Friday, September 03, 2010

Crossfire

Song: Crossfire
Album: Flamingo
Artist: Brandon Flowers






While Stuart Price produced two of my favorite albums of the summer (The Scissor Sisters "Night Work" and Kylie's "Aphrodite,") I thought the man (with equal blame on the band) dropped the ball when he produced The Killers third album "Day & Age."  As much as I loved both the New Wave-tinged debut "Hot Fuss" and the Springsteen obsessed sophomore set "Sam's Town," "Day & Age" left me cold, save for the amazing first single, "Human."  While "Human" was exactly what I'd expect from a collaboration from the arena-rock ready Killers and the dance-minded Stuart, the rest of the album was sort of ho-hum to me.

But lead Killer Brandon Flowers certainly found fruit in the collaboration, as Price is one of the main collaborators he has worked with on his first solo album, "Flamingo" due later this month.  Along with Price, super-producers Brendan O'Brien and Daniel Lanois share the songwriting and production credit on "Flamingo," some pretty heavy-hitters for a release that I feel hasn't gotten much hype.  Lead single "Crossfire" was quietly released in June (I somehow missed it) and I certainly haven't heard much more about the album, which comes out in less than two weeks.

So does this signal a problem with "Flamingo?" Well, no... it's just not The Killers style of arena-ish sing-along choruses despite sounding SO much like The Killers given Flowers voice.  Despite the minor use of electronics, it's even more country... sorry, "Americana" than "Sam's Town."  It actually can be described as "Sam's Town" with less overt hookiness... which certainly isn't a bad thing.

I'm going to give it a couple more listens before I form my full opinion, but I'm certainly digging "Crossfire"  (though I might even like the Chew Fu remix better) and also like the Jenny Lewis assisted "Hard Enough."  Check it out.

Enjoy.

Crossfire


Hard Enough KROQ Sessions

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