Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Anyway, Listened to ? by Morse, gets a three star on first spin, lots of good stuff especially Stolte/Hackett guitar work, some gorgeous keys as well, pity about the subject matter and the holy god botherer of old southern badlands.....I was walking up the stairs and Nexus (from Odyssey) was being played by my youngest son as he kills all n sundry on his PS3 - he is REALLY a chip off the old block.

^
Please note, multi part epics were considered as one song.

Yeah, I forgot to post that at first.  This means that I am the Sun retains the first position in it's entirety.  Other examples include "The Healing Colors of Sound", "Garden of Dreams" and "The Sky Moves Sideways".

and cause I'm into stats:

There were a total of 34 bands which I think seems like a small number.

Genesis led with 18 songs
Our Beloved Flower Kings were second with 10 (though I'd guess they had the most time)
Dream Theater took third with 9 songs
Phideaux had 6
Peter Gabriel, Porcupine Tree and Spock's Beard each had 5
Frost* had 4
Arena, Karmakanic (FK related) and IQ all had three songs
and there were a bunch of bands with either 2 or 1

The newcomer for the count was The Ballad of Jenny Ledge by Toy Matinee coming in at #31 despite only arriving on Christmas.  For those of you who are curious, Toy Matinee was the band that Kevin Gilbert was in before he did Thud.


Edited by Roland113 - January 06 2010 at 07:01

Roland113 wrote: ^ and cause I'm into stats: There were a total of 34 bands which I think seems like a small number. Genesis led with 18 songs Our Beloved Flower Kings were second with 10 (though I'd guess they had the most time) Dream Theater took third with 9 songs Phideaux had 6 Peter Gabriel, Porcupine Tree and Spock's Beard each had 5 Frost* had 4 Arena, Karmakanic (FK related) and IQ all had three songs and there were a bunch of bands with either 2 or 1 The newcomer for the count was The Ballad of Jenny Ledge by Toy Matinee coming in at #31 despite only arriving on Christmas.  For those of you who are curious, Toy Matinee was the band that Kevin Gilbert was in before he did Thud.

Just tinking that we should all do a spread sheet  of our top 200 tracks, email then to one another and see whose tastes are most similar

M27Barney wrote: I was walking up the stairs and Nexus (from Odyssey) was being played by my youngest son as he kills all n sundry on his PS3 - he is REALLY a chip off the old block.

Much better taste than your eldest son then?

Roj M30 wrote: M27Barney wrote: I was walking up the stairs and Nexus (from Odyssey) was being played by my youngest son as he kills all n sundry on his PS3 - he is REALLY a chip off the old block.   Much better taste than your eldest son then?   Is he still into his rap and R n B?

No he's into Big band music now The RAT PACK, actually he likes to listen to ballads - stuff you can sing along to, he does like a bit of Journey & Boston though.............

progrules wrote: Roland113 wrote: progrules wrote: The Quiet One wrote: Roland113 wrote: On the other end of the spectrum, I know I'm in the minority, but Transatlantic doesn't do a lot for me.  I don't know why but "The Whirlwind" went from one of the most anticipated releases of 09 to not even being on my iPod.  "Duel with the Devil" is the only epic of theirs that has any staying power with me and most consider that their weakest.  I'm one of the few, but I far prefer each of the member's main project rather than the "Supergroup".  Tom   Hey Tom,   I share your feeling on Transatlantic, though got to say I've enjoyed The Whirlwind, the only epic I loved and constantly listen to is All of the Above.   Not sure if it's me, but I think most people who had heard Spock's Beard and Neal Morse's solo stuff before listening to Transatlantic, barely find anything new. I, not sure if fortunately, hadn't heard them before, so I found All of the Above genius and still is, even though I know it's pretty much a typical Neal Morse composition.   I'm almost completely with you here Pablo. In fact I'm a bit puzzled about the negative comments on the Whirlwind. In a way I can understand what they are saying but it also works on me a bit like people get blase and almost decadent about prog in the sense of they heard it all before and therefore can't appreciate the on itself great music anymore. It seems to me there's not much wrong with The Whirlwind but I hear negativism from all sorts of proggers everywhere (sorry Tom, no offense here). And of course everybody has his own opinion and feelings about a band or album. Still I wonder, if we can't appreciate a supergroup like Transatlantic anymore, where do we go and where does it end ...? A bit scary, right ? Well, maybe we are just being glutted here by too much great prog ! Hey Henk, I think that every one of us has a certain belief that we know what is great music.  I'm not trying to sound personal just here, I'm just trying to make a point.  I think "Snow" is amazing and don't understand why you or anyone else doesn't like it.  Regardless, because you don't enjoy the CD doesn't translate to your inability to appreciate Neal Morse, it's just that that particular CD doesn't speak to you. For me, "The Whirlwind" is much the same for me.  I don't really care for it, I don't hate the song / CD, it's just not compelling enough for me to continue listening to.  I think that making a jump from not liking one CD to inability to appreciate any supergroup is an unfair and giant leap.  It's not a matter of 'where does it end', it's just a matter of not liking a CD.  Everyone's opinion is equally valid on that front. Tom   Ok, point taken. I was kinda fearing you could react like this because I was making a pretty bold statement. And it was not directed to you personally (that's why I said no offense and then you still take it like an offense ) but just as much to other progfans I was referring to. I still stand by my point of view but it's always possible I'm wrong of course. Your comparison between Snow and The Whirlwind is correct I feel, it's indeed the same thing, just the other way around. And then I will have to rest my case I guess. Peace brother ...   PS I guess I'm a bit frustrated there's not one song in the universe we can simply ALL love. I had hoped it could have been The Whirlwind. But an average (right now) of just 4,25 is really disappointing to me. But of course you could say the same thing about Snow. Life isn't like that apparently ...

Hey Henk,

I was kind of worried as well, I didn't take personal offense to your statement, I just disagreed with it.  No offense taken and hopefully none given. 

Tom

M27Barney wrote: Roland113 wrote: ^ and cause I'm into stats: There were a total of 34 bands which I think seems like a small number. Genesis led with 18 songs Our Beloved Flower Kings were second with 10 (though I'd guess they had the most time) Dream Theater took third with 9 songs Phideaux had 6 Peter Gabriel, Porcupine Tree and Spock's Beard each had 5 Frost* had 4 Arena, Karmakanic (FK related) and IQ all had three songs and there were a bunch of bands with either 2 or 1 The newcomer for the count was The Ballad of Jenny Ledge by Toy Matinee coming in at #31 despite only arriving on Christmas.  For those of you who are curious, Toy Matinee was the band that Kevin Gilbert was in before he did Thud. NO YES? CAMEL? Also Dance on a Volcano @ 2 ??? No Monsters & Men ? I would have to do a current 100 and that would change every week or so but a top 200 may be fairly static as A SET of tracks (position unimportant) Sorry about that got my maths head on again.....

Nope, I don't really like Yes that much.  It's kind of an enigma to me, I don't know why, I just really don't care much for them.  Camel doesn't do a lot for me either, though I'm not nearly as familiar with them.  As you'll note from the list, I don't care for seventies prog nearly as much as modern prog, Genesis being the notable exception.  The only other songs from 70's bands that were close to making it were "Tarkus" by ELP and "The Power to Believe" by King Crimson (though that was released in the 00's).  Give me Frost and The Flower Kings over Yes any day.

Yep, two years ago, "Dance on a Volcano" would have been perched atop the list.

Nope, no Monsters and Men.  While I consider "Paradox Hotel" in my top ten favorite albums and my favorite FK album, I don't appreciate "Monsters and Men" as much as most on this thread.


Edited by Roland113 - January 06 2010 at 07:18

Roj M30 wrote: Roland113 wrote: ^ and cause I'm into stats: There were a total of 34 bands which I think seems like a small number. Genesis led with 18 songs Our Beloved Flower Kings were second with 10 (though I'd guess they had the most time) Dream Theater took third with 9 songs Phideaux had 6 Peter Gabriel, Porcupine Tree and Spock's Beard each had 5 Frost* had 4 Arena, Karmakanic (FK related) and IQ all had three songs and there were a bunch of bands with either 2 or 1 The newcomer for the count was The Ballad of Jenny Ledge by Toy Matinee coming in at #31 despite only arriving on Christmas.  For those of you who are curious, Toy Matinee was the band that Kevin Gilbert was in before he did Thud. Hey Tom, some great stuff on there.  Really nice list.   Nice to see the Darwins Radio entry there too.  Strangely enough though I prefer the two shorter tracks to the big epic, though I really like all three, it's a great album.   And Time Flies too.  That's a great song and almost on a par with the tracks that inspired it, Sheep and Dogs (from Pink Floyd's Animals).   The new Phideaux album has really blown me away and you've included a couple from it I see .  Number Seven is the only Phideaux album I have.  What else by him would you recommend in similar vein?

ok, one more reply.

Thanks Roj, yes, I love the Darwin's Radio CD, thanks for turning me on to that one.  I love the first song, I think the keyboard work in particular is fantastic.  I love the rest of the CD as well, it's just that "The Illusion of Freedom" really speaks to me.

Regarding Phideaux, I have three other CD's of his, each of which has it's merits.

Of the other three that I have, "Doomsday Afternoon" is my favorite and is on par with "Number 7".  The downside of this is that it's the second CD in a trilogy, if you went with that one, you'd technically be coming in, in the middle of a story.  I'll say this, Doomsday was my first Phideaux CD and obviously it spawned a great affection for the band.

Alternately, you could start with "The Great Leap", it's not my favorite of his, but it is the first CD in the story (for the record, the third CD of the trilogy hasn't been released yet).

Finally, "Chupacabras" is a magnificent epic, the title track of the CD is fantastic and shows signs of what's to come.  Unfortunately, the remainder of the CD highlights what has already gone.  I don't care for the rest of the CD.

Ultimately, I'd probably go with "Doomsday Afternoon", you don't loose that much from the story by coming in in the middle and it's the best CD of the three.

Enjoy and I'm glad that you're enjoying Number 7.  I was just listening to that on the way into work this morning.

Ok, now I'm really off to work,

Tom