I am excited to hear the new album next week.
I thought he did that very well!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I am so far a bit bored by Some Kind Of Love, the latest track that The Killers have previewed from Wonderful Wonderful. You can stream it on Spotify and see if you like it or agree.
ReplyDeleteYou can now stream 90 second segments of all the unreleased tracks from Wonderful Wonderful, including The Calling, on iTunes.
ReplyDeleteLive debut of Tyson vs. Douglas:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=FDNmlWcfL_0
Here is my track by track review, based only on the 90-second samples of the songs that haven't been released in full yet:
ReplyDeleteWonderful Wonderful - This is a very different direction for The Killers, but it has really grown on me. I think this is a great start to the album.
The Man - This is a great first single, catchy but also showing that the band is going in new directions. Also, the Brandon's self-deprecating humor is pleasant.
Rut - So far, I have to admit that this one bores me, makes me feel like the album got stuck in a rut, and we are only on track 3. Perhaps the full track will reveal a better song?
Life to Come - more mid-tempo, but I really kind of like this one.
Run for Cover - I loved this one instantly when it was released. It's probably better than anything on Battle Born, so it definitely indicated some hope for the new album
Tyson vs. Douglas - This one is upbeat and is another instant like/love for me and probably the obvious choice for the next single to promote the album.
Some Kind Of Love - I've been listening to this more, and it has grown on me a bit from first listen. Still feels slow and mellow beyond belief, but I could see really like this after some more time with it.
Out of My Mind - A decent album track, though perhaps a bit nondescript.
The Calling - Yes! The Killers re-write "Personal Jesus" but it's awesome enough and original enough that it just comes across as a great move! Depeche Mode themselves have made several attempts over the years to mine this vein of song deeper, but I would say none of them have worked as well as this track does.
Have All The Songs Been Written - Sounds like it will be a pretty good and dramatic closing track for the official album.
Money On Straight - The Killers continue their tradition of making some decent bonus tracks that perhaps should have been on the album (maybe instead of Rut?)
The Man (Jacques Lu Cont Remix) - This sounds like a pretty cool remix with extra synth noises.
The Man (Duke Dumont Remix) - Different buy not as good of a remix as the previous track. Fairly unnecessary.
My opinions may change after hearing all of the complete tracks.
I listened to the album in full (no bonus tracks) on spotify today. Here are my thoughts:
ReplyDeleteWonderful, Wonderful - I like the song. It has good emotion as well.
The Man - I really like this song. The first time I heard it I wasn't too impressed, but it has really grown on me since its release. The music is fun, and it is nice to hear that he realizes he should not have been so cocky when he was younger, and that he was able to fit that idea into the lyrics of a song.
Rut - From what I have read the lyrics of this song are probably the most personal for him. That doesn't make it a great song, but I don't mind it. It is a little slow at times, but as a whole I thin kit is better than the snippets I heard.
Life to Come - This is a fine song. Nothing about it really stood out to me. I had to go back and listen to it again in order to write something about it.
Run for Cover - This is a catchy song, but I don't know that I like it that much. I don't dislike it, it is just okay.
Tyson vs. Douglas - This is a fun song. I like the story of how seeing Tyson, who he thought was invincible, lose was such a shock for him, and then comparing it to how his kids now see him as invincible, and he doesn't want to let them down. It also has a a catchy beat.
Some Kind of Love - This one is growing on me. At first I didn't like it at all, which wasn't too surprising since I have never been a Brian Eno fan, but now I don't mind it too much. I find it ironic that this attempt to write a song in someone else's style was very true to that style, in part because they included a sample in the song; where as, their attempt to write a song like the Velvet Underground, All These Things That I have Done, didn't end up sounding anything like the band they were going for, but was a much better song.
Out of My Mind - a fine song, but nothing that really stands out musically. The lyrics are interesting that the worldly accomplishments of his career and the name dropping he could do, mean nothing to his wife.
The Calling - This is my favorite track on the album. I like it a lot, and I like the album version even more than the live version posted here.
Have All the Songs Been Written - the song is fine, not great. I do like the back story of how he had writer's block and wrote an email to Bono with this as the title. Bono replied that he thought the subject line was a good start.
Thanks Eric for you track by track review! I really enjoyed reading it, and learned some new things I wasn't aware of. Where did you learn about Brandon writing an email to Bono and about All These Things That I've Done starting as an attempt to write a song like the Velvet Underground? I've updated the title of this post to be Wonderful Wonderful discussion to better reflect the broader scope into which it has evolved.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I don't know where exactly I read about the email from Bono. This article mentions it: http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/review-the-killers-wonderful-wonderful.html but doesn't say much about it. My phone recommends articles for me to read, and when I have down time I will read them, but it is hard to find them again later.
ReplyDeleteThe velvet underground thing Brandon mentioned at a concert in Denver once: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPRN-HLhpW0
Thanks Eric for those links. After living with this album for 5 days now, I would say that I love it and it has passed the new Alvvays album as my favorite of 2017 so far.
ReplyDeleteI would say that for me there are five tracks that I just really love: The Calling, The Man, Life To Come, Run For Cover, and Tyson Vs. Douglas.
But I like the other five tracks as well. The title track is a great album opener. I love the horn sound that starts it off as the first sound you hear on the album. Rut is still probably my least favorite, but I do enjoy it now, and feel like it works in the flow of the album. Some Kind Of Love has really grown on me. I really like the lyrics about having the soul of a truck, which for me sounds like something you'd hear in a country song - the idea that your truck has soul (but it's not a soldier). The feel of this track and it's placement in the track order of the album remind me of the song Kyoto Garden by Spector (Moth Boys is still my most recent favorite album - nothing from last year or this year has yet passed it). I've started to find the chorus of Out Of My Mind pretty catchy, and I think that Have All The Songs Been Written is a nice closing track.
I have the Target cd, which contains an exclusive remix of The Man by CRNKN. It is interesting but not needed - I sort of which I had just bought the regular cd so that the album would just end after the last album track. I was planning to try to find the deluxe cd to get the one bonus track (I don't really care about the other two remixes of The Man), but so far I can only find it available for about $20 from the UK, and that doesn't seem worth the money. I would like to get the vinyl to see how it sounds.
My very favorite track is also The Calling. I love the sound and music, and also the story. To me, it is in many ways, a universal story of redemption that every person needs to find at some point in their life.
The album as a whole just seems really good to me - it flows well, and doesn't have any sections that bore me or that I don't like. I think it is better than I would have expected and I am really enjoying it.
My opinion is so far I don't love it. It is not bad, and Killers usually take a while to grow on me. Hopefully I will like it better with a few more listens. I do like Wonderful Wonderful, and The calling. Everything else is just ok.
ReplyDeleteI was happy to learn that Wonderful Wonderful is The Killers first U.S. number one album, and also their 5th straight UK number one album.
ReplyDeleteI got the album today. on my first listen, I liked the man, and Rut the best. So funny that the rest of you don't like Rut. I think The Calling will grow on me. Definitely a rough first listen, but that's always how I feel about Killers. I'll be surprised if any of these are ever favorites though.
ReplyDelete