I'll fight what turns you sour - I've got miles per hour

Continuing my trip back through the 2015 album charts.

24/05/15 : The Desired Effect - Brandon Flowers


Our second solo visit with the lead singer of The Killers - last time I described it as a combination of Chris de Burgh and camp/falsetto Johnny Cash. And, seriously, who wouldn't want to experience more of that?

It's another slightly peculiar one - generally, I'd say I quite liked most of the tracks, but there's an odd mix of styles across the album which means it doesn't really hang together and so I don't actually remember any of it. It's generally more Chris de Burgh that Johnny Cash, but there's also a VERY strong Bronski Beat "Smalltown Boy" vibe on "I Can Change" - check it out! I'd be perfectly happy to listen to it again, but I suspect we'd get exactly the same result - all a bit odd. If you love The Killers, I imagine you'd not hate this - but you'd also think "why should I bother listening to it?"

We're at #1 in the charts with a new entry this week at the start of a 14 week run, which feels very generous on everyone's part, I must say. The rest of the top five were Paul Weller (a new entry), Mumford & Sons, Taylor and Sam Smith and we have two more new entries in the top ten for Faith No More (#6) and Mariah Carey (#8) - what a shame I didn't get to listen to either of those, eh?

Wikipedia has way more than I expected on the album (130 milliPeppers) but it tells us amazingly little. It's his second (and, so far, last) solo album but there's remarkably little else of interest except for an interesting list of guest artists - Neil Tennant (who has a recorded phone call on there), Bruce Hornsby, Tony Levin (best known for his work with Peter Gabriel), Carlos Alomar (ditto for David Bowie) and Danielle Haim. The critics were very complimentary about it indeed with it appearing on a load of year-end lists and it did well commercially globally, although it only got to #17 in the US. It also lists Steve Bronski as a co-writer on "I Can Change" - apparently Brandon originally wrote the song with no Bronski influences involved, handed it over to someone else to complete it, which they half did by just adding "Smalltown Boy" vibes to it, but Brandon decided he liked it so went all in on it!

"Customers also listened to" The Killers (who knew?!?), Ted Sablay (a member of The Killers), Emmy The Great (who I like, but I struggle to see the link) and The Fratellis - a slightly odd mix there. I didn't mind this album but I don't really know who it's aimed at other than people who are mildly intrigued as to what Brandon is up to - but the critics suggest I'm wrong and it's a masterpiece.  Oh well, eh?!?

17/05/15 - Fascinatingly uninteresting
31/05/15 - Fine but won't convert anyone

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