Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Hey I like this Ratings idea, so I'll have a go too!!

To mimic Roland I'll post a score out of 100 for how much I liked the album. I am quite hesitant when it comes to rating anything higher than 95.

100 is perfection (unattainable for an album)
50 is completely neutral

To cut down on the superfluous superlatives I am prone to give to TFK assume that everything is excellent unless otherwise stated.


Flower King - 93 Oh so close. Dissonata was OK and Humanizzimo could have been cut down a little.
World of Adventures - 89 Go West Judas didn't do anything for me. Temple of Snakes was unnecessary. World of Adventure maybe could have been cut down a minute or two.
Retropolis - 83 There is More to this World could get a little cheesy at times. Silent Sorrow is good. Retropolis by Night is pointless.
Stardust We Are - 91 Eyes of the World is a little long/repetitive. Compassion is great on it's own but it disrupts the flow of the album.
Flower Power - 92 The Mean Machine, Dungeon of Deep, and Indian Summer should have been merged into a 5 or 6 minute track in order to still convey their purpose but not drag on too long. Deaf Numb & Blind is good. Stupid Girl should be as it is on "The Road Back Home" compilation. Hudson River Sirens Call should lose it's first minute of experimental stuff.
Space Revolver - 88 Chicken Farmer Song and Underdog are good.
The Rainmaker - 73 Sub-par (for TFK). Great songs are Last Minute on Earth, World Without a Heart, Red Alert, and Serious Dreamers.
Unfold the Future - 92Christianopel, Soul Vortex, and Devil's Danceschool aren't my cup of tea. Silent Inferno is a little too dark for my taste and it could be trimmed down. Devil's Playground could be trimmed down.
Adam and Eve - 88 Days Gone By should have been worked into A Vampire's View or completely gotten rid of. Adam & Eve  is too standard of a rocker for me and is only good up until "we're all connected/through the dust" at which point it becomes excellent until the end of the song. Starlight Man is good at best only when in the mood. I'm not a fan of Timelines at all. Driver's Seat could have trimmed some stuff in the third fifth of the song.
Paradox Hotel - 97Paradox Hotel and Blue Planet are good.
TSoNE - 85Trading My Soul and The Sum of No Reason are ok to good. Life in Motion could have been cut down.

Hmm,

I think I look at the whole rating system differently than the majority here. 

Personally, I think a five star rating is too limiting, I tend to think in percents which lends to a 1 - 10 scale rather than 1 - 5.  The way my mind works is that 5 stars is 100%, 4 stars is 80% and nine on a scale of 1-10 would round up to ten, not down to 8.  As such, If I think that something gets a 9 out of 10 rating, then I don't have any problems giving it a 5 star rating.

Furthermore, using a grading system, 4 stars translate to a B, I don't think an album has to be a masterpiece to be an A.

With all of that being said, here is how I'd rate the Flower Kings Albums, on a percent and a star basis.

The Flower King - no rating yet, need to listen to it more
Back in the World - no rating yet, need to listen to it more
Retropolis - 90%, love the album, I'd give it an A and thus, 5 stars
Stardust We Are- 95% fantastic album, I don't think what others refer to as filler is filler at all, 5 stars
Flower Power - 75%, good album, a little odd at times, 4 stars
Space Revolver - 80%, Great album, the book ends are fantastic but the middle sometimes leaves me wanting, 4 Stars
The Rainmaker - 60%, Mediocre album, Serious Dreamers the only majoy highlight, 3 stars
Unfold the Future - 90%, Wonderful Album, 5 stars
Adam and Eve - 60%, I just can't seem to get into this one, 3 stars
Paradox Hotel - 95%, My favorite FK album (well, today at least), 5 stars
The Sum of No Evil - 85%, four stars, This one is growing on me.

There you have it, it may be a bit warped, I'm probably more liberal with te 5 star ratings than others, but it's all math to me.

PS:  Page 7, woo hoo, we almost got a veritable fan club going.


Edited by Roland113 - March 17 2009 at 19:11

progrules wrote: Roj M30 wrote: cacho wrote: ^ ...... I was planning to give it a 4 stars, to be honest, hahaha Just listened to it...   Glad you like it Pablo, it makes a change for me to recommend one for you .   I'd rate it as a 4.5 myself, but the first track is simply wonderful so I'd round up to 5, when I get the chance to post a review .   Ok you're the man Roy . I'm disappointed in The Captain and Cacho though . Goodness me, how good does an album have to get for a masterpiece status ?????  Cacho do you really believe Triumvirat is a better album than Karmakanic ? I saw you gave that one 5 stars. Illusions on a double dimple is a good album but at least a star less than Who's the Boss. But of course we get back to the old discussion then about matter of taste which is undiscussable of course. Still, too bad but I respect your decision. I have to, alas.

The rating system, please ingnore it from my reviews, well at least pay attention most to the review.

Please don't compare ratings, because you'll probably find me saying that I prefer a 4 stars album I rated to a 5 stars I rated. 5 stars aren't really that I like so much, if not that truly deserve the ''masterpiece'' label for being, dunno, just when I hear it, I know when it is, hahaha... You see, Triumvirat's Illusions, isn't so awesome, but I mean, they're 2 songs, very well arranged, with some stunning perfomances, and just by hearing it all the way through, I just can't think of it as another thing as a ''masterpiece'', which btw, in my review I noted that it WASN'T a Prog Masterpiece/Essential, if not Triumvirat's Masterpiece.
 
Don't get me wrong, Karmakanic is AWESOME, but I don't think the ''masterpiece'' status fit, but if I write my review for it, you'll read that I praise it A LOT!!


Edited by cacho - March 17 2009 at 15:44

cacho wrote: Glad you're back here! I have it since Saturday, and already spinned it like 7 times!! Send a Message from the Heart is really good, but my fave tracks are the title track and Two Blocks from the Edge, while less 'epic', they're more of my style.

Roj M30 wrote: cacho wrote: ^ ...... I was planning to give it a 4 stars, to be honest, hahaha Just listened to it...   Glad you like it Pablo, it makes a change for me to recommend one for you .   I'd rate it as a 4.5 myself, but the first track is simply wonderful so I'd round up to 5, when I get the chance to post a review .

Glad you're back here!

I have it since Saturday, and already spinned it like 7 times!! Send a Message from the Heart is really good, but my fave tracks are the title track and Two Blocks from the Edge, while less 'epic', they're more of my style.

cacho wrote: ^ ...... I was planning to give it a 4 stars, to be honest, hahaha Just listened to it...

Roland113 wrote: Roj M30 wrote: Hi guys.   For me it was always Floyd and Yes, followed by Genesis and IQ.  I never expected a new band to dislodge them, but TFK have done so, big time!!   TFK have been such an incredible discovery for me and have changed my musical life.  Just last year I'd never even heard of them, now they are my number 1. Had it not been for a buddy recommending PA I could've gone through my life without ever hearing TFK; a truly shocking thought.   Now for me it's:-   1.  TFK 2.  Floyd / Yes (equal) 3.  Genesis 4.  IQ   IQ are VERY close behind Genesis, however if the rest of their new album is as good as the 3 tracks from it I already know, they may pull leve with Genesis.   Always, always a great pleasure to talk on this thread. Roj, Here's an IQ question for you.  Do you think that they're a bit too repetitive? For a brief period they were higher on my list of favorites, probably number 3, then I picked up Ever.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great album, but I already had both Subterrerea and 7th House.  I found the three albums to share a lot of themes to the point that it got to be repetitive.  I know that Ever was released before the other two, but I picked them up in the opposite order of their release.  By the time I finally got Ever, I was intimately familiar with Subterrerea. Try singing the end of 'The Narrow Margin' to the music of 'Came Down'  If you stretched a little you could combing the end of 'Guiding Light' as well. I still love the band, they're just not as shiny as they once were, though I am hopeful that the new keyboard player will add some new life.

^ ...... I was planning to give it a 4 stars, to be honest, hahaha

Just listened to it...

bassman4 wrote: cacho wrote: Guys! Karmakanic's Who's the Boss in the Factory? arrived today, and it's fantastic!!!!!! Highly recomended for all of you here. A mix of the dark mood and chords of The Tangent and TFK's stunning melody and epicness.  I agree ,Excellent record