Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Roland113 wrote: Roj M30 wrote: Roland113 wrote: Ok, so  "The Flower Kings" are on an indefinite hiatus as Misters Stolt and Bodin work out their differences or how ever that works out.  In the mean time, Roine is apparently focusing his attention on "Agents of Mercy".  So here is a question for you all, how do the two compare?  Obviously, Jonas on Bass and Roine on Guitar cancel each other out, so this means that the question is between the remaining three positions. Keyboards:  Lalle Larsson (Agents of Mercy) vs. Tomas Bodin (The Flower Kings)  (one thought, can someone confirm that Lalle is in fact the Keyboard player for Agents of Mercy these days) Drums:  Zoltan Czorsz (Agents of Mercy) vs. A whole bunch of people that could change at any moment (The Flower Kings) Lead Vocals:  Nad Sylvan (Agents of Mercy) vs. Hasse Froeberg / Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) Now that I think of it, there's a fourth musical position to consider as well: Backing Vocals:  Roine Stolt / Jonas Reingold (Agents of Mercy) vs. Roine Stolt / Hasse Froeberg / Jonas Reingold / Tomas Bodin I think I'll create a few polls over the next week or so.  If someone can confirm that Lalle is playing on the new Agents of Mercy CD, I'll throw the Keyboard poll up first.   Interesting idea Tom.   If I said I've not heard Agents Of Mercy at all  (and therefore can't comment) would you hold it against me?   To be honest having seen the reviews, the AOM album was some way down the "to get" list.  Is it worth getting, as it's very expensive in these parts    Roj, I'd go for it.  It's a little scattered at times and there isn't a home run progressive epic on it which certainly doesn't help the reviews on here.  As I understand, when they (Nad & Mr. Stolt) started working on the first one it was going to be a poppier CD and as it progressed, it got more progressive.  The final product was somewhere in between. With this CD, they're starting off with the premise that it's going to be a prog CD so I don't think it will sound as disjointed.  Also, I think the addition of Lalle Larsson will make a huge impact, he is great. To answer your initial question, should you get the first one, yes.  I don't think you'll be amazed and / or floored by it but I think you'll want to grab their second CD as soon as it becomes available.  I get the impression that it's as close as we'll get to Flower Kings this year.  My thought is that you'll appreciate the new album a lot more if you can track the improvement from the first one.  I think Scott said it, the Agents of Mercy were so much better live than on the album, I think the progression of the band will continue. Also, I don't know exactly what is expensive, but the Agents of Mercy CD is 18 euros on The Flower Kings site and "The Power of Two" (Agents / Karmakanic live set) is 13 Euros on Amazon UK. Tom

 

I assume for the Eggs and Dogs you got You Are.  There is no S/T Eggs and Dogs (nor is there a S/T Bodin album).  In any case, You Are is a great album.

M27Barney wrote: Right then chaps - note this list of potential CD purchases. Can you all give me an honest appraisal on the ranking of this list, so I can accomplish a satisfactory purchasing strategy ?   The Tangent. 1. The Music that Died Alone (2003) 2. The World that we Drive Through (2004) 3. A Place in the Queue (2006) 4. Not as Good as the Book (2008) 5. Down and Out in Paris and London (2009) Guilt Machine. 6. On This Perfect Day Galleon 7. From Land to Ocean (2003) Darwin's Radio 8. Template for a Generation (2009) 9. Eyes of the World (2006) Ayreon 10. The Final Experiment (1995) Thomas Bodin 11. Pin-up Guru ......

 

M27Barney wrote: Right then chaps - note this list of potential CD purchases. Can you all give me an honest appraisal on the ranking of this list, so I can accomplish a satisfactory purchasing strategy ?   The Tangent. 1. The Music that Died Alone (2003) 2. The World that we Drive Through (2004) 3. A Place in the Queue (2006) 4. Not as Good as the Book (2008) 5. Down and Out in Paris and London (2009) Guilt Machine. 6. On This Perfect Day Galleon 7. From Land to Ocean (2003) Darwin's Radio 8. Template for a Generation (2009) 9. Eyes of the World (2006) Ayreon 10. The Final Experiment (1995) Thomas Bodin 11. Pin-up Guru ......

Stars above to the ones that I am familiar with.

To sum:

5 Stars

Template for a Generation - Darwin's Radio:  Like Roj, I thought Template for a Generation by Darwin's Radio was one of my best discoveries last year (and I totally thank Roj for the discovery).  Fantastic prog the whole way through, great vox, great songwriting.  I consider "The Illusion is Freedom" to be the best epic of 2009 (that I've heard at least).

4 Stars:

The World that we Drive Through - The Tangent:  Nice jazzier prog at times, it doesn't smack you around and leave you heartbroken but there's a part of you that wishes you could have had one more date.

3 Stars:

Not as Good as the Book - The Tangent:  This would have actually have been a four star CD if Mr. Tillison had either been on key or hired a singer.  Conversely, this would have been a two star CD if the music wasn't as strong as it was.  Fortunately or not, the two cancel each other out for a solid three star rating.

The Other Two . . . Both "Eyes of the World" and "The Final Experiment" did little for me one way or another.  Neither CD made me sit up and say "WOW!" but again, neither inspired me enough to immediately flick through the songs to get the listening experience over with.  On a side note, this is why I won't review "Lark's Tongue in Aspic"  . . . ever.  I'll get stoned (and I mean being hit with rocks).

Roland113 wrote: M27Barney wrote: Right then chaps - note this list of potential CD purchases. Can you all give me an honest appraisal on the ranking of this list, so I can accomplish a satisfactory purchasing strategy ?   The Tangent. 1. The Music that Died Alone (2003) 2. The World that we Drive Through (2004) 3. A Place in the Queue (2006) 4. Not as Good as the Book (2008) 5. Down and Out in Paris and London (2009) Guilt Machine. 6. On This Perfect Day Galleon 7. From Land to Ocean (2003) Darwin's Radio 8. Template for a Generation (2009) 9. Eyes of the World (2006) Ayreon 10. The Final Experiment (1995) Thomas Bodin 11. Pin-up Guru ......   Stars above to the ones that I am familiar with. To sum: 5 Stars Template for a Generation - Darwin's Radio:  Like Roj, I thought Template for a Generation by Darwin's Radio was one of my best discoveries last year (and I totally thank Roj for the discovery).  Fantastic prog the whole way through, great vox, great songwriting.  I consider "The Illusion is Freedom" to be the best epic of 2009 (that I've heard at least). 4 Stars: The World that we Drive Through - The Tangent:  Nice jazzier prog at times, it doesn't smack you around and leave you heartbroken but there's a part of you that wishes you could have had one more date. 3 Stars: Not as Good as the Book - The Tangent:  This would have actually have been a four star CD if Mr. Tillison had either been on key or hired a singer.  Conversely, this would have been a two star CD if the music wasn't as strong as it was.  Fortunately or not, the two cancel each other out for a solid three star rating. The Other Two . . . Both "Eyes of the World" and "The Final Experiment" did little for me one way or another.  Neither CD made me sit up and say "WOW!" but again, neither inspired me enough to immediately flick through the songs to get the listening experience over with.  On a side note, this is why I won't review "Lark's Tongue in Aspic"  . . . ever.  I'll get stoned (and I mean being hit with rocks).

Ahh yes, Tillison's vocals.  As a singer and musician myself, I can assure you he is very much on key the vast majority of the time.  What you don't like is the sound of his voice, and I can relate to that.  However, for some reason on the new Tangent it just really works for me. I'm guessing you don't like Peter Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator either?  Tillison sounds more like him to me than anyone else (though Hammill is the better singer without a doubt).

Roland113 wrote: ^  As a singer and musician myself I can tell you in fact that in the song "A Crisis in Midlife" he modulates the pitch of the word "strain" to the point that it is out of key on the sharp side.  Unfortunately this is the very beginning of the album and has warped my impression of the entire album.  Incidentally, he repeats the phrasing of the musical line throughout the song, each time he hits that point of the piece, the note is off key. I apologize if I sound irritated but I resent being patronized, I've been playing some kind of instrument since I was six and take great pride in the fact my two and a half year old baby is already singing in key.  I can in fact tell the difference between something that I don't like and something that is off key. My only fall back is that my initial assumption was that he didn't mean for it to be off key which is why I suggested that he hire someone.  It could be something that he likes and wanted in there.  That does not change the fact that they are off key.

Well, I did say "the majority of the time", so I was sort of agreeing with you.  Didn't meant to sound patronizing, as that was not my intent.  I also should have realized that many prog lovers are musicians themselves.  In any case, Tillison is an acquired taste vocally, and I could actually see him wanting it to sound like that (which was also the case with some of the vocals on Bodin's I AM album.........Bodin wanted the singer to amplify the angst and emotion, even if it meant he went off key a bit).

 

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=130307592&blogId=528961551

Well, got my Nearfest tickets and hotel reservation all set to go!   This has been somewhat of a tradition for me, having been to 7 of the past 11 Nearfest's (this will be number 8 for me, number 12 for Nearfest).  Anyway this is basically my only prog event for the whole year, so I'm really looking forward to it.  With a full Hackett performance on the Friday night, as well as Three Friends and The Enid, I'm pretty psyched.  To be honest, I'm not familiar with most of the bands performing, but that is usually the best part about Nearfest for me.  Probably also the only time this year I'll be buying CD's..........but I plan to set aside a good amount of cash for that, since it's like a kid in a really big candy store going to all those vendor booths

Also, my wonderful new woman is going with me as well!  After she deemed the complete Garden Of Dreams, "excellent!", I knew she was a keeper   She also managed to dance to a large portion of my MP3 collection (quite a bit of Italian prog in there) and seemed to enjoy it all.  She's been a Floyd fan for many years though, and I had gotten her in to Porcupine Tree before we were together.  She had also heard some Flower Kings from me in the past and liked it.  So she had good taste to begin with (though like so many women, has an unnatural fondness for 80's top 40 music).

Anyway, shaping up to be a pretty good summer for me.  Still haven't picked up the Power Of Two live album.  Not sure if I'll get that before Nearfest or not, but probably won't be able to resist the temptation much longer.

^great, Tom, glad you liked Galleon.

I have listened to Pinup Guru and on first spin it's an excellent purchase - no vocals - just mainly keyboards, I think that a few more spins and I'll love it.