THE FLOWER KING

A very musical and passionate statement. This is the album that started it all for the Flower Kings (Stolt formed his touring band for this album using the players on it, his brother on bass, and Thomas Bodin on Keyboards, and christened them the Flower Kings for the tour, thus beginning a great musical legacy). Deciding it was time to record music he truly liked, and to communicate some of the ideas felt strongly about, Stolt wrote and produced this album on his own. It is always better when the artist has complete control over the music, and it really works here. This is a very musical album. While the strongest is the long epic "Humanizzimo" and some of the tunes in the middle ("Magic Circus of Zeb", "Pilgrims Inn", "Sounds of Violence") all the songs here are above par and they flow together very well. Probably the weakest is the title track, almost bordering on cheesy, but it is saved by the arrangement (while "Close Your Eyes" also borders on cheesy - this is the song I skip over). There are some excellent guitar solos on this album. Roine Stolt is a fantastic guitar player, and does not shy away from composing his songs around some great guitar work. He also shows himself to be an excellent multi-instrumentalist - he plays all the keys and bass on the album, leaving only the drums/percussion and saxes, and back-up vocals, to his guests. The return to the opening theme at the end ("Scanning the Greenhouse") ties everything together nicely and provides an exceptional and emotional closer to the album. Overall, a very satisfying musical experience. I give this 8.9 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which is just 0.1 shy of 5 stars (and so, 4 PA stars).

Share this ROINE STOLT review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Walkscore
• Report this review (#1703394)
• Buy ROINE STOLT music online with PA partners
• Show all ROINE STOLT MP3/Stream
• Go to ROINE STOLT page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to The Flower King page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for ROINE STOLT related discussions