Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

The Quiet One wrote: Roland113 wrote: Ohh, last year was a great one Scott.  I never thought I'd get to see Neal Morse with Spock's Beard.  I still get goosebumps when I think of that one.  Howard usually pulls something out unexpectedly, I'm hoping that Rob Sowden and Clive Nolan appear out of no where and along with John Jowett and John Mitchell do an Arena reunion.  Though, realistically, I'll be pretty happy seeing IQ in their own right. Regarding the FK albums, Adam and Eve is one of my least favorites and that is one that I've made a concerted effort to listen to.  I've really tried on that one to no avail. That's okay, I do consider Adam & Eve to be quite "off-the-norm", I mean not very similar stylistically to the others, yet The Flower Kings vibe is very present. I pretty much love it all though, except for Vampire's View, which I find unique for TFK's catalogue, but not very essential though musically.

I LOVE A Vampire's View.  But that album is my least favorite of all the Flower Kings albums.  I really tried as well to like it, and it has grown on me a bit over the years, but it's still my least favorite.  It's the only album by them were I don't much care for EITHER of the epic tracks!  Which is really strange to me (although some sections of Driver's Seat I do enjoy, I just find Love Supreme to be pretty dull and repetitive).

Retropolis is my favorite FK album without a doubt.  Followed by Unfold.  Though I have trouble ranking them after that (except the bottom two, Flower Power CD2 and Adam & Eve).  And my favorite FK song is Garden Of Dreams.  Go figure

But I will say this, there is something I love on every single Flower Kings album, and even my least favorite I find is at least as good as some of my favorites by other bands (in terms of musicianship, melodies, emotion, recording quality, etc.).

When I first started listening to them, they had "only" 5 albums (including The Flower King), so I was able to devote quite a bit of time to them.  At that time, after absorbing them all, I'd say Back In The World was probably my "least" favorite.  But I still thought it was a great album, and still do.  So it's all relative.

*** PAGE 29 !!!  ****


Edited by infandous - July 30 2009 at 12:18

I don't think it will end badly.  We're all Flower Kings fans after all, right?    I think it's fascinating how different people view different songs and albums.  Your dislike of two albums I love does not affect me in the slightest (or my view of you).

As to your list, I'll bite:

Favorite bass moment: Silent Inferno
Favorite guitar solo/passage: Big Puzzle/King's Prayer/The Merrygoround/Judas Kiss (Alive On Planet Earth version)
Favorite drum section: The Devils Danceschool
Favorite vocal perfomance: Jealousy (Instant Delivery version)/Rhythm Of the Sea
Favorite keyboard solo/passage: City Of Angels
Favorite rocker: Genie In a Bottle

Truthfully though, this was difficult for me, and if you asked in a couple months I'd probably come up with almost totally different answers.




Edited by infandous - July 30 2009 at 13:19

Roland113 wrote: Ok, I'll play: Favorite bass moment: Tie - end of "Minor Giant Steps" and end of "The Devil's Playground" Favorite guitar solo/passage: Tie - "Mr. Hope Goes to Washington" and "Flora Majora" Favorite drum section:  "IKEA by Night" Favorite vocal perfomance: The beginning of "I am the Sun, Part 2" Favorite keyboard solo/passage: Favorite rocker: "Life Will Kill You" I left the keyboard blank as I'm really uncertain.  If one comes to me I'll post it, but at the moment, I don't have anything.  If forced, I'd go with Tomas' solo in "Minor Giant Steps" but let me think on it.

Ok. It has to be done some day (or not of course but hey, this is real life what we are talking about and not just heaven) so I will take up the gauntlet. The least 10 songs of our heroes. And my thought is to name longer songs because it seems a bit too easy to me to name 10 of their one minute songs and that's it. So I'd say their ten poorest real songs (above three min. ?). I will do the kick off.

progrules wrote: Roland113 wrote: Ok, I'll play: Favorite bass moment: Tie - end of "Minor Giant Steps" and end of "The Devil's Playground" Favorite guitar solo/passage: Tie - "Mr. Hope Goes to Washington" and "Flora Majora" Favorite drum section:  "IKEA by Night" Favorite vocal perfomance: The beginning of "I am the Sun, Part 2" Favorite keyboard solo/passage: Favorite rocker: "Life Will Kill You" I left the keyboard blank as I'm really uncertain.  If one comes to me I'll post it, but at the moment, I don't have anything.  If forced, I'd go with Tomas' solo in "Minor Giant Steps" but let me think on it.   Nice idea Pablo ! I'm gonna steal your list here Tom because I could use your thoughts on bass and drums (I'm not that keen on those instruments). Can't believe you couldn't find any key-passage though ??   Favorite bass moment: "The Devil's Playground" Favorite guitar solo/passage: Tie - "Merry go-round" and "Dissonata" Favorite drum section:  "IKEA by Night" Favorite vocal perfomance: "Driver's Seat" (I big time favor Hasse anyway as vocalist) Favorite keyboard solo/passage: Tie - "Serious Dreamers" and "Big Puzzle" Favorite rocker: "Paradox Hotel"

Henk,

I kind of agree with you and was kind of dumbfounded when I couldn't come up with a keyboard moment either.  As you all know, I'm a keyboard player myself, so yeah, I would have thought I could come up with something.  Here is my best answer . . .

Tomas Bodin has his own style, of that there is no doubt, though in my mind, it's a bit too passive.  I don't hear a lot of strong leads coming from him.  Even his solos aren't horribly memorable to me.  I don't want to give off the wrong impression, I enjoy his playing, but he acts more as a conveyer of background noise and notes rather than a leading force in the band.  I think I'll use this as an excuse to put my computer on "Shuffle All Flower Kings Songs Mode" for the workday and see what I come up with.

Roj M30 wrote: progrules wrote: Roj M30 wrote: ^ Conversely I absolutely adore Back In The World Of Adventures, it's my number three rated TFK album.  The title track is officially awesome, then you've got Kaleidoscope, Atomic Prince,  Big Puzzle and the incredible Theme For A Hero. I think Retropolis is a fine album , but not as good as the debut.  The title track is stellar, one of the very best TFK ever made, but none of the others are in that class IMHO.  Some really good one on there though, especially Flora Majora and The Melting Pot (which nobody ever mentions ). I'd rate BITWOA as easily 5 stars, Retropolis would get a mere 4.5  .    I challenge you to do the respective reviews of these albums Roger  ! I really look forward to them and it would have an additional advantage: you would crank up their ratings at the same time. Wouldn't it be fantastic if one or two TFK albums would move up to an average of 4,00 or even more ?? Go, Roger, GO !! Job done!  Catch my review of BITWOA which is now on the front page.  Guess how many stars it got.  Any clappies?

Nice review Roj   consider yourself blessed with the clap . . . oh wait, that didn't sound good

In all seriousness great review man, keep em coming.

Roland113 wrote: progrules wrote: Roland113 wrote: Ok, I'll play: Favorite bass moment: Tie - end of "Minor Giant Steps" and end of "The Devil's Playground" Favorite guitar solo/passage: Tie - "Mr. Hope Goes to Washington" and "Flora Majora" Favorite drum section:  "IKEA by Night" Favorite vocal perfomance: The beginning of "I am the Sun, Part 2" Favorite keyboard solo/passage: Favorite rocker: "Life Will Kill You" I left the keyboard blank as I'm really uncertain.  If one comes to me I'll post it, but at the moment, I don't have anything.  If forced, I'd go with Tomas' solo in "Minor Giant Steps" but let me think on it.   Nice idea Pablo ! I'm gonna steal your list here Tom because I could use your thoughts on bass and drums (I'm not that keen on those instruments). Can't believe you couldn't find any key-passage though ??   Favorite bass moment: "The Devil's Playground" Favorite guitar solo/passage: Tie - "Merry go-round" and "Dissonata" Favorite drum section:  "IKEA by Night" Favorite vocal perfomance: "Driver's Seat" (I big time favor Hasse anyway as vocalist) Favorite keyboard solo/passage: Tie - "Serious Dreamers" and "Big Puzzle" Favorite rocker: "Paradox Hotel" Henk, I kind of agree with you and was kind of dumbfounded when I couldn't come up with a keyboard moment either.  As you all know, I'm a keyboard player myself, so yeah, I would have thought I could come up with something.  Here is my best answer . . . Tomas Bodin has his own style, of that there is no doubt, though in my mind, it's a bit too passive.  I don't hear a lot of strong leads coming from him.  Even his solos aren't horribly memorable to me.  I don't want to give off the wrong impression, I enjoy his playing, but he acts more as a conveyer of background noise and notes rather than a leading force in the band.  I think I'll use this as an excuse to put my computer on "Shuffle All Flower Kings Songs Mode" for the workday and see what I come up with.

I'm sorry if I'm sounding even less like a TFK fan, but I totally agree with you on that Tom. Not that he's bad, but as for memorable stuff, I barely can think of other than the melodies done with the rest of the band and some few solos. However his mellotron and moog use is if you pay close attention is everywhere and without TFK wouldn't be the same, I got to admit that.

On the other hand bands like Karmakanic, The Tangent, Spock's Beard, have very strong keyboard works, full of hammond-organ solos(not the case of Karmakanic), plenty of memorable synths solos and even pretty great work on the piano, which when Bodin plays it, it's pretty much either subtle or simple or short, pittily.

infandous wrote: ^ Jonas once told me that Tomas was not a great technician (i.e. playing technique), not a great player per say.  But that he was a genius when it came to sounds and atmosphere.  I think this makes sense, though he does have some very good solos on some of his solo work and here and there with the Kings.  But he is definitely vital to their sound.

Exactly my thoughts, just that I'm not a great technician on expressing my thoughts properly.

rushfan4 wrote: This talk about Bodin kind of sounds like the stuff people explained to me for why Robert Fripp is a good guitarist or even Steve Hackett.  They don't wow you with their solos, but they play what is necessary for the songs that the band are playing.

Not exactly the same, but yeah I got your point. Just that Tomas Boding is always present on the songs, he's essential, the intros, the bridges, etc, while Hackett and Fripp are not very audible and not as essential, IMO. Don't get me wrong, I quite like both guitarist touches on their respective bands, and they're definitely unique, but I don't think they're essential for the band, other than to add a unique substance.

^ Afraid I disagree on both counts, but especially Fripp.  He is absolutely essential to Crimson (his guitar playing I mean, not just the fact he is main composer and band leader).  His guitar defines Crimsons sound and has since Lark's Tongue's (I would argue even before that, but it's less essential on the first 2 albums certainly).

I think Hackett's sound is pretty essential on the early Genesis stuff, though Banks was more essential.  But listen to Genesis Live, and it's hard to imagine them sounding the same without Hackett.

But we agree about Bodin, at least