INSTANT DELIVERY

Don't Buy This! .unless you love Paradox Hotel album!

The above statement is true! As I experienced tough times digesting the band's latest album "Paradox Hotel" I thought that my affair with The Flower Kings was about to end up and forget about this band! But .. that was happening before the magic spin number 11. At spin number 10 I still thought that the music of PH was rubbish and should thrown on a waste basket - resell the CD to the secondary market if I wish. But at spin number 11 everything turned upside down and I truly love the album. So, why so important to love Paradox Hotel before enjoying this DVD / CD? It's because this new live lset contains materials from the Paradox Hotel album. But you are lucky that there is no "Monsters and Men" - the track that inhibited me to digest the beauty of Paradox Hotel. But when I conquered that track, I could finally enjoy the album in its entirety. So, for those of you who do not favor Paradox Hotel because of "Monsters and Men" you are relieved now as there is no such inhibitor. Well, I don't intend to scare you but it's the fact. Instead you have "Hit Me With A Hit" which I'm sure you all will be able to digest easily. Having been a fan of The Flower Kings for some time I was so concerned that the band experienced many personnel changes. The new drummer Marcus Liliequist is an excellent player even though he is less dynamic than Zoltan Csorz. For those of you who have seen the excellent "Meet The Flower Kings" will find that this set has some improvement here and there. The picture quality and sound quality are excellent. Enjoying the voideo while the Paradox Hotel material are being played is to me a very special moment. All the subtleties that I imagined during the Paradox Hotel listening pleasure are now in front of my eyes and damn close to my ears that I can enjoy. I will eventually revise this write-up in more in-depth analysis once I got a chance to spin more than three times.

It's a masterpiece of prog (any sub-genre!) live set that proggers must have!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This DVD is quite different form the previous one, the brilliant Meet The Flower Kings. First, they are two members short: guitarrist Daniel Gildenlöw (leader of Pain Of Salvation) and original percussionist Hasse Bruniusson are gone. The excellent drummer, Zoltan Csörsz, is also absent. New drummer Marcus Liliequist steps in. A new aproach to music? Definitly. A better one? hardly. It's a maeer of taste also (see below)

From the very first song in the set, Paradox Hotel, it seems that they want to present themselves as a more tight, rockier band. Not only they are reduced the outfit, but also everybody is singing. I don't know if this is the best approach for such a prog group like this.It seems odd sometimes, but it does not spoil the whole project. And unlike Meet The flower Kings, there are no overdubs here. At least not as obvious as on their previous DVD!

If you liked the Flower Kings last CD chances are you'll probably enjoy this DVD a lot. I did, but being a long time fan I must say the set list is not much what I'd like to hear. I'm still wondering why they included such epics as The Truth Will Set You Free and Stardust We Are on this DVD. Their shortened versions are far from better then the full ones played in Meet The Flower Kings. Even some newer one such as Love Supreme is barely over half its original length. With such a vast cathalog of songs behind them, why didn't they play some tunes from great albums like Retropolis or Back in The World of Adventures instead? It's a mistery and such an waste of time for a double DVD. If in Meet The Flower Kings you wish they have included some more shorter songs in place of those boring tour images, on this one you'll end up guessing why they made such a strange choice of material.

Still, they are the Flower Kings, The musicanship is awesome as ever, the sound is better, the images are excellent. And the Paradox Hotel material works better live than in their studio versions. If only they did not play the same songs they did on Meet The flower Kings and would include some never seen live on DVD material Instant Delivery would be a great companion to their first video oferring. But, alas, this is not what we have here.

Good, but definitly leaving a lot to be desired. Good luck next time, guys.

I just finished watching this and wanted to post a review while it's fresh in my mind. 2006 has given us many great prog DVD's, and this will most certainly make my year end top 3 or 4 (Behind IQ's Stage, Porcupine Tree's Arriving Somewhere..., and Dream Theater's Score). Instant Delivery gives you a good dose of all thing Flower Kings and what this band embodies: pure musicianship, deep and introspective lyrics, and a dedication to performing.

The band comes out rocking with the title track from the latest CD, and finds Hans Froberg sounding great and ready to deliver with his Lou Gramm-ish vocals. He's definitely enjoyable to watch playing to the crowd and striking his rock star poses, but it never comes off cheese laden like Coverdale. The first part of disc 1 is solid, but it's the last half that I really enjoy. "What If God Is Alone" is not only my favorite song from Paradox, but up there as being a favorite all-time by this band. They breeze through "Pioneers Of Aviation" brilliantly, and close out with the amazing "Love Supreme" from Adam And Eve (EXCELLENT bass work by Reingold), and the highly popular "The Truth Will Set You Free"...albeit a somewhat abbreviated version. The latter does showcase a nice duet by Reingold and new drummer Marcus Liliequist, who fits in seamlessly with The Flower Kings.

Disc 2 brings more new material with the Bodin penned "Touch My Heaven", to Reingold strapping on a double neck 12-string bass for "Mommy Leave The Light On", to the instant classic "End On A High Note". Disc 2 sees the band revisiting the earlier days, which a truly touching version of Space Revolver's "I Am The Sun", and a taste of "Stardust We Are".

I guess my only gripe is why it's on 2 DVD's, as it seems everything could fit on 1 with no special bonus features. Secondly, as much as I love "Stardust We Are", I'd love to hear the whole thing. I imagine a band who has a rich library of music with classic epics, it would be inhuman to expect them to play them all; but, would like to see some of the other tunes omitted to leave room for an epic or two. That aside, this is a brilliantly assembled DVD and makes me appreciate Roine Stolt the guitarist. The man does have a style as smooth as molasses, with a voice to match. Another surprise was seeing just how good Marcus Liliequist is. The Flower Kings have had two absolutely stunning drummers behind the kit, but this kid is really fun to watch. He's sort of like a very skinny Steve Gadd. Just an all around great product and a must for every Flower Kings fan.

Ps. It's great to have accompanying CD's of the performance for the car!

This was my first FK exposure and I have not heard their studio albums. I like to start with a live DVD occasionally because getting the visual and live energy can tell you much about the essence of the band. They turned out to be not entirely to my taste but I still enjoyed watching them perform..mostly. Noting the bad first, I just hated the first track "Paradox Hotel" which featured an extremely grating, over the top vocal from Mr. Froberg who was far and away my least favorite leg of the FK table. When his vocals were not dominating the material, I was able to really enjoy some of the outstanding interplay between Stolt, Reingold, and Liliequist. Their playing was interesting, fluid, passionate in many places. Were they an instrumental act I believe I would be far more interested in the band, but the lyrics and the Froberg vocals were a turn-off. Production was not bad, I have seen better camera work and more interesting staging but it was certainly very watchable and with good sound. A modest recommendation for folks needing an introduction and an easy buy for those already big fans. 3 stars.