It's amazing to me that after all this time I still listen to this album through at least once a week. The vinyl version, even though it is a picture disc is still far superior in quality to the CD version and I just don't understand the backlash on it. I sat reading through tons of reviews last night, especially from Amazon and the amount of scathing reviews, just because it wasn't a clone of Hot Fuss and they specifically mention this in their reviews was overwhelming. How selfish of fans to expect another Hot Fuss, it's like any artist really I mean....why do something you have already done previously? If fans can't tell the difference between your old album and new album then what is the point?

One other little niggle I have is the comments about Brandon not being able to sing and there being a huge change in his voice from Hot Fuss to Sam's Town. Well there was also a huge change in his voice in the extremely short period between Sawdust and Day & Age and then a slight change from Day & Age to Flamingo. To blast the production on the album as being poor and notes being off key and the pitch being all wrong really is ignorance. Those songs sound like that for a reason and Brandon sang that way well into the Sawdust album and the shows around that album's release. Personally I wish Brandon still sang like that. I don't know if his voice can't handle it anymore or why the changes in his voice on each album but to me the Sam's Town songs don't really sound the same live anymore. The energy just isn't there.

It's a great album, i don't listen to it all the way through so much now but i definitely listen to a few of it's tracks once in a while.

Brandon has a colourful voice too. Not a technical or powerful voice but that isn't important.

As a whole I don't think Sam's Town is a particularly great album, but it has a few tracks on it which are probably my favourite things that the Killers have ever done.

But I'd agree that reviewers who compare it to Hot Fuss are missing the point; Sam' Town was a huge and very deliberate change in style, which included a change in singing style - they went from 80s English synth-pop on Hot Fuss to Springsteen/Meatloaf & Americana on Sam's Town. Where this worked (such as on When You Were Young) I think it resulted in the best stuff they've ever done, unfortunately though it didn't work consistently across the album as a whole.

But I absolutely think they were right to try it, I still remember the first time I heard When You Were Young and not quite believing it was the Killers, it was so different to what they'd done previously.

It was a deliberate change and that was my main gripe when people talk about the singing on the album, to me the main song where it is noticable is For Reasons Unknown. Here is the Youtube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG5X4kOjEX8&ob=av3e

IMO that shows a huge change in Brandon's voice from Hot Fuss to Sam's Town. How anyone can class that as bad singing or the pitch being wrong or the producers being stupid or the label sending out unmastered discs is just plain silly. Yet others say it is the only song on the album that sounds like something from Hot Fuss. It seems like fans and critics attack the album from all different directions, there isn't a central theme to the bad reviews and of course the fans that openly and honestly say things like 'don't buy this because it doesn't sound anything like Hot Fuss' just make me wanna pull my hair out.

I guess my love for the album has me defend it and get passionate about it. At the very core I don't think fans or critics would have really minded a change in direction.....at some other point. I just don't think they expected such a huge difference on the second album maybe wait for 3 or 4 Hot Fusses and then expect a change but I guess that is what critics like doing. The big shock for me is the fans, I didn't think that many fans would have turned their noses up at the album and turned their back on The Killers. It's very very harsh.

I really like Sam's Town,but compared to their other albums/Brandon's solo work it feels a bit hit and miss for me. I agree with the other poster who said where it works, it works INCREDIBLY well (Sam's Town, When You Were Young, For Reasons Unknown), but some of the other tracks are possibly the worst The Killers have ever released (Bling). On the whole though the album is still hugely above average, and I still play it regularly.

My fave killers album Read my Mind, bones, and the eponymous track are just amazing songs

It's a brilliant album! I prefer it to Hot Fuss as far as the album as a whole goes. How can anyone say Bling is a crap song??

The only reason people didn't/don't like Sam's Town is that it didn't fit who or what their vision of The Killers was with singles like All These Things... and Somebody Told Me. It's proof that no-one can handle change.

It's actually one of the rare albums I can listen to from start to finish without getting bored. Favourite album by them

I think it's the Killers best album and it's one of my favourite albums of all time, i love Hot Fuss but Sam's Town just works better from start to finish.

Its an album that's easy for people to mock but it's easy to fall in love with.

Sam's Town as a cohesive whole is better than Hot Fuss by miles but for me Hot Fuss has the advantage of having some of the most memorable songs on it.