Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Lou Reed

Tranquilize

Label: Vertigo Release Date: 22/10/2007

28524
Mike_Diver by Mike Diver October 23rd, 2007

While it’s considered The Killers’ finest single to date by some in the DiS office – their names will be kept under wraps ‘case reputations be tarnished – this Lou Reed-featuring mess of a track from the Las Vegas four-piece, lifted from their forthcoming collection of b-sides and stuff Sawdust, is beguilingly awful. A savage bassline, a children’s choir: every tiny facet of this assembled whole is oddly at wrong angles with everything beside it. Yet, perversely, it’s an engrossing listen.

The why is probably because it is just _so_ weird – absolutely nothing like any Killers standalone offering before it, and wholly in tune with the scattershot stylings Reed has exhibited across his career. It’s neither the work of one or the other, but a true collaboration – as such, without a captain to purposefully guide it, the track wobbles and rocks rather haphazardly; authoritative vocal tones lend it an air of dominance above the standard indie-pop fare but the composition falls away in such a manner that the feeling is of some commissioned soundtrack piece to accompany the dying dreams of a blockbuster’s flawed hero. It lacks the neccessary drama to fuel its fires.

If stretched to nearer the ten-minute mark, one could imagine this being quite the epic; condensed, neutered of its grandiose glands, it suffers from ticking too many boxes in too short a space of time. It limps to a conclusion, broken and shorn of the potential its opening minute declared so powerfully. A diversion from ‘Mr Brightside’ is certainly is, and an interesting one at that, but a failure nonetheless.

  • 5
    Mike Diver's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

Laura Marling

My Manic and I EP

Mobback
28525
28556

Free Blood

Free Blood EP1

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND