I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!
I'll be upfront: I did not purchase Brandon Flowers new disk Thrasher.
The premise has all been done before. Rock and Roll guy decides to put a heavy country edge on their music. I'm not sure why. It doesn't make them country. It doesn't make it any more accessible. If anything, you'll paring down your core audience.
It's Brandon Flowers with slide guitar and harmonica. And a twang in his voice trying to emulate some of the older country greats (a bad Johnny Cash homage on "Does it Ever Change Your Mind").
Thrasher has its moments, just not enough of them. While "the Red Ground" is guilty of the harmonica and all, it still works. But not that I'd ever have it on repeat - assuming I ever purchased the disk. "Tiger Blood" is a would-be Killers song that he just gussied up with some Nashville sounds. That doesn't disguise it enough to be anything but a Killers tune. I'm not complaining - it is what he does best.
My problem with the album isn't the overreaching to make it something its not, it is just Brandon Flowers. What he does with the Killers is usually fine (though not lately). He has what I call the Springstreen problem: always writing about something he was - eons ago.
They've both broken out of their small towns. They haven't had hard times or blue collar jobs in decades, if at all. I get no one wants to hear them singing about their riches, but have you nothing else about which to write and sing? The Killers made it work for the first 4-5 albums and then.......well.....it's fallen flat.
Ditto with all of Flowers' solo disks. They each have a small handful of songs and little else.
Admittedly, I keep coming back to listen. To hope. But I fear I might only be fooling myself.
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