Saturday, March 10, 2007

Can you read my mind?

Some things to know about the new single by The Killers:

• It is called "Read My Mind" and it is amazingly good. I am prepared to say that it is better than both "Somebody Told Me" and "Mr. Brightside" from the last album. In a world ruled by good taste, this would be an instant Top 5 Smash, if not a Number One. This obviously will not happen in this world.

• This song has reignited my excitement about The Killers that had gone down the dumper with "When You Were Young" and all the reviews hailing the more "rock" sound of Sam's Town.

• The lyrics are slightly mysterious. I like this bit: I never really gave up on / Breakin' out of this two-star town / I got the green light / I got a little fight / I'm gonna turn this thing around

• Pet Shop Boys have produced an outstanding remix called the "Pet Shop Boys Stars Are Blazing Mix." It turns the synthy rock track into a dance track even as it creates a more ethereal quality via some Coldplay-esque piano bits. I'm not in love with the way the mix goes supernova at the end, however, so I wanted to get the edit. Which brings us to …

• The two-track import single is a rather confused affair. It's listed on Amazon and elsewhere as containing the PSB radio edit, but it actually contains the full, 7+ minutes mix. Even the labeling on the packaging is off: It lists the track as the full mix but with a time of 4:02, which would be the edit. The iTunes store is not selling the edit. Argh!

• Brandon Flowers of The Killers is apparently quite the PSB fan. In the recent PSB documentary A Life in Pop, he practically steals words from my mouth when discussing the song "Being Boring" and the 1993 album Very.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Best band in the world!
Here's a version I did for my daughter..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvIhUpDpE88