The beautiful losers that populate Brandon Flowers' songs haven't got it easy. When they're not "playing with fire . . . out on a wire" ("Playing With Fire"), they're "caught up in the crossfire of heaven and hell" ("Crossfire"). As lead singer and main songwriter for the Killers, Flowers has become our staunchest Born to Run-era Bruce Springsteen revivalist, and on his first album as a solo artist he pumps up the pomp, delivering surging synth-rock crescendos and belting out lyrics like "Woke up in the rusted frame of a burned-out old DeVille" ("Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas"). 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.

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.