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8.0
76070
8.0 |
Mojo
This album is brazenly in hock to to shoulder pad decade. Print edition only
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8.0
76071
8.0 |
Q
Big, bold and joyful, it’s exactly what a great pop album should be. Print edition only
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8.0
76166
8.0 |
Exclaim
If this isn't Brandon Flowers maximizing his potential as a songwriter, producer and artist, then we just haven't heard it from him yet
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8.0
76168
8.0 |
DIY
Brandon is still very much the star of this show, and he’s not going to be giving that up that place any time soon
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8.0
76201
8.0 |
The Observer
It’s hardly a forward-looking album, but nonetheless highly enjoyable
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8.0
76207
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
By the end of the record, you feel like you’ve been through about 14 encores and you’re basically ready for a nap
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8.0
76134
8.0 |
The Independent
A series of huge-sounding, stadium-ready pop anthems of undeniable charm
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8.0
76246
8.0 |
Digital Spy
The Desired Effect suggests the result of a longing transformation, and Brandon Flowers plays the part of popstar just as well as he does frontman
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8.0
76268
8.0 |
All Music
As always, these are catchy, synth heavy songs punctuated by twangy guitar lines and Flowers' trademark lyrical themes
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8.0
76479
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
It’s packed with wistful hit singles
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8.0
76541
8.0 |
Gig Soup
An album that tips its hat to the past, but may also end up as one of the finest pop albums of 2015
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7.5
76250
7.5 |
Pretty Much Amazing
Across the board, The Desired Effect sports memorable hooks and boundless energy — abandon all cynicism, ye who enter here
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7.0
76068
7.0 |
NME
For all its slavering over archaic ‘80s production cheese, ‘The Desired Effect’ is a consistently impressive collection – probably the strongest Brandon’s produced since 2006’s ‘Sam’s Town’
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7.0
76277
7.0 |
musicOMH
Overall, this is arguably the most consistent album Flowers has ever been involved with
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7.0
76291
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
Taken together, The Desired Effect is something rare — the best straight-up pop album made by a rock star in recent memory
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7.0
76295
7.0 |
Spin
His newfound interest in momentum applies handrails to his unsteady falsetto. If he would only listen to Neil Tennant more: dance music, the ideal channel for his rococo fantasies, can set his night afire
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7.0
78464
7.0 |
Spectrum Culture
Brandon Flowers continues to write music ripped from the days of Bruce Springsteen and U2
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6.5
76445
6.5 |
Beardfood
It's not The Killers Unplugged, more like if they plugged their instruments into Colin Thurston's brain
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6.0
77988
6.0 |
Under The Radar
Flowers has never received the credit he deserves for his deft way with a melody and this album is packed full of them
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6.0
76298
6.0 |
The Arts Desk
There’s no shortage of Springsteen-like passion on this record. If that were it, it would be an unqualified success
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6.0
76069
6.0 |
The Music
It’s all brassy motifs and rejoicing vocals
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6.0
76067
6.0 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
The standout tracks are strong enough to carry the album, which means that it will probably resonate with listeners who don’t mind putting up with lengthy passages of fluff in between those moments of grandeur
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6.0
76131
6.0 |
The Guardian
Despite toying with the odd bit of experimentation, this followup to his 2010 debut, Flamingo, is largely evocative of 80s drivetime pop-rock
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6.0
76113
6.0 |
State
In short, The Desired Effect is a bit of an entertainingly hot fussy mess, with Flowers not exactly at the eye of the storm, but more likely the cause of it
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6.0
76156
6.0 |
The FT
Thunderous drumbeats and splashy riffs ring out, as brashly vibrant as the lyrics’ Las Vegas setting
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5.8
76220
5.8 |
Consequence Of Sound
The ’80s reign supreme here and Flowers is an excellent showman
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5.6
76281
5.6 |
Pitchfork
Flowers gives off charm and stupidity in the same breath and it is as comforting as it is disposable. It’s the mark of a pretty good pop star
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5.0
77663
5.0 |
Clash
The quintessential motifs that sullied his later work with The Killers and his debut album 'Flamingo' are all here
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4.0
76127
4.0 |
Evening Standard
Producer Ariel Rechtshaid situates him somewhere more redolent of Eighties Soho than his native Las Vegas
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