When the lead single for Brandon Flowers first solo album was premiered in mid June of this year there was a fair amount of anticipation surrounding it. Was ‘Crossfire’ going to be like when Thom Yorke released The Eraser; digital beats and laptop loops? Or maybe more like Brian Eno’s Ambient 1/Music For Airports?

No. The reaction to ‘Crossfire’ was reminiscent of that to Mick Jaggers solo outings in the 80′s. The song sounded more like it belonged on The Killers 2007 B-Side compilation Sawdust than it did to a solo album from the Mormon front man. Nearly three months on and Flamingo has been released and does nothing to dispell this feeling.

Opening track ‘Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas’ was clearly written by a man who loves his home town, but loves it so much that he’s unable to realise how cheesy the lyrics come across; “Stumble down the boulevard crying Hosanna/Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas”.

As the album progresses nothing much changes. The occasional big choruses that Flowers is undeniably good at aren’t quite enough to mask the lack of depth to the album with the near gospel of ‘On The Floor’ being the closest it comes to a departure from The Killers sound. As most of the songs for Flamingo were originally written for use on a new Killers album, the lack of bandmates to help develop the music is evident.

It is a shame that the albums highlight track is the same one that was premiered three months ago on Zane Lowes Radio 1 show. A pre album release single should be a taster of what’s to come, a tantalising snippet of the brilliant album to on the horizon. Unfortunately the underwhelming ‘Crossfire ‘ was only a taster of how average Flamingo was to be.