LIVE IN NEW YORK - OFFICIAL BOOTLEG

Watching The Flower Kings live might be boring due to limited body movement or stage acts of the band members. But I don't know why I always enjoy them play live - be it as audio or through video. The chief reason is basically try to kill my curiosity if they play the long tracks. In fact, this official bootleg album starts with a very long track "Garden of Dreams" which takes 47 minutes to complete. This is really a challenging job for the band although they got used to it.

It's so interesting that the opening piece of this album is a snapshot of "Humanizzimo" from Roine Stolt solo album "The Flower King" whereby the keyboard punch is so peculiar, which is very easy for me to identify. Plus some guitar fills and drumming the music finally enters into the real intro of "Garden of Dreams" (taken from "Flower Power" album). I am amazed with the band especially on their brilliant talents to bring this complex and long track beautifully and almost perfect to the studio version. But I think this live version is much more enjoyable for me because there are segments with slightly different arrangements - especially during which Tomas Bodin delivers his solo continued with Roine Stolt's guitar solo. Another interesting point is also the sounds of guitars are different from those of studio version. The whole 47 minutes is delivered excellently by the band and I really appreciate their virtuosity in managing this song beautifully.

"In The Eyes of The World" which has powerful intro blending unique keyboard sounds and dazzling drum work performed in fast tempo excellently. Roine Stolt provides great guitar solo on top of Bodin's keyboard work while drums provide the dynamic beats. As far as melody concern, this song is quite strong and this live version is much interesting than the original version. The "Bass and Drum Solos" really enjoyable because the types of solos they play are really cool and entertaining, purely dominated by jazz styles. It's actually not just bass and drum solo because Tomas Bodin also provides his keyboard effects as well and also acoustic guitar by Roine Stolt.

The other remaining two tracks "Circus Brimstone" (which has been my personal favorite so far) and also "I Am The Sun" are also beautifully performed by the band.

Overall, I do enjoy this official bootleg record and it's an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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