Brandon Flowers: Flamingo

Best Song: Swallow It

1. Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
2. Only the Young
3. Hard Enough
4. Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts
5. Playing With Fire
6. Was It Something I Said?
7. Magdalena
8. Crossfire
9. On the Floor
10. Swallow It

Deluxe Edition
11. The Clock Was Tickin'
12. Jacksonville
13. I Came Here to Get Over You
14. Right Behind You

Looking at his recent output, it is increasingly impossible to pin Brandon Flowers as the guy who wrote that good but not great song “Somebody Told Me” that launched The Killers into the public eye. He is one of the few songwriters today who seems to understand what is working the best for him at any given moment. You can map a clear evolution from Hot Fuss to Sam’s Town through songs like the title track on the latter. Then through the song “Read My Mind” you can see the beginnings of Day & Age. And once you get there you get Flamingo.

Flamingo makes one thing clear; picking up a Brandon Flowers solo record is going to be just like picking up a Tom Petty solo album. The only real difference is the lack of band members to balance out personal tastes. So while Tom Petty without the Heartbreakers goes full Dylan, Brandon Flowers without The Killers goes full New Order.

Now this may not be a popular opinion but I think this would be a great direction to take The Killers in, and for one reason. Day & Age was without a doubt The Killers best on a song by song basis, but as an album it has trouble. You just get lost amoungst the spaciness of it all. Flamingo, on the other hand, has the cohesion of Sam’s Town with a sound closer to Day & Age.

The opening track “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” is a great start and firmly sets the tone, this is an American album. And this doesn’t sit well with some people, usually the same people who hated Sam’s Town. The sound is so very from British bands (except the couple of countryish elements) so how dare he, a Las Vegas born man, incorporate his own experience into the music. Yeah I don’t find this opinion at all valid. There is no longer a split between US and UK sounds. There hasn’t been for a long time.

After “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” we have another highlight. Hell I could just go through and name every song since everyone is a highlight. Instead I am only going to mention a few. “Only the Young” is the song I would probably use to introduce people to the album. It is a very poopy slow burning song. The absolute best song is the closer “Swallow It”. A meditative song about taking your time and not trying to do to much at once. If there is one songs the rest of The Killers wished they had tied to the name my guess is it would be this one.

Now I know Deluxe Editions of albums can be tricky business, some are worthless and some are priceless. Flamingo falls neatly into the latter. Seriously I can’t imagine not have these songs on this album. “I Came Here To Get Over You” could practically BE a New Order song and “Jacksonville” sounds like an elctronicfied Joy Division track. The best of them is “The Clock was Tickin’”. It is a great country song in fact if more country songs sounded like this then country wouldn’t get such a bad reputation from mainstream listeners.

So Final Verdict on the ablum is a big and hearty Thumbs Up!

So You Want to get Into...Frank Zappa

In this new feature I will advice new listeners how to beginning listening to difficult artist to get into. And I am not starting small. Frank Zappa has one of the most difficult discographies in all of rock music. Scratch that all of music in general.

Unlike British invasion bands whose difficulty usually derives from American basteradization of albums, Zappa’s difficulty is from the pure size of his discography. I doubt there is a single person out there who has heard all of Zappa’s studio and live albums, including the man himself due to a surplus of posthumous releases.

Once we get past the size we come to the next problem: the content. Zappa will follow a completely instrumental experimental album with an album of doo-wop. It can be really frustrating for fans of either as they dig deeper. I know a few people whose Zappa journey went like this “Oh Zappa he is the jazz-fusion guy I like his stuff…what is this doo-wop shit?”

Now one more thing before we get to my actual suggestions for albums (told you I didn’t start small). If you are easily offended by foul language, dirty humor, political incorrectness and general smuttiness then turn back now. Beyond maybe the song “Joe’s Garage” Zappa is not the man for you and I just saved you from getting offended by a dead man.

So now those I haven’t scared away lets begin…

…with a three part rock opera. The album “Joe’s Garage” may seem intimidating at first but two things make it accessible. First is the music is relatively simple for Zappa. Second the plot is extremely easy to follow for a rock opera. The title track even gets some radio play which is fitting since it is the best song from the album. “Catholic Girls” and “Fembot In A Wet T-Shirt” are two other standouts with the rest of the album being of equal quality.

From “Joe’s Garage” the next album on your list should be either “We’re Only In It For The Money” or “You Are What You Is”. Both are Zappa’s masterpieces. Both have great social commentary with some amazing music. “We’re Only In It For The Money” is Frank Zappa’s lampooning 60’s culture especially the hippie counter-culture. Best song there are “What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body?” and “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dane”. “You Are What You Is” is basically one big standout being my personal favorite Zappa album. Pay special attention to the title track and “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing”.

From here you are on your own. When ever you pick up a new Zappa album you are playing the lottery. As a helpful hint I like “Sheik Yerbouti” and “Freak Out!” but would avoid “Lumpy Gravy”

#44 Guitar Monsters

Best Song: Brazil

1.) Limehouse Blues
2.) I Want to be Happy
3.) Over the Rainbow
4.) Meditation
5.) Lazy River
6.) I'm Your Greatest Fan
7.) It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing)
8.) I Surrender Dear
9.) Brazil
10.) Give My Love to Nell
11.) Hot Toddy


I was going to start by saying that Les Paul and Chet Atkins where the greatest early era guitar players, but that isn’t right. Les Paul and Chet Atkins are two of the best guitarist to every live. And Guitar Monsters, their second collaborative album, displays this perfectly.

Now I believe I need to clarify something before I move forward. Being a good guitar player does not mean that you can play hundreds of notes per second. Being a good guitar player means not having a single note out of place; it means always getting the right tone for the song. And lastly it means letting the instrument construct a song and not just play for the sake of playing.

Moving on. Guitar Monsters not only displays great technique but is also has a great sense of humor and is just plain fun. The opening two tracks may not be the best but they defiantly set the tone of what the album is about. "Limhouse Blues" is a swinging instrumental that alternates between Les Paul’s ringing runs and Chet Atkins’ twangy licks. "I Want to be Happy" is more of the same but this time with some banter before and during the song that lets you know how relaxed these sessions where. “Dolly Parton is big on TV” “She’s big everywhere isn’t she?”

Their version of Over the Rainbow and Meditation are both fine, nothing fantastic but perfectly listenable. It is with the 4th track Lazy River were it really starts to get good. The jazziest track on the album, it builds slowly till about a minute into the song when the guitars really starting singing, and I mean singing. Who needs a vocalist when you have Les and Chet playing in concert. Next we have I’m You Greatest Fan which is one of the best on the entire record. It has Les Paul and Chet Atkins telling each other that they are the others biggest fan, but pretending they don’t know any songs the other did. Really it is just 4 minutes of two people who admire each other making fun of each other, which is awesome.

"It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing)" is a Duke Ellington standard being performed by there two; ‘nuff said. Now before we can move onto my favorite we do need to sit through the one stinker on the album, "I Surrender Dear" isn’t bad, just boring. So, in the context of the album is it a downer. It slows the pace and just makes you want to hit next.

Which is a good Idea considering Brazil is the best song here. The first time I heard a version of this song was in the Terry Gilliam film Brazil (which I highly recommend) and it is probably one of the catchiest, earworm inducing songs ever. And this right here is my favorite version. I am dancing in my chair just thinking about it which I bet makes me seem strange if anyone was watching me.

The last two tracks are both good, "Give My Love to Nell" is the only one that has them singing …which is fine since neither of them have good singing voices, especially since Chet Atkins was in his 50’s and Les Paul was in his 60’s. It is still a charming track, mostly because it is a traditional song so not being able to sing well doesn’t really factor in too much.

Now out of all the records on my favorites list this is one of the ones that I would not be surprised if most people didn’t like it. Being almost all instrumentals will be enough of a turn off for most people, and the fact that it is two old geezers will scare the rest away. But give is a chance…you might be surprised.