Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

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

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

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.

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

Okay guys, can't stay behind here. I did a little research in my own preferences concerning the albums and it's actually very interesting what I discovered. If I do a song by song rating I get pretty low averages for each album. At first I thought this was very strange but if you think about it there is a very logical explanation.

^  You understood my un-logical logic! hahaha

Yes, it's difficult to go there, between OBJECTIVE and SUBJECTIVE, and also depends in which point of view you are looking! I mean, looking in a OBJECTIVE point of view, all TFK albums, and most modern Prog bands, they are 4 stars and 5 stars. But I think you(not refferin to you in particular) need to take(sometimes) in account the band's other efforts, like The Rainmaker and Unfold the Future, both musically are awesome, but comparing them you see one is very weak compared to the other, so you really can't rate both equally...

But let's move on....

I won't bother with ratings but here's how I rank the 10 studio albums:

1.  Space Revolver
2.  Flower Power
3.  Unfold The Future
4.  Stardust We Are
5.  Paradox Hotel
6.  Back In The World Of Adventures
7.  Retropolis
8.  The Rainmaker
9.  The Sum Of No Evil
10. Adam And Eve

Roj M30 wrote: Hi everybody.   I will not be online all weekend, so if my absence is noted, at least I've told you all .   I have a listening to disc 2 of Stardust We Are lined up for tomorrow morning, two of my ultimate favourites to look forward to there - The Merrygoround and of course the title track. I might follow that up with Paradox Hotel or Sum Of No Evil.   Hope you all have a great Flower Kings weekend.

Roland113 wrote: So I listened to Stardust We Are on the ride into work this morning (heard all of it but the last half hour which I'm taking care of now). I'd forgotten how good of an album it is.  It's been falling down my personal charts over the past couple months mostly due to the recent acquisition of Unfold the Future and my growing appreciation of The Paradox Hotel.  I've 'heard' in multiple reviews on here that people take issue with the amount of filler on the album.  I do not see the instrumental interludes as filler material, in fact, I think it helps set the overall mood of the album.  To further that, one of the younger girls that I work with stopped by my cube the other day while Poor Mr. Rain was playing and commented on how pretty it was. I would not have have predicted Mr. Rain as a gateway to prog but hey if it works. Roland

TheCaptain wrote:   I'd also like to get on record saying that the little instrumentals in SWA are far from filler. A Day at the Mall is the only little song I could consider filler on that album while I consider some other non-instrumentals filler like you Roj.