PINUP GURU

Funny thing is I checked this album out AFTER I got to know I A M. I A M is an amazing album of the highest progressive level so it's only logical that I wanted to hear more by this man. Tomas is one of the key players of The Flower Kings, well of course they are all important but Tomas a little bit more because the keyboards are so important in TFK. He's a funny man (or like Roine said on a recent gig: well, Tomas is - and where everybody thought he was going to say: a little crazy, he said: - Tomas !) and that is also shown on this album. He makes funny sounds, both with his mouth as with his keyboards. The mouth sounds (at least the humming one) actually originated on Rainmaker (TFK) where he did exactly the same in many of the songs, so that's obviously an idea of Tomas. I like him for that, it's original, he dares to be himself and just does what he feels like as an artist. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

But to compare this with it's successor as I can do in this case. This is a totally different story ! There is not a single similarity with I A M and that also proves the versatility of the man. On this album all kinds of songs are to be found, shorter, medium length and even epical ones, most of them or in fact all of them instrumental (except of course the already described Tomas way of singing) and it wil be no surprise: keyboard dominated. He is accompanied by his TFK fellows Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csörsz and with the three of them I think they did a very nice job. My favourite tracks are (as usual) the longer ones especially What's going on and Harlem Heat.

But where I A M was more of 4,4 rounded down to 4 this will be a 3,8 rounded up to 4 (result the same ?).