Album Club Selection #9: The Killers - Pressure Machine

Quiet Town popped up on the radio while I was driving. It felt so good...

Had to come back and share this.

So, I like the Killers and I'd opine, based on my previous experience of their work, this is not a typical Killers' albums.

I liked it, obviously a very personal retrospective around small town America (or 'Murica).

I guess small town life is similar all over (without the guns and weird version of Christian fundamentalism) so elements of this chimed.

I liked it.

Recent long drives gave me the opportunity to give this repeated listens. Previously been a bit meh about The Killers, didn’t particularly enjoy the Glastonbury set I saw on TV in 2019, and the collaboration with our man left me cold. However……

This is rather good. Saw the comments re Nebraska above, and while I can see where that’s coming from lyrically, I was hearing a cleaned up, slick and glossy Gaslight Anthem/Brian Fallon, with a dash of U2-lite here and there perhaps? Thought the between track recordings were well used too. Vocally lacked substance and grit to suit the subject matter maybe, but that’s probably down to my personal taste, and yeah a bit wordy in places but all in all a good listen and worth revisiting.

Thanks @berlintramp !

I don't think there's any harm in dissenting opinions on the albums, but I'm glad you ended up enjoying this one.

I took a chance on a Killers album many years back, can't remember which, and was unimpressed. So I was prepared to dislike this one and back away from the discussion. Don't want to piss on someone else's enthusiasm. But this was a real surprise. Not 10 out of 10, but an enjoyable experience. I'll listen to it again, that's for sure. Thanks, @berlintramp.

The Killers are the one 'recent' or current band I actually follow and seek out new releases on a 'day of' basis, like I do with Bruce.

Bruce has always been mentioned as an influence, either from reviews or by Brandon Flowers himself. To be honest, I've never really heard it... until this record. Before this, I hear the Bruce influence via osmosis... The Killers often sound like a dialled down version of Meat Loaf / Jim Steinman. Which means, the Bruce that JS amped up to a ridiculous almost cartoonist level, is tempered back down by The Killers. Take the song 'A Dustland Fairytale' as an example... it's Bruce themes circa BTR thru to The River, but somehow heading towards Meat Loaf bombast without tipping over.

Until this album... this, for mine, is where you can mount a case for The Killers sounding like Bruce. The best of this album is like a Nebraska track, dressed in ways Bruce never imagined.... the lesser songs, like a more opulent and ultimately dull and derivative version of songs on either Nebraska or GOTJ.

At their best, The Killers put Queen, U2, Meat Loaf, a dash of Bruce, and a sprinkling of new wave guitar and keyboard music into a blender, and come up with something brilliant. Sam's Town is other world amazing... for mine, their masterpiece. Day and Age is like a late 70's / early 80's radio station, as they wear each influence on their sleeve in turn to create a fun whole. This album has it's in the gut moments, where Brandon's personal soul pushes through, but at other times it sounds like Bruce wannabe... without, at least, sounding also like a someone or something else wannabe also.

Concerning the band name - it has nothing to do with murder or murderers. It's taken from the bass drum of a fictitious band in New Order's video for Crystal.

I might have never discovered The Killers if Bruce hadn't done "Dustland" with them. Liking that, I got interested in them, and though I haven't explored all of their output, what I have found, I really liked.

The live performances of Pressure Machine songs on CBS mornings - or whatever that was on the net - are really even better that the album recordings. I agree sometimes there are too many words for the line they are supposed to fit in, but that is a criticism I have levelled at Bruce quite a lot of times. (He usually irons it out in his live performances).

Now I am happy to have discovered a new group with promise - and I don't feel quite as old fashioned anymore when I can only answer to inquiries which band I like with: Just Bruce.