And so for phase three of The Killers David Bowie homage and this time we get the Ashes to Ashes 80's stage of Bowie's career re-enacted by four men from Las Vegas. Does anyone hear the words 'Cabaret', no just me then? Well it's not that bad truthfully and I'm all for Bowie homage's the man is a legend after all so it's to be expected and on 'Day And Age' we get it in spades.

The Killers have always been a band that seemed to never quite know what they wanted to be or how they wanted to sound from 'Hot Fuss' anthemic nod to late 70's New York or the follow up 'Sam's Town' americana tinge. Now we get a sort of 80's glam and a sound that seems more closer to home for The Killers in terms of it's show and it's pomp after all they are from Vegas and isn't that what Vegas is all about.

As per usual we get Brandon Flowers wondrous drivel that never seemingly makes any sense but generally fits around the landscape the band creates quite nice and comfortably, you just have to listen to lead single 'Human' to ascertain that Mr. Flowers clearly has not grip on words 'Are we human or are we dancer?' this makes no sense Flowers sorry. But then there's a lovely little quote from him that's states "Being an American, I don't have Morrissey's vocabulary" well that's OK then all is forgiven us British folk just didn't understand since we are all Morrissey-lite.

Let's get down to dissecting this album, opener 'Losing Touch' comes in like Robert Palmer's 'Addicted To Love' after some steroids - did I mention this album is 80's heavy? - 'You sold your soul like a Roman vagabond' quite how that makes sense or is known I've got no idea but I suppose Caesar's Palace does have fake centurion's maybe a former day-job for Brandon?. The single 'Human' follows and we all know it's synth-laden oddity.

Next for single release is 'Spaceman' which is quite possibly the best thing here it's certainly the most reminiscent of a Killers sound with Flowers trying to swoon about 'The starmaker says it ain't so bad/the dream-makers gonna make you mad' again quite preposterous but it kind of fits with the albums sky scraping motif. 'Joyride' is simply baffling again it's like we've all gone back in time I'd expect to see people dancing to this is wearing piano-key ties with mullets (wait we have!) this track is saxophone to the max with added bongos and an almost carnival atmosphere with added synths, it's too bloody catchy that's my complaint!

'A Dustland's Fairytale' is the next-step on form 'Sam's Town's 'Bling (Confessions Of A King)' it's got that American wide-screen feel to it that they were looking for last time around and is built around some sort of American dream gone wrong set to a Disney story. Again it's typical The Killers bombast that fans will love and expect. Shame it's followed by 'This Is Your Life' with all it's odd Gregorian monk chanting, court-jester synth, and a-typical tune.

'I Can't Say' begins like it's gonna be 'You Sexy thing' by Hot Chocolate before we end up with steel drums, shakers and more saxophone it's the sort of Caribbean flavour I'd have somehow associated with 80's Billy Joel don't ask me why as I don't know if I've heard any it's just the image in my head or maybe it's Billy Ocean?!?. 'Neon Tiger' is like a beefed up version of Bowie's 'Word On A Wing' but without the Thin White Duke's mournful vocals here Flowers aims for something a little more upbeat and harmonic, it works quite wonderfully.

The final two tracks kind of let the album down a little as so often seems to be the case with bands these days they just don't know how to end their albums without falling flat, so we get 'The World That We Live In' another cut off from an outdated 80's record that we can all recall but can't place and to finale with we get seven-minutes of 'Goodnight, Travel Well' with it's slow and rather dull intro set to a ticking clock (counting down till we can return to the modern age) it takes till around three-minutes before things at least change gear but it fails to ignite in the way it should, the track needs that epic Springsteen finish they strive for.

'Day And Age' is a good album, it's a good album if you like The Killers and it's a good album if your feeling particularly retro for the 80's at the moment. It's a much better effort than some of the other new releases from the so called big acts of the 00's so we should at least be thankful for that. Makes you wonder what on earth (or off it) will The Killers have in store for us next time around, I'm putting my money on some form of homage to Chas N' Dave wouldn't that be just genius... no OK then.

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