...I've Got Soul But I'm Not A Soldier...

What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. Las Vegas band The Killers make some noise on their third outing.

When The Killers hit the scene a few years back with the Hot Fuss album, I dug their new wave sounds and catchy songs. Too much too soon seemed to go to their head as lead singer Brandon Flowers began to talk as if they were the greatest band ever and the first single to their second album was the Springsteenish "When We Were Young". The songs from their second album Sam's Town seemed decent yet nothing caught my ear like the first disc. So when The Killers released their third disc Day and Age last year, I was interested but wary even though I liked the single "Human". Good word of mouth spread about the CD so a few weeks back I got it.

While "When We Were Young" felt overblown to me, Day and Age marked a return to a more modest New Wave influenced sound. "Human" could have percolated off a Men Without Hats album in '83 with the overlapping wave of synths it has. "Spaceman" takes off like a John Hughes fueled jet and doesn't touch down for a few minutes. Along with the renewed focus on A Flock Of Seagulls sonics is a touch of Bowie, horns and slight funk rhythms blast in and out particularly on the swanky "Joyride". "Neon Tiger" has a nice ring to it with it's upbeat pop feel.

The Killers seem inspired and have a strong set of songs, not a clunker in the bunch. Even the Island rhythms of "I Can't Stay" come off well. I don't like it as much as Hot Fuss, but Day and Age is good enough to make me re-evaluate if skipping Sam's Town was such a great idea. On it's own, Day and Age is heady fun. I'm going to try rating things on a scale of Dixie Dogg barks from 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest. Dixie gives Day and Age an 8 barks.