RC@5: Imploding the Mirage by the Killers

Record Club covered this album five years ago. I gave it another listen this week. So did Nate. Here are our thoughts.

Imploding the Mirage

The Killers

Week 84: September 6-12, 2020

Nate

What was said five years ago still feels correct. Time and distance make everything sweeter or smaller, and this record comes off as both upon revisit. "My Own Soul's Warning" still goes and is a textbook album opener. "Caution" is probably the best song the band has written since something off Day & Age. The band still has a charming—even anachronistic—tendency to swing big in its arrangement; anything that doesn't rise to an anthem in the first 45 seconds will eventually get there in the first 180. 

What's new: nothing here really sucks, even if only a few moments are really worth revisiting for anyone but the hardcore or the unintelligibly casual. It's fine, but it achieves its fineness with such aplomb and charm that you can forgive yourself for thinking there's a lot more there. There is, at least, a little more there, and who are you in times like these to scorn even a little more?

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Joe

The idea, I think, is that legacy bands can and should still put out new music. That's the understanding I've come to over the past five years, and, relistening now, I'm realizing that the Killers are a natural fit for that category of bands. Imploding the Mirage is both excellent and also pales in comparison to Sam's Town (comparable to Hot Fuss in quality, in the same way that apples and oranges are both tasty fruits). Nate nailed it when he said that the best songs on here are good mid-concert staples. That's how it works. The band thanks the fans for coming out to hear all the old hits, and thanks them again for listening to some of the newer stuff that they are pretty proud of. 

Not that I could afford such concert tickets myself. I'm just saying, I'm glad the Killers are here still. I'm glad they are still trying new stuff. Pressure Machine wasn't as good as Imploding the Mirage, but that's only because Pressure Machine didn't attempt to continue the Springsteen lineage (or maybe it did and it was just more focused on being the Killers' version of Nebraska? I forget, it's been a hot minute since I've listened to Pressure Machine). This is the Killers returning to what secured their legacy—an '80s-tinged heartland rock band from Sam's Town. Good stuff.

It's tough to see that in the moment, maybe, that this both a product of the established legacy and also adding to it. The comment from Sunny in the Sunday write-up of "The Killers in 2020? What could go wrong??" was totally warranted. Unless you are 100% plugged into the blogosphere, who the fuck would know that the Killers aren't just cashing in, but instead are still fucking GOING FOR IT? In this way, I think a Hold Steady comparison is justified. Is the Hold Steady ever going to make an album that is comparable to that mid-'00s run? Almost assuredly not. But they are out there making pretty great music every once in a while anyway, and they remain relevant, and have a good excuse to play the hits in concert.

Anything else to say about this week of Record Club? Erin dropped our first COVID reference in a while, which is a good reminder that we were still dealing with that shit as the 2020 summer turned to 2020 autumn. Nolan wrote his first of four reviews for RC (so far), and did something interesting with the review. I guess it's also cool how many Springsteen and War on Drugs mentions we got, and that Record Club would eventually cover both of those bands. We're coming for every artist eventually.

Okay, time to relisten to Pressure Machine to see if that thing holds up as well as this one does.