Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

So here's something that I tried over the weekend.  Some of the Flower Kings albums seem to go on for entirely too long to really be digested properly.  To me, this is especially true for Flower Power and Unfold the Future.

So, I'm getting ready to review Flower Power this week and needed to do something for the songs that tend to blur together for me.  What I did was took Flower Power's most memorable tracks (to me at least) and removed them from the playlist. 

This left me with an album of:

Deaf, Numb and Blind
Corruption
Power of Kindness
Psychedelic Postcard
Hudson River Sirens Call
Painter
Calling Home
Afterlife

So far this is turning out to be a pretty good album, it's kind of like finding a new FK album.  I think I'll try a similar experiment with Unfold the Future next and see what that does for me.

With that being said, which albums are too long in your mind?  If you're willing, try my experiment and let us know what kind of results you get.

Thanks Nate, see, strangely enough, Paradox Hotel is the only double album by them that I don't phase out half way through.  On Paradox, "Life Will Kill You" was largely overlooked by me for a long time, once it clicked with me, it became one of my favorites.

Odd, I don't find any of their albums to be too long.  But that's just me  

Okay, I admit there are two songs on Stardust I could do without, and Flower Power could just be the first CD, with maybe Deaf, Numb, and Blind to make it 78 minutes.  I could probably also combine the best of Rainmaker with the best of Adam&Eve into one album, though that would be pushing it.  Other than that, they are all perfect!

And Henk, I agree about Hydrophonia.  I enjoy it when I hear it, but it's not something I pull out often.

Roland113 wrote: So here's something that I tried over the weekend.  Some of the Flower Kings albums seem to go on for entirely too long to really be digested properly.  To me, this is especially true for Flower Power and Unfold the Future. So, I'm getting ready to review Flower Power this week and needed to do something for the songs that tend to blur together for me.  What I did was took Flower Power's most memorable tracks (to me at least) and removed them from the playlist.  This left me with an album of: Deaf, Numb and Blind Corruption Power of Kindness Psychedelic Postcard Hudson River Sirens Call Painter Calling Home Afterlife So far this is turning out to be a pretty good album, it's kind of like finding a new FK album.  I think I'll try a similar experiment with Unfold the Future next and see what that does for me. With that being said, which albums are too long in your mind?  If you're willing, try my experiment and let us know what kind of results you get.

Disk 2 of Flower Power really does get unfairly criticized in my opinion. I think people just go on what they've heard about the album to be honest.

Of course, disk 2 is over-shadowed by disk 1 but then so are sides 3 and 4 of The Lamb over-shadowed by sides 1 and 2 (for example).

In my opinion there is some stupendous stuff on FP2 and it's just a matter of taking the time to get to know the tracks properly.

I think it's a good idea filtering out all the best songs (as you've done) to become familiar with the less played stuff. I did a similar thing with TFK in iTunes and I'm still getting used to tracks that I used to skip even though I've had all the albums for over 5 years now (apart from the more recent ones of course).

There really are some gems in there that I used to skip.






Edited by Nov - July 20 2009 at 16:31

natewait wrote: Roland113 wrote: With that being said, which albums are too long in your mind?  If you're willing, try my experiment and let us know what kind of results you get. I followed your advice and made a shortened version of Paradox Hotel: 1. Jealousy 2. Hit Me With A Hit 3. Lucy Had A Dream 4. Bavarian Skies 5. Selfconsuming Fire 6. Mommy Leave the Light On 7. Touch My Heaven 8. Man of the World 9. Life Will Kill You 10. The Way The Waters Are Moving 11. What If God Is Alone It clocks in at about an hour and I am really enjoying it! This is giving me new appreciation of Paradox Hotel, I might have to change how I previously ranked Flower Kings' albums

Roland113 wrote: So here's something that I tried over the weekend.  Some of the Flower Kings albums seem to go on for entirely too long to really be digested properly.  To me, this is especially true for Flower Power and Unfold the Future. So, I'm getting ready to review Flower Power this week and needed to do something for the songs that tend to blur together for me.  What I did was took Flower Power's most memorable tracks (to me at least) and removed them from the playlist.  This left me with an album of: Deaf, Numb and Blind Corruption Power of Kindness Psychedelic Postcard Hudson River Sirens Call Painter Calling Home Afterlife So far this is turning out to be a pretty good album, it's kind of like finding a new FK album.  I think I'll try a similar experiment with Unfold the Future next and see what that does for me. With that being said, which albums are too long in your mind?  If you're willing, try my experiment and let us know what kind of results you get.

progrules wrote: natewait wrote: Roland113 wrote: With that being said, which albums are too long in your mind?  If you're willing, try my experiment and let us know what kind of results you get. I followed your advice and made a shortened version of Paradox Hotel: 1. Jealousy 2. Hit Me With A Hit 3. Lucy Had A Dream 4. Bavarian Skies 5. Selfconsuming Fire 6. Mommy Leave the Light On 7. Touch My Heaven 8. Man of the World 9. Life Will Kill You 10. The Way The Waters Are Moving 11. What If God Is Alone It clocks in at about an hour and I am really enjoying it! This is giving me new appreciation of Paradox Hotel, I might have to change how I previously ranked Flower Kings' albums   I don't want to insult your taste but with the exception of no. 7 & 9 you gathered all the tracks I don't like on Paradox Hotel. And where's Monsters & Men ??

Hey Henk,

Sorry man, but you missed the point.  The challenge was to make a playlist out of the ones that you DO NOT appreciate and see if you get a new appreciation for the songs that you didn't like.  Just two pages ago you were complimenting Nate on his appreciation for Monsters and Men.

Infandous and Roj,

Stardust drags at times for me.  I love each of the individual songs, but by the time I get about three quarters through the disk, I keep waiting for Stardust (the song) to come on so I can go on to something else.  I could listen to each of the songs from Stardust on their own and enjoy them immensely, but for some reason when I play them all in a row I start to glaze over.

"Unfold the Future" and "Flower Power" are both great albums the whole way through, I just loose track of the songs that I listed above just because the others stand out.  Also, by standing out, I'm not necesarily declaring anything as a favorite.  I still don't know where I stand on "Magic Pie" but didn't need to include it on my 'further listening' list as it stands out on it's own right.

I will say this, I'm getting a better appreciation of "Deaf, Numb and Blind", it's a really good song that I had overlooked.  I'm on the fence about Psychedelic Postcard, it's rather 'Yes'ish and Hudson River Siren's Call is going to be played loudly, on repeat in my house on Halloween.  It just the kind of creepy that will set the mood for the halloweenies.

progrules wrote: I don't want to insult your taste but with the exception of no. 7 & 9 you gathered all the tracks I don't like on Paradox Hotel. And where's Monsters & Men ??

I think you've missed the point

^^^^^ Hey guys ! I don't know but somehow I get the impression I missed some kind of point here ??  Well, thank god ! I was starting to think you all had gone crazy or something. But yeah, ok I've been a bad reader. But it was such an intelligent idea by Roland, it was all a bit too much for me I guess .