Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Roine was awesome at the Transatlantic concert in London last night.

A true star in fact.

Roj M30 wrote: Roland113 wrote: Adam and Eve is growing on me finally, I've been really digging the title track lately and the rest of the CD is pretty good as well.  I'd probably rank it above "Back in the World" and "The Rainmaker" at this point, maybe even Stardust.  (Stardust We Are as an album has really dropped in my appreciation level since I original got it.)   I've never understood the flak that A&E gets.  Sure there's a few quirky songs but some great ones too.  Both epics are top-notch (although Love Supreme does nod a little too much in the direction of Yes early in the piece) and one of TFK's best shorter tracks Babylon is there too.

^ I think you are pretty much saying what I said, only we have slightly different likes and dislikes on that album.  I rate it a couple slots lower than you as well.

There is no doubt that that album is one of the best sounding albums I've ever heard, production wise.  But this creates another problem for me, in that it just seems that more focus was put on the production than on the music.  Probably not really true, but in some ways I find it just too crystal clear, if that makes sense.  Probably if the music worked better for me, this would end up as a plus, I don't know (I like it when Wilson does it with PTree albums).

Anyway, I've listened to the album since it came out 7 years ago (and I played it once or twice a day for several weeks, hoping it would click more), and it still has not risen in my FK album rankings.  I think I mentioned in my post though that taken out of the context of the Flower Kings, it is still a very good album.  But I have to say even now that, had that been my first FK album, I'm not sure I would have explored any further (unless I heard from others that it was their worst maybe).

However, I'm going to pull that one out soon and listen, as it's been probably more than a year since I've listened to it (though I've heard songs from it on Carpe Diem and The Road Back Home in that time).  But I really just can't see it rising in my rankings (possibly going higher than Rainmaker, but that is pretty much it).

Heh, I actually rank The Sum of No Evil as one of my favourite albums of all time and it hasn't lost any of it's charm over time. Probably the main reason I like The Sum Of No Evil more than other TFK albums is that I think it's their most consistent release. All four long tracks on the album are excellent and the two shorter ones are nice as well. I really do like Stardust We Are and Unfold the Future for example, but I still think there's some filler on those albums.
I just put One More Time on and it's still like coming home, coming home again

Didn't realize this thread was resurrected! 

Figured that I should let you guys know that I saw Transatlantic live in Philly on April 24th... and it was the best concert I've EVER seen. I wrote a review for it somewhere...

Biff Tannen wrote: I still consider "One More Time" by far their most boring "longer" song ever.  I tried it again the other day, and it still sounded just boring.  I can count on one hand the number of TFK songs I simply do not care for, and "One More Time" is one of 'em.  The others (counting "real" songs, not short interludes or stuff like that) are "Vox Humana," "Sword of God" and "Starlight Man."  The problem with TSONE for me is that, while the other five songs are all good, none of them blow me away or anything like that.  I recently did a top 50 TFK songs list for fun, and that was the only TFK CD that didn't have a single song on it.  The other 9 studio albums all had at least 2 songs each.  infandous, your UTF vs. TSONE comparison is very interesting, and has a lot of merit to it.  I love many of those short songs and interludes that frequently dot their albums, especially the double ones.   Plus, I don't feel the vocal melodies that Froberg sings on TSONE are strong at all, and that works against the greater good for me, as I feel that his voice has the tendency to sound too wimpy at times, especially when singing vocal melodies that are either not particularly strong.

 

I'm probably by myself here, but TSONE is probably by favorite TFK album. It's their most consistent IMO, and songs like One More Time, Love Is The Only Answer, and Life In Motion are among my favorite outputs from the band. All in all, it's one of my most confident 5-star albums around. 

I would  love to get some new Flower Kings going, just a fantastic band all around (I say this as "End on a High Note" plays in the background).  Consider me in the group that are eagerly awaiting.

Heh, yeah Laz, I can relate.  Well, to the effects of beer anyway 
To be completely honest, even before I heard a note of the Flower Kings, I had a feeling they would be one of my favorites just from descriptions in reviews, their albums covers, track titles and lengths.  I know that probably sounds crazy, but I guess I just know what I like.  After hearing just one track, Retropolis, I knew I was right.  By the time I'd listened to that album (again, Retropolis) 2 or 3 times, I had a new favorite band.  Each album I picked up from then on only confirmed that.  Admittedly, albums like Rainmaker and A&E made me feel that it was time for a new favorite band (at least for a little while) and there were other times where I just felt like I'd heard them enough and needed to move on (this has happened with every other favorite band I've had for any length of time).  But then I would pull one of their albums out, or they'd release Paradox Hotel or The Sum Of No Evil, and I'd remember why they were my favorite band and still are.

But yeah, some new material will help keep that feeling going for me.  I like what Roine said in the interview about them doing something different.  I guess though, they usually do with each new album (though the first 5 are all pretty similar, in a fantastic way for me).  Besides, it's getting harder to keep this thread going without any new activity for so long.........it's been THREE years!!!  How have we survived?   Oh, yeah, the neverending side projects of all the members, that's how

Thanks Nov, you do ...um... realize that infandous posted that just four posts ago?