FLOWER POWER

Now that The Flower Kings have released their new album and with their show coming up in the Netherlands this seems to be a good time for a review of one of my favourite albums from this great band.

The Flower Kings make symphonic prog mostly influenced by Yes, yet they clearly have their own sound, a Stolt composition is always clearly recognizable. Apart from the songwriting and the outstanding musicianship, one of the greatest attractions of this band for me is the singing of Roine Stolt and Hans Froberg, they complement each other really well.

On to Flower power, it's a 2 disc package running over 120 minutes.

Disc 1:

The first disc sees the band at it's absolute peak,central piece here is Garden of Dreams, a well chosen name. Listening to it i always get the feeling that i'm no longer here but in another fairytale world. Be sure you have 1 hour before you start listening though, it's that long and it's a pity to interrupt it.

Garden of dreams contains 18 tracks. Dreamy very melodic songs are connected by beautiful and sometimes quite complex jazzy instrumentals that often echo the tunes from the various songs. Beware in the middle you will be shook rudely awake by "Don't let the devil in" a song that will draw your attention due to the fact that it's quite different from all the others.

Highlights on Garden of dreams are:

"There's no such night" (beautiful vocals from Hans Froberg)

"All you can save" (great guitar solo and vocal combination of Stolt and Froberg)

"Indian summer" (An outstanding melancholy song about the coming of winter, getting older and longing for a better world, sung by Roine Stolt).

Final deal is a passionate ending with Roine Stolt straining a bit on the vocals, i believe this is intentional though.

IMO there's no filler at all on Garden of dreams. The only track that i believe to be less than excellent is "Dungeon of the deep", most of it is a bit monotonous, the ending is great though.

Some other things i noted:

- Abbreviated Garden of dreams reads G.O.D. i wondered if this is a coincidence. Chances of this are far less then 0.1 % and given Roine Stolt's religious tendencies i'm sure it's not.

- In some of the previous reviews it has been suggested that the 18 sections that make up Garden of Dreams are not really connected to each other. This statement made me curious because i had always felt that spiritually Garden of dreams is one suite with tunes that at least resemble each other.

In fact there are (at least) 2 main tunes that keep recurring on Garden of Dreams, they are most clearly heard on "There's no such night" and "All you can save".Both tunes are echoed on "Sunnylane" and "Shadowland".The tune of "There's no such night" is also echoed on "Attack of the monster brief case" and "Final deal". So i don't think the "unconnected" statement stands up.

There are are three other tracks on disc 1: "Ikea by night" (a 4 seconds long joke), "Captain Capstan" also forgettable and "Astral dog" a good jazzy 8 minutes long instrumental that is a bit monotonous.

Disc 2:

There is a second disc. Over 120 minutes long the band certainly put in their day at the office here (again).

Disc 2 is reasonably good but IMO compared to TFK standards a tad weak. Tracks are generally 5-11 minutes long. There are 2 very good tracks that could have been included in the Garden of Dreams: Afterlife and Power of kindness echoing the tunes used in Drawn and Simple song respectively.

Other good songs here: Corruption, Stupid girl (a guilty pleasure, lots of people seem to hate this track).

The other songs are certainly not annoying but to me they don't seem to be outstanding.

To be honest don't take me too seriously concerning the second disc, i may not have listened to it enough (some 15 times) so what i'm saying here is just an indication.

Concluding:

I believe that together with "I am the sun" from the album "Space revolver", "Garden of dreams" is the best work from TFK sofar. It's not an album that i would recommend to people who don't know TFK at all though, or people who are new to prog music in general. In that case pick up Stardust we are, the first disc is great and quite accessible (be patient with "Circus Brimstone" though) and the second disc is also quite good containing the fabulous 25 minutes long epic Stardust we are part 1. Follow up with the superb Space revolver.From that point on you'll have to see for yourself. Be sure to hear them all in the end though.

Rating:

Well it's tempting to give it 5 stars on the strength of Garden of Dreams alone. This suite's certainly worth it and there are lots of albums that get 5 stars and are much shorter than this track alone. It's just easier to make 30 minutes of outstanding music than 120. Second disc is approximately 3 stars though, so following the rating guidelines 4 stars it is. I think of the second disc as a bonus though, i don't think TFK have to edit themselves, the risk of a masterpiece disappearing is too big.

Dirk