Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Buzz at the yahoo group:

TA sessions are done. 2 epics, 3-5 other tunes.
AoM DVD next year
TFK DVD at some point
Karmakanic DVD

All that plus new TFK album, new HFMC album, impending tours!

I too am a fan of Hassee.

I like Hasse as a singer, and he's also a great guy.  The missus and I spoke with him after the gig at Leamington last year and he couldn't have been friendlier.  When he found out I was a facebook friend of his he was made up and made me promise to pm him .

Talking of Kaipa, I finally played Vittjar yesterday, an album I've had since Christmas but just haven't been inclined to play.  It's pretty good too, but as Gus says very much the same as the last one.  It's weird, with Kaipa I virtually never pull a cd of theirs out of the rack but when I do I enjoy the music.

I quite like Patrik as a singer, but I think he has deteriorated a little since the heady days of Keyholder.  Aleena I like not so much, she's got a good voice but it's all a bit bubblegum.

Anyway, it's friday folks so enjoy .




Edited by Roj - June 07 2013 at 03:07

Ok, so who are Aleena and Patrick again?

I think the problem with all of the `new' Kaipa albums is that they are too long. You'll get several killer tracks, a couple of pleasant moments and one or two duds. Just because they can doesn't mean they need to totally fill up a full 80 minute CD's worth of material.

Well, I've decided, I'm going to go and properly dig Vittjar off the self again and really commit to listening to it properly!

The CD creep!  Yep, that's been an issue.  I like how Steven Wilson makes a conscious choice to keep albums around 40 minutes.

zumacraig wrote: The CD creep!  Yep, that's been an issue.  I like how Steven Wilson makes a conscious choice to keep albums around 40 minutes.

Actually, as per several interviews, his sweet spot is 50 minutes.  So basically the maximum length of an old style LP.

Personally, I have no problem focusing on anything 60 minutes or less.  70+ though, is usually too much.  Except for The Flower Kings and Beardfish, and even then, I've come around to the idea that a couple FK CD's could have been shorter and wouldn't have suffered for it (though I'm still glad they aren't).

Of course, my number 1 FK album is Unfold, and it is almost 3 hours long.  There are at most, 2 or 3 tracks that I could live without on that one.  Though I will say, that that is one album I never listen to all the way through, just one CD at a time.  I think Stardust and Paradox Hotel are the only ones I can listen all the way through without any problem.

To be honest though, I've gotten used to 70+ minute albums, and can listen to them without much problem.  It's just that many bands simply are not good enough to entertain me for that amount of time.  Beardfish, The Flower Kings, Izz, and a few others certainly are.  But I won't complain if any of them release 40 or 50 minute albums, either.


Edited by infandous - June 07 2013 at 13:08

zumacraig wrote: Stardust does play through pretty easily. That's a rarity in double albums. I prefer vinyl length albums and I really think that a really good epic can't go past 20 minutes.

I used to pick albums based on how long the tracks were.  I still kind of do that sometimes without thinking about it.  However, in the past 10 years I've come to realize that adding 15 minutes to a basically poor musical idea and approach does NOT improve it in any way......makes it much worse actually.  So to a certain extent, I agree.  However I think All Of the Above, The Truth, Stardust We Are, Garden Of Dreams, and probably at least a dozen more prove that you are incorrect   (or The Icon, from the 70's.......a fabulous 30 minute epic from Todd Rundgren's Utopia)

darkshade wrote: Stardust is great all the way through the first disc. The second disc starts out fine, and is quite good for 4-5 tracks, if I remember correctly. Then it's hit or miss until the final epic title track.

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Prog_Archives