The Killers and Their B Sides

I bet it was pretty great back in the day when artists couldn't afford to let too many months go by between albums for fear of losing relevance in popular culture. Sure, not every cut would be a mind-blower, but in today's world where artists will take years to release something new, does that ever happen? Not really, but I bet it was nice to know the wheels were always turning. Sometimes I'm not sure if bands are even together anymore. Matchbox Twenty pretty much disappeared after 2002's More Than You Think You Are. Rob Thomas was hugely successful but the rest of the band was nowhere in sight. The most detail I could ever find was that lovely ambiguous word "hiatus." What the crap does that mean exactly? If a tv show goes on hiatus, there is a good chance it's not coming back. Anyway, just as I had forgotten MB20 even existed, they came out with Exile On Mainstream (which I believe was self imposed) and Adam Gaynor was gone. Guess I missed the memo.

My rambling aside, I was intrigued by the information that The Killers are releasing an album of B sides, remixes, and other tracks previously shafted. Anyone who bought the limited edition of Hot Fuss will find "Under the Gun," "Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll," and "The Ballad of Michael Valentine." Honestly, I've always thought they were three of the best songs on the album yet ironically weren't really on the album. "Daddy's Eyes" and "All the Pretty Faces" are also included from Sam's Town. As far as I can tell there is only one brand new song, "Tranquilize," and the rest we're just going to have to wait and see.

Under any other circumstances I'd be worried that this was going to be a bunch of crap scraped off of the cutting room floor and sloppily thrown together because of the multitude of people who will buy it because it's the Killers. But then again that's what I thought when weighing the Limited Edition of Hot Fuss versus the regular one. I was wondering if I wanted those extra songs, I was thinking maybe it was just a marketing ploy to sell a few more cds to hardcore fans. Happily, I was wrong. Maybe they've got something going here, not many other bands are doing this kind of thing...so I'm willing to buy into the idea that an entire album of B sides is worth $14...so long as it's the Killers.

Sawdust will be released November 13th.