''Flamingo'' is the debut solo studio album by American singer-songwriter and

The Killers The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After going through a number of short-term bass players and drummers in t ...

lead singer Brandon Flowers. It was released on September 3, 2010, by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anothe ...

. It was recorded at

Battle Born Studios Battle Born Studios, located in the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, is a recording studio owned by rock band The Killers. History Established in the late 1990s as Studio Vegas, the studio was taken over by The Killers in 2008. The studio was opened t ...

Winchester, Nevada Winchester is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States that contains part of the Las Vegas Strip. It is one of a number of CDPs in the unincorporated urbanized area directly south of Las Ve ...

, and Henson Recording Studios in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The album debuted at number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

Background

After a mysterious countdown on The Killers' official website, Flowers confirmed on April 29, 2010, that he would be releasing a solo album titled ''Flamingo''. The album is named after Flamingo Road in Brandon's hometown of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, where many pivotal events in his life occurred: Sam's Town Casino is on Flamingo, his first job was at a golf course on that road, and he met his wife in a thrift store on the road as well. (Although there is also a Flamingo Casino, Flowers has stated that it was not the inspiration for the title.)"Brandon Flowers Best Buy Interview about Flamingo"
YouTube. Retrieved January 12, 2011. Many songs on the album include references to Las Vegas. The track "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" references

Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas Boulevard is a major road in Clark County, Nevada, United States, best known for the Las Vegas Strip portion of the road and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91 (US 91), which had been the main highway between Los Angel ...

("The Strip"). "Was It Something I Said?" references

Tropicana Avenue Tropicana Avenue is a major east–west section line arterial in the Las Vegas area. The road is named after Tropicana Las Vegas which is located on Las Vegas Boulevard where it intersects with Tropicana Avenue. Part of it is signed as Nev ...

and a job at the

Golden Nugget Las Vegas The Golden Nugget Las Vegas is a luxury hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on the Fremont Street Experience. The property is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It has 2,419 hotel rooms. History The Golden Nugget was orig ...

located on the

Fremont Street Experience The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost five blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch", and portions of some ...

. Track "Magdalena" references a 60-mile pilgrimage from Nogales to Magdalena in

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

, Mexico.

Recording

The album was recorded primarily at

. It was produced and mixed by

Stuart Price Stuart David Price (born 9 September 1977) is an English electronic musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer known for his work with artists including Madonna, Dua Lipa, The Killers, New Order, Kylie Minogue, DMA's, Example, Take ...

Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...

, and Brendan O'Brien. "Hard Enough" features a duet with

Rilo Kiley Rilo Kiley ( ) was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Dave Rock. The group released their debut album ''Take-Offs and Landings' ...

frontwoman

Jenny Lewis Jennifer Diane Lewis (born January 8, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She was the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley. Lewis gained prominence in the 1980s as a child a ...

. "Fabulous Las Vegas" features bandmate Dave Keuning, while "Playing with Fire" features bandmate Ronnie Vannucci, Jr.

Promotion

The album's lead single "

Crossfire A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I. S ...

" was premiered in the United Kingdom on

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

show on June 14, 2010. "Crossfire" was released soon after on June 21, 2010, in the United States and Canada via iTunes, and on August 23, 2010, in the United Kingdom. "Swallow It" was released as a promotional track from the album on August 24, 2010, via iTunes. " Only the Young" was released as the album's second single on October 12, 2010. An accompanying music video—filmed at Le Rêve at

Wynn Las Vegas Wynn Las Vegas, often simply referred to as Wynn, is a luxury resort and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Wynn Resorts, and was built on the former site of the Desert Inn resor ...

—premiered online on October 5, 2010, and was directed by

Sophie Muller Sophie Luise Elisabeth Muller (born 31 January 1962) is a British music video director who has directed more than 300 music videos. She won a Grammy Award for Annie Lennox's 1992 '' Diva'' video album, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's so ...

, who worked on the American video for "

Mr. Brightside "Mr. Brightside" is the debut single of American rock band the Killers. It is taken from their debut studio album, ''Hot Fuss'' (2004). Written by band members Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning, it was one of the first songs the Killers ever wrot ...

". Flowers performed "Crossfire" on '' Alan Carr: Chatty Man'' on September 1, 2010, and on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

'' on September 13. On September 6, 2010, Flowers played a 10-song set at

Maida Vale Studios Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London. It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1 ...

. He performed both "Crossfire" and "Magdalena" on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's ...

'' on September 14, 2010, and on '' Live from Abbey Road'' on July 20, 2011. Flowers appeared on ''

Later with Jools Holland ''Later... with Jools Holland'' (also known as ''Even Later... with Jools Holland'', and previously known as ''Later Live... with Jools Holland'' and ''...Later with Jools Holland'') is a contemporary British music television show hosted by Jo ...

'' on September 21, 2010, performing "Crossfire", "Only the Young", and "Magdalena".

Critical reception

''Flamingo'' received mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 59, based on 25 reviews.

musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

published a positive review stating, "It's clear from Flamingo that Flowers accounts for the lion's share of talent in The Killers, and if they ever go on definite hiatus, their fans can look forward to more consistently good material in the form of Flowers' solo albums."

Jody Rosen Jody Rosen (born June 21, 1969 in New York City) is an American journalist and author. He is a contributing writer for ''The New York Times Magazine''. Career Journalism Rosen served as critic-at-large for '' T: The New York Times Style Magaz ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' described Flowers' penchant for weaving beautiful losers into his songs by stating, "It would be laughable if Flowers wasn't 100 percent committed, and if the hooks on Flamingo weren't irresistible. He is, and they are - and you'll be too busy singing along to giggle." Alix Buscovic of BBC compared tracks "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" and "Crossfire" to stadium albums ''Sam's Town'' and ''Day & Age'' and tracks "Magdalena" and "Was It Something I Said?" to 80s pop sensibility album ''Hot Fuss''. Ryan Dombal for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' described Flowers as "a combination of Bono's brassiness, Morrissey's high drama, and Ian Curtis's spasmodic awkwardness, the singer represents an endangered species in 2010: a genuine arena-ready rock-'n'-roll deity who, at 29, isn't yet on blood thinners." The album was ranked number thirty on '' Q''s list of the 50 Best Albums of 2010.

Commercial performance

On the

, the album debuted at the number-one spot on September 12 and remained on the chart for 14 weeks. As of May 2015, the album had sold 263,681 copies in the United Kingdom. On the US ''Billboard'' 200, ''Flamingo'' debuted at number eight, with 41,000 copies sold and remained on the chart for eight weeks. The album has sold 137,000 copies in the US as of May 2015. The single "Crossfire" reached the top 10 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

Belgium Singles Chart Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...

(Flanders), and ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

''s

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart.

Covers

In 2015,

Martin Gore Martin Lee Gore (born 23 July 1961) is an English songwriter, musician, singer, record producer and DJ. He is one of the founding members of the electronic rock band Depeche Mode and is the band's main songwriter. He is the band's guitarist an ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depech ...

covered "On the Floor" at a benefit with his son in Santa Barbara.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the deluxe edition of ''Flamingo''.

Musicians

* Brandon Flowers – vocals ; synth arrangement ; piano ; guitar *

– synth ; guitar ; arrangement,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos t ...

; programming ; bass * Benji Lysaght – guitar ; 12-string electric guitar ; electric guitar ; pedal steel *

– guitar ;

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

, dub sonics ;

Omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ...

* Dave Keuning – guitar * Brendan O'Brien – timpani, guitar, tubular bells ; bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals ; tambourine, shaker ; electric guitar ;

castanet Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar ...

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

; bells, B-3, percussion *

Victor Indrizzo Victor Indrizzo (born September 23, 1967) is an American session musician, primarily known for playing the drums, as well as a songwriter and producer. Indrizzo was born in Freeport, Long Island, New York. He has toured, recorded and worked wit ...

– drums *

Ronnie Vannucci Jr. Ronald Vannucci Jr. (born February 15, 1976) is an American musician, best known for being the drummer for the rock band the Killers. Vannucci is also involved in a side project called Big Talk, and became the drummer of the Rentals in 2018. ...

– arrangement ; drums, percussion *

– vocals * Darren Beckett – drums ; percussion ; additional drums * Herschel Gaer – acoustic guitar ; bass * The Las Vegas Mass Choir – backing vocals * Jake Blanton – acoustic guitar, piano, backing vocals *

Daniel de los Reyes Daniel de los Reyes (born July 18, 1962) is an American percussionist who is a former member of Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago. He is currently a member of the Zac Brown Band. Musical career De los Reyes was born in New York City and raise ...

– percussion * Donald E. Chaney – backing vocals * James R. Smith – backing vocals * LaMont Brown – backing vocals * Veronica "Lady V" Morton – backing vocals

Technical

* Brendan O'Brien – production ; mixing * Tom Syrowski – recording * Martin Cooke – recording assistance * Nicolas Essig – recording assistance * Peter Stanislaus – recording assistance * Stuart Price – mixing ; production * Robert Root – recording ; additional recording ; recording assistance * Josh Baker – recording assistance * Daniel Lanois – production * Brandon Flowers – production * Tim Young – mastering

Artwork

* Williams + Hirakawa – cover and interior photography * Lucy Hamblin – cover and interior photography *

Warren Fu Warren Fu is an American music video director, illustrator and designer. He has directed videos for artists such as Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, The Strokes, the Killers, Hayley Williams, Mark Ronson, and Julian Casablancas. Fu is signed to ...

– art direction, label artwork, graphic design * Kristen Yiengst – art and photography coordination

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flamingo 2010 debut albums Albums produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer) Albums produced by Daniel Lanois Albums produced by Stuart Price Brandon Flowers albums Island Records albums Vertigo Records albums