Very much a 20th century band, The Killers have turned their initial obsession with British alternative pop, indie rock and lo-fi into a huge, stadium-filling sound that manages to retain integrity while appealing to the mainstream. In that happy place they've released four studio albums that have sold an estimated 22 million copies worldwide (all four topping the UK charts) and matched the long form discs' Platinum status with massive hit singles.

The band's third studio album Day & Age (2008) is yet another superior modern rock and synthpop fusion overseen by British electronic guru Stuart Price. This collaboration helps make the wondrous "Human" such a special song. Left off the Sawdust compilation, because it was just too good, Flowers sees this as a philosophical meeting between Johnny Cash and the Pet Shop Boys, while others thought it welded New Order to Bruce Springsteen.

The new wave party atmosphere of "Spaceman" and the rootsy "A Dustland Fairytale" are at such a tangent to "Human" that one is struck by Flowers' ability to switch from universal truths to the deeply personal narrative style. That's his skill just as much as the band written "The World We Live In" allows them to inhabit different terrain.