The Killers - Pressure Machine (8.13.21) Album • Page 27

If I'm listening to the whole album all the way through I'll probably go with the version with the talking, and if I'm only listening to one song at random or on a playlist I'll probably go with the abridged version.

 

I like the recorded audios and if the abridged version was never released I wouldn’t care at all, but I can see myself choosing the abridged versions in the future.

 

Okay, I am ready for a version that is just the interviews.

 

Look, I like the interviews, but Craig Manning was just pointing out that the band were totally happy with the songs as they were and ready to put them out like that - therefore it's not the worst opinion in the world to prefer the "abridged" version.

 

My two pence right now:

This is a great record, full of rich instrumentation, authenticity and empathy, Brandon Flowers' best set of lyrics and tangible presence from Dave Keuning being brought back into the fold. I already feel it's an album I'll always want to listen to in full, which isn't the case for all Killers albums (would also do this with Sam's Town and Imploding the Mirage - and maybe Day & Age if I can swap out the weaker songs near the end for the superior B-sides). I can see me enjoying it more and more with time.

Highlights right now for me are West Hills, the beautiful title track, In the Car Outside, Terrible Thing and Runaway Horses.

In among all the hype, I will say there's a little bit of compositional predictability that's stopping me going all in. At his best, Brandon's a real tunesmith (the main reason he got by previously with questionable lyrics and a technically poorer voice), and the cliche, heard-it-all-before chords and melodies that make up songs like Quiet Town and The Getting By don't play to his strengths, or at least aren't really what I listen to a Killers record for. I know there's meant to be more of a focus on lyrics and atmosphere here, but it's not a blanket excuse for a lack of musical originality/hummability. So I can't say it's my very favourite album by the band, but it's a great addition to their canon and leagues ahead of their Battle Born/Wonderful Wonderful nadir.

 

I feel like most of these lyrics are pretty great in writing and also pretty clunky in the actual songs. To me, the writing being outside of Brandon's own voice makes it feel like this record is missing the sense for something sounding natural (or at least interesting) that he's had across his career. There are moments that are really good, but a lot of it just falls flat in practice.

 

tons of brandonisms in the lyrics still even tho he’s gone heavy and detailed. “glory-painted wings” comes to mind

 

As far as Brandon-isms go on this, “Good ’till the last drop” is a stunner at the end of the second best verse on this album.

 

the best verse being the one straight after?

 

You get me

 

Favourite lyrics dump from this thing:

“Can’t you see your boy is wrapped up in the strangle silk
Of this cobweb town where culture is king?”

“When the mountain comes back to life, it doesn’t come from without
It comes from within”

“you put your dreams on ice, never thinking twice
Some you’ll surely forget and some you never will”

“it’s a long way home again, when every step is a silver prayer
In the face of a hard wind”

“It’s like the part of me that’s screaming not to jump gets lost in the sound of the train”

“When will I make it home?
When that jukebox in the corner stops playing country songs
Of stories that sound like mine”

“I asked if she wanted me to take him in
She laughed it off like lemonade”

“Why don’t you say little things?
Butterflies don’t just dance on a string.
It feels like you clipped all their wings”

“We’ve had that treadmill now for months, I think she might’ve used it once.
If I shut my mouth and keep the peace, she’ll cook my eggs in bacon grease.
Life’ll grow you a big red rose, then rip it from beneath your nose.
Run it through the pressure machine and spit you out a name-tag memory”

“It’d swallow up your every step if it could
But maybe it’s the stuff it takes to get up in the morning,
And put another day in, son
That keeps you standing where you should”

Oh, and pretty much all of West Hills, it’s way more than the sum of its parts and quoting a single line doesn’t do it justice.

 

I haven't listened to album front-to-back this many times in AGES. This is a grand slam home run. Brandon's storytelling is palpable and poignant. I think I might listen to Desperate Things every day till I die. It's just perfection.

 

The Getting By gives me chills every time. Wow. I think the problem with Imploding, although I loved it, was that too many songs were released beforehand. Listening to an album all the way through without hearing any singles first feels amazing

 

It is wild they started the album with the best song.

 

They also nailed the sequencing. I'm glad they changed it up from what was previously posted.

 

I could be wrong, but I really think that when they posted the 11 songs before, they were in no particular order, or they certainly were not in a track list, so to speak. I think they just posted 11 of the "A-list" songs that they knew they wanted on the album.

 

West Hills was my favorite on first listen, but now I've got Cody, In the Car Outside, In Another Life, and The Getting By right there with it.

 

West Hills, Sleepwalker, In The Car Outside & Pressure Machine were my favorites on my first few listens, but now honestly the entire album aside from Terrible Thing & Runaway Horses is right there at masterpiece level for me.

 

"West Hills" is great, but probably not quite in my upper echelon. "Desperate Things," "Quiet Town," "Sleepwalker," "In the Car Outside," and "In Another Life" probably make up my top five, in some order.

 

I've had a new favorite pretty much every day. I've played "Quiet Town" the most, though.

 

Quiet Town and In Another Life are songs that didn't blow me away the first time I listened, but now I don't know what that was about because both songs are absolutely phenomenal.

 

"Desperate Things" isn't my favorite but it's the one I think about the most, just so many things going on with that track.

 

In Another Life, Quiet Town, Desperate Things, West Hills, In The Car Outside. Could change any day, but that’s today.
Also, how amazing will this album feel in the fall?

I still can’t believe they did this.

 

ok i feel safe ranking now. parenthesis is favorite song on each album
1. Sam's Town (Bones)
2. Imploding the Mirage (Fire and Bone)
3. Hot Fuss (Jenny Was a Friend of Mine)
4. Battle Born (The Rising Tide)
5. Pressure Machine (In the Car Outside)
6. Day & Age (Goodnight, Travel Well)
7. Wonderful Wonderful (Tyson v. Douglas - legit great song)

 

Yeah Tyson v. Douglas rules