Welcome To Fabulous...Nashville
By TIM DAVID HARVEY
Sin City to Music City, U.S.A. In-between scoring 'Direct Hits' with The Killers ('Read My Mind', 'Human', literally the first half of their 'Hot Fuss' debut album), Brandon Flowers has given us some successful solo sojourns. Back in 2010, 'Flamingo', named after the road in Brandon's Las Vegas hometown that also houses the infamous Sam's Town Casino (you know the name), was a compelling, credible classic. A darker, killer turn featuring the singles 'Crossfire', 'Only The Young', 'Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts'. Not to mention serious standouts, including 'Hard Enough' (featuring Jenny Lewis), 'Playing With Fire' and 'On The Floor'.
A half-decade later, the style was switched up for this new romantic with 'The Desired Effect' of rolled-up suit-sleeves, like a Miami Vice beat cop waving Morrisey flowers. 'Lonely Town', 'I Can Change', 'Still Want You' and 'Can't Deny My Love' hit the jukebox. Whereas 'Between Me & You', 'Never Get You Right' and 'Diggin' Up The Heart' had yours. Now, over a decade later, with 'Tiger Blood' in his veins, shadowboxing in black and white for some album artwork that looks halfway between the desert and Music Row, Brandon is back by himself as a 'Thrasher'. But don't let that name or photo box you silly, this is no hard as nails album. Instead, the soft rock king, this side of Springsteen, returns to the country roots of American music.
The opening track of his debut album was a sign. 'Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas'. And there are mirages of that here in a lost 'Paradise'. Otherwise he has 'Plans' on hitting the road, like the awe-inspiring lyric video of a real, great America. On this top ten closer, 'An American Dream', Flowers takes you further into the groundwork of those Americana aspirations, but it's on 'Miss Americana', that is not about Taylor Swift, even if this is Nashville, where things take a darker turn. "You know the messed up thing/If the truth be told/Grown men have noticed me/Since I was 12 years old/It always made me feel/Like some kind of prize/I guess I saw my worth/Through their porno eyes/If Jesus really suffered/And paid for all this sin/Then why do we still feel it/Again and again?" The 'Battle Born' prize-fighter scrapping for those who didn't have a voice...until they heard it in song, like scripture.
From the influence introduced on 'Does It Ever Cross Your Mind?', Brandon has a holy one to bear as his arms reach out for something more. Richer and deeper in his own solo career which he could have started all by himself. We love The Killer inside him. It's actually been another half-decade since the 'Pressure Machine' came in hot off the heels of 'Imploding The Mirage'. And we can't believe it's just been shy of a decade since 'Wonderful Wonderful'. Yet The Killers have had so many members come and go, it's almost like a solo story now. Nevada's own goes it alone on 'One Of Us', but has a whole legion of fans across the strip following him to a different Broadway from the one you know in the Big Apple.
Flowers already gave us the tale of 'Tyson vs. Douglas' and he continues that sport synergy on 'Angel' about a big hitter on the diamond. "Angel took the cross hanging 'round his neck/Pressed it against his lips/He’s batting over .500 this year/And there’s talk of scouts making trips/There's a girl who just moved in down the street/From deeper in the southwest/His uncles all warned him about messing with white girls/But he always liked them the best." The storytelling is as sublime as the Bruce who he knows best, as in these Badlands Brandon finds 'The Red Ground' and a love that's ashes to ashes with the way it's starting to treat you good. Singing "When you done built a wall/Clear around your heart/The echoes of the past ring out/And ricochet/But you’re shooting like a star/So far from your home/Should’vе cut yourself loose/A long time ago" to the dust.
On the same New Music Friday where Weezer finally give us 'The Gold Album' for their standards, and Leon Bridges offers up part two of his forthcoming 'Happiness Anytime' album pursuit next month, this wrangler is one you'll put your bootcut jeans on for 'In A Heartbeat'. Those unmistakable vocals choking back the tears we hear with lines like "Me and Katie, we go all the way back to 1993/She was stubborn as a bull, she was beautiful to me/When you’re that age all you want is for to be women and men/But opened eyes get a front row glimpse into the end/She showed me the untouchable world/In the still of my backseat." Flowers' pop has always known how to sing about sin, but now this Mormon is in another part of the country, the terrain remains the same. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness we can only find in love. Whether that's for your brother or for yourself. Brandon has always known how to kill it. But he's never been this alive.
Playlist Picks: 'Paradise', 'Miss Americana', 'An American Dream'.
Spin This: Brandon Flowers - 'Flamingo'.
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