Brandon Flowers: Flamingo

Brandon Flowers
Flamingo
(Island)

Killers front-man Brandon Flowers is back in all his glam rock glory, with a new solo album, entitled Flamingo, named after a street in his hometown of Las Vegas.

Kicking off the album is “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas.”  This song, which is fairly enticing, describes the dying “dreamers” and broken Vegas show girls. Indie popper Jenny Lewis later joins Flowers on “Hard Enough,” an enjoyable tune about a guy who made a mistake with a past love and now regrets it, but says that he’s “older now” and that things are different.  The song has beautiful harmonizing vocals and lazy steel guitar.

“The Clock Was Tickin’,” is an excellent country song about a blue collar worker and the love of his life, Jackie Geronimo.  The song becomes a bit of a tear-jerker as Flowers sings, “When they told you to clear the room, that’s when it hit you/You watched as the caravan took your sweetheart away/The arguments and fights and money troubles seem so worthless/As the kids throw yellow roses on her grave.”
Also worth mentioning is “On the Floor,” which has a distinct hymnal feel to it and finds Flowers “waiting to believe.”

Lately, Flowers reminds me, in so many ways, of Bruce Springsteen—his love and appreciation for his home town, the beauty in the broken creatures that inhabit it, and his wanna be-Southern Man charm in calling all his loved ones “darling.”  There are, however, enough differences—namely the ‘80s synth-pop feel to his music—that makes him different enough to not sound derivative.

Unfortunately, this fourteen-track album is about seven songs too long.  Too many of the tracks are completely unnecessary and seem like nothing but filler.  Although much of this album will grow on you over time, parts of the album will never be that exciting.  In an effort to save you time and money, I would recommend downloading only the select tracks mentioned above.