Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

A slight change of topic, but are any of you guys big on Beardfish?

E-Dub wrote: Scott, I only wished it was a longer disc. Is this the entire performance, I wonder? It's just very solid from beginning to end. I thought bringing these two bands together was a natural fit. I'm only on "Eternally" right now, but curious to hear their take on "Afterglow". I actually prefer Nad's live vocals to his studio voice. And what a drum solo by Nick D'Virgilio. He's really becoming one of my favorite drummers. Just a great, great disc. E

The concert was really funny that the 6 guys came on to the stage and said "we are Agents of Mercy" after they finished the set they took a 15 minute break and then the same 6 guys came out and said "we are Karmakanic".  I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought that was funny.  I'd say that Agents of Mercy probably played about 6 songs from their album, and Karmakanic probably played about 10 songs spread over their 3 albums.  I'd say that they played for close to 2 hours between them.  Maybe closer to 2 and 1/2 hours.

Edited by rushfan4 - February 19 2010 at 16:31

E-Dub wrote: Has anyone ordered the Karmakanic/Agents Of Mercy live disc The Power Of Two? This is freakin' amazing! Totally blown away! E

Do tell????  I attended the concert and was totally blown away. 

^ Of course you're right Mike, but the gorgeous synth part about 30 seconds into Red Alert doesn't feature anywhere on RTS.  That's what I was meaning, they could have made so much more of Red Alert. 

I reckon that it is their weakest CD, I'll have to give it a spin - been a gym-monkey in the last few weeks attempting to get back to peak fitness - must get an ipod for my birthday because I am working my way up to doing 3 hours + on the rowing machine and I reckon several TFK epics will stop the boredom and take my mind off my aching muscles and bottom.....

Like infandous, I was pretty disappointed when The Rainmaker came out, especially since it was the first new TFK record after I got into them.  But I, too, over time liked it more, and enjoy most it now.  And, like infandous again, I do not like "Sword of God" at all.  I said earlier that there are very few TFK songs I flat-out dislike, and that one would be at the very bottom of the list, if I had to rank all of their songs from 1 to whatever.

Changing albums here, even though I think Adam and Eve is near the bottom of the list, too, the ending triumvirat of "Timelines," Driver's Seat" and "The Blade of Cain" is fantastic.  In fact, I think "Driver's Seat" is one of their more underrated epics.


Edited by Biff Tannen - February 16 2010 at 23:15

As I mentioned before, that interview is from late 2009, and last I heard from Roine, there are no FK plans for 2010, sadly.

As to albums, when The Rainmaker came out, it seemed like a stopgap album to me.  I was able to buy it before the release date, at a FK show in New Jersey.  Zoltan was already in the band, and let me tell you, listening to that album on the way home after that incredible show (Garden of Dreams!!!!!) was a huge, huge disappointment.  I thought it lacked any of the magic of the previous albums, and just seemed very cold and sterile.  Of course, seeing that lineup live certainly didn't help matters.  After Unfold (which also kind of disappointed me a bit, but after almost a year of digesting that beast, I think it's their best album by far), I started to listen to Rainmaker more. Now I still consider it one of their "lesser" albums, but it's not my least favorite and there is a lot on it I enjoy (except that horrid Sword Of God song).

As to Sum Of No Evil, I relate to the "too proggy" feeling.  I happen to like that album though, after listening to it over and over.  The melodies are much more complex and unusual than previous albums, but they are literally all over it (and some appear in more than one track, giving it a very cohesive feel).  But I still miss the variety that you usually get on FK albums.  Paradox Hotel was great for me because it seems so different from all their other albums, yet still could not be mistaken for any other band.

Anyway, welcome newcomers!  We'll keep this thread going no matter what

Oh yeah.  No interest in seeing Transatlantic whatsoever.  Couldn't afford it even if I wanted to anyway.  I'll buy the inevitable DVD/CD set that will be released within a year or less of the tour.

I noticed about the DRRP interview that natewait and nov shared.  Towards the end of the interview, the interviewer asked Roine what the highlights of his career, Roine referenced "The Flower Kings" over all of his other projects which I was kind of surprised about.  In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have been surprised, but he seemed to have soured on TFK for a year or so but they seem to be back in the front of his mind again.  Woohoo!

Biff Tannen wrote: Roland113 wrote:   Biff, welcome to the thread as well. Yeah, this is a long one, I think we've been at it for more than a year now.  We stagger off topic from time to time, but always appreciate a new batch of contributors to give us new perspectives and such. One of the beautiful things about The Flower Kings is that they spawn so many different opinions, the simply question of 'What is your favorite Flower Kings CD' can spawn three pages of passionate commentary.  The vast majority of contributors have a different favorite and least favorite CD.  You were talking about "The Sum of No Evil" being one of their worst, Jeff (J-Man) will no doubt take exception to that when he reads it as that is one of his favorites.  Me, I agree with you on "Paradox Hotel" at least, though "Adam and Eve" is my least favorite and sure enough Pablo (TheQuietOne) thinks that Adam and Eve is one of their best. I had a point when I started that . . . I like your top five though.  While I wouldn't put many of those bands in my personal top five, I appreciate the spread in eras and genres.  Heavy Prog from the seventies and 00's, then Floyd, Radiohead and The Flower Kings, that's a nice spread there.  My top five are something like this:  The Flower Kings and Genesis battle back and forth for number 1 and 2, Frost* has a solid hold on number 3.  Four through Eight could be "Porcupine Tree", "Phideaux", Spock's Beard", "IQ", or "Dream Theater" depending on my mood. Either way, glad to have you on board and if you find something as you review the thread, feel free to quote it and bring it up to the forefront, I'm sure we'd enjoy talking about it some more. Tom Thanks for the welcome. I know what you mean, too.  A band like TFK has so many great albums, every one of them is bound to be someone's favorite, as well as someone's least favorite.  My beef with The Sum of No Evil is that I feel it tried to hard to be all-out proggy.  Most of the other albums have a good balance, but TSONE is just prog, prog, prog, which is not necessarily a good thing...not when an album is that long.  Plus, I just don't think the melodies are that strong, and that is usually the band's biggest strength.  Meanwhile, you have an album like Paradox Hotel, where you get a little bit of everything.  The melodies, the songwriting, the playing, the vibe, etc. are all just perfect.  It is the perfect blend of everything that makes the band so great, but without being excessive in any one area or focusing too much on any one window, so to speak. Just my two cents. As for my top 5, if I expanded it to 20 or 30, you would see a lot of non-prog.  While I love me some prog, I listen to and love plenty of non-prog music.  Sure, I love TFK, Camel, Yes, Genesis, Transatlantic and Kansas, but I also love Death Cab for Cutie, Dave Matthews Band, Talking Heads, U2 and Blue Oyster Cult.  Good music is good music, regardless of genre.

 

There is an excellent new interview with Roine here:

 

 

Edited by Nov - February 16 2010 at 04:50