Favorite Albums: 106 - 105

So, I completely forgot to post these 2 on Friday. Had too much crap going on. So the plan right now is to post these two now, then the next two either tonight or tomorrow, to keep on schedule. I know I'm letting down my loyal fan base when I don't post on time. I'll try not to let it happen again.

106. Sam's Town by The Killers (2006)

For a while I liked this album more than their debut, Hot Fuss. Not so much any more. It is an interesting album, but it just seems like they are taking too many ideas from too many '80s bands and trying unsuccessfully to mash them all together. It's a good album still, I'm just not as in love with it as I was when it first came out. There aren't really any stand out songs on this album, except for the extremely over played "When You Were Young" I suppose. It just feels like an album full of good ideas gone wrong. Like "Bones" for instance. It sounds like they're trying to mix New Order keyboards with Def Leppard guitars and Tom Petty vocals. Not necessarily a bad song, just a weird mix of influences. "For Reasons Unknown" almost sounds like a lost Talking Heads track, but is still good. "My List" feels like a Depeche Mode reject, but is still good. "Why Do I Keep Counting?" seems like the bastard child of David Bowie and Peter Gabriel, yet is still good. And that's probably the biggest problem with this album. Through the whole thing, they sound like they are trying to sound like anyone but The Killers. It's a good album, and worth having, but, like I said, just not as into it as I was when it first came out.
5 Best Songs:
5. "This River Is Wild"
4. "Bones"
3. "Read My Mind"
2. "My List"
1. "For Reasons Unknown"

"Read My Mind"


"My List"


"For Reasons Unknown"


105. Pop by U2 (1997)

For a lot of people this is U2's worst album. For me, that distinction is shared by October and Boy. Never been able to enjoy either of those albums. The thing that bugs me most about critics of this album is how they bitch that it was too different, that it was too experimental. Should they have gone out and made another Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby? Sure, that would have been the safe predictable money making way to go, but it would have been boring, in all honesty. Okay, enough bitching.
I must admit, I didn't care for this album that much at first. Not because it wasn't Achtung Baby part 2, just because U2 doing electronica seemed... wrong. But really, other than "Discotheque" and "Mofo" it's not that far off from a standard U2 album. It's probably their most ballad heavy album, and even some of the non-ballads seem like ballads almost. It's also one of their most relaxing albums. "If God Will Send His Angels" was also featured on the City Of Angels soundtrack (which would have been on this list if I still had a copy. I should go get it again.) and is just an absolutely beautiful song. The three songs that end the album are just bad ass. "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" drips sex, "Please" is about a suicide bomber, and "Wake Up Dead Man" is a plea to have Jesus re-enter the narrator's life. All three are pretty slow, and they are among some of the prettiest songs U2 has ever done, I think. "Gone," "Miami," and "The Playboy Mansion" are also pretty good songs, another nice 1-2-3 strike. Overall, I think this is a pretty balanced album, and doesn't deserve the label it's gotten as being a mistake. It's more enjoyable the older it gets, and really should be up in the second level of great U2 albums where (for me) Rattle and Hum, Zooropa, and No Line On the Horizon reside. Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby it's not, but it's also not How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, Boy, or October.
5 Best Songs:
5. "The Playboy Mansion"
4. "Mofo"
3. "If God Will Send His Angels"
2. "Gone"
1. "Please"

"If God Will Send His Angels"


"Gone"


"Please"