Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Nov wrote: infandous wrote: Well, I'll have to hear some of the new Spock's to even consider spending money on it.........and even then, I'll likely pass (unless it sounds stellar to me......sorry, I find this rather unlikely at this point in SB's existence, but you never know I guess).  Maybe these reviews will convince you: http://www.dprp.net/reviews/201038.php For me it's easily the best post-Neal album and better than at least a couple of the Neal-era albums as well. Buy it

Well, they also gave the previous three SB albums recommended ratings..........and I didn't care for those albums at all.  I've also noticed that some of the newer reviewers on DPRP are not particularly good, which has brought my opinion of that web sites content down considerably.  Still, they are mostly pretty good, and I've read other quite positive reviews of the album here and other places.

Again, have to hear some of it first before I even consider spending what little money I have on it.  Your recommendation is hardly a surprising one, by the way

infandous wrote: infandous wrote: Nov wrote: infandous wrote: Well, I'll have to hear some of the new Spock's to even consider spending money on it.........and even then, I'll likely pass (unless it sounds stellar to me......sorry, I find this rather unlikely at this point in SB's existence, but you never know I guess).  Maybe these reviews will convince you: http://www.dprp.net/reviews/201038.php For me it's easily the best post-Neal album and better than at least a couple of the Neal-era albums as well. Buy it  Well, they also gave the previous three SB albums recommended ratings..........and I didn't care for those albums at all (also, my favorite SB album, V, didn't get a recommended rating.....so I don't really trust their SB reviews so much).  I've also noticed that some of the newer reviewers on DPRP are not particularly good, which has brought my opinion of that web sites content down considerably.  Still, they are mostly pretty good, and I've read other quite positive reviews of the album here and other places. Again, have to hear some of it first before I even consider spending what little money I have on it.  Your recommendation is hardly a surprising one, by the way

Hi Mike !  If I may add, the latest Beard disk, X, really is the best of their post Neal efforts. It's one that I keep going back to, and it continues to grow on me. At this point It may actually be running in 2nd place behind "V"  as my favourite of theirs.  See if you can find previews somewhere before you consider buying it. you may be suprised.

Hello All, hows it all hanging out? - For Fathers Day I got "From Land to Ocean" by Galleon , a hit from the first listen - excellent stuff and 100 mins of prog goodness.

Harry Hood wrote: So any new news about the breakup? I really hope they just let Tomas Bodin do his "Eggs & Dogs" and continue The Flower Kings without him. Sum of No Evil was awesome and I'm really craving a new one.

Well, last I heard, there was no breakup.  Officially, at least.  Just a hiatus.  But beyond that, no news.  However, I'm certainly not against them continuing without Bodin, but Roine doesn't seem to want that (last I heard anyway, via the Flower Kings Yahoo group).

^However, admit it, we have already listened to 10 albums with Bodin, listening to a new keybaordist with a different style would be something worth of checking out.

Harry Hood wrote: The Quiet One wrote: ^However, admit it, we have already listened to 10 albums with Bodin, listening to a new keybaordist with a different style would be something worth of checking out. Roine played keys on the first Flower Kings album, and did a pretty damn good job at it. He's definitely an accomplished keyboardist in his own right. I honestly wouldn't mind a new Flower Kings album with Roine playing all the keys, with someone like Lalle Larson filling in for live.

^"The Flower Kings" as we know them today were initially brought together as a backing band to tour for Roine's album. So in that regard, The Flower King can be seen as the first Flower Kings album, much like the first Van Der Graaf Generator album was "technically" a Peter Hammill solo album. 

M27Barney wrote: Hello All, hows it all hanging out? - For Fathers Day I got "From Land to Ocean" by Galleon , a hit from the first listen - excellent stuff and 100 mins of prog goodness. I have a mini mp3 player for the gym - a must have when you have a 20K non-stop row (1 hour 20 mins) and then another 26K on the bike (for all you Americans it's 1.6K to the mile). Also , listening to Garden of dreams whilst looking out over the blue sea from the island of Kefalonia was a most uplifting experience - FK's music is ideal for the Blue Aegean lapping at your toes.....

Biff Tannen wrote: The Quiet One wrote: I would go for 'The Flower King' by Roine Stolt, it really defined the sound of The Flower Kings for me. There's the semi-cheesy stuff, the up-lifting melodies, the great guitar work, the keys and the fantastic composition. Say what?  "The Flower King" isn't even a TFK song!  It is a Roine solo song.  That would be like introducing someone to Rush by playing them something from Geddy Lee's solo album.  I know some like to pretend like The Flower King was the real first TFK album , but it wasn't; it was a Roine solo record.  Back in the World of Adventures was the band's first album. Anyway, to answer the original question, I think their most representative song is definitely the "Garden of Dreams" suite.

Sorry, but Roine considers it a TFK album.  Here are his words about this:

"Kevin,

Technically speaking "The Flower King"  started as a solo album -  the 
prospects of touring with prog  were zero -

however once Jaime got involved  it is  the embryo of TFK - as also 
Hasse Bruniusson was on the album -
so that's 3 of the core members of the 1994-97 group.
To complicate further Hasse Fröberg was guesting on it too - so in 
reality 4 members that have played with the
band live between 1994-1999 not forgetting Ulf Wallander who never 
played with us live but have been our
reed player since day one- was actually on the  solo album "The Flower 
King"  so  I personally view it as a TFK album..

The next album "Back In The world Of Adventures" was also recorded 
much in the same manner as
a Roine Stolt operation - but this time with new input and 
synthifications and Hammond by Tomas Bodin,
plus also Michael Stolt  who played bass on  about 50%  of the 
album,plus  Jaime & Ulf Wallander .

The difference was that we now started slowly to play a few selected 
shows live  - but weren't a band in it's real sense,
we were just playing TFK material if we got an offer to play.
Tomas got even more involved in Retropolis and we had Hasse Fröberg 
guesting again  but yet not live -
but they had daytime jobs.

I personally  don't see BITWOA  as a 1st TFK  - it's more like it's 
floating and The Flower Kings is a starting point -then people
join to be part of it  and it's slowly falling into place.

Live TFK between 1994-1997 were -  R Stolt-Bodin-Salazar-M Stolt-
Bruniusson.

Once we were invited to Progfest in USA in summer of 1997 and had just 
released Stardust We Are -
one could probably say we were much more of a band  and Hasse Fröberg 
was asked to "join" the band
for the classic lineup.

all imho.

roine."

Think I'll have to take his word for it over yours

(he actually seems to be saying at the end that TFK were not even a real band until after Stardust We Are, interesting)








Edited by infandous - July 12 2010 at 09:09

Roine needs to release a book of his various writings. I'd buy like 3 copies.