Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

I just had to come on here and say how much I LOVE the new Kaipa CD- "In The Wake of Evolution". It is quickly becoming one of my all time favorites. It has caused me to re-discover this great band that I once dismissed as only "ok". Now they are amongst my favorite bands.

I consider In The Wake of Evolution and Keyholder to be masterpiece albums by Kaipa, with Angling Feelings not far behind. The epic on Mindrevolutions is awesome, the rest is hit and miss.

But, take this with a grain of salt because I'm admittedly a (relatively new) fanboy of Kaipa, but I would strongly recommend their latest album to any Flower Kings fan without hesitation.

Roland113 wrote: infandous wrote: Roland113 wrote: Sorry it's taken me a few days to post guys.  Gus, glad you have found a companion that is musically compatible, I don't think Marianne and I would have lasted a year if she wasn't as open minded to good music as she is. On an unrelated note, has anyone used Lala at all?  I found it a couple of weeks ago and find it a great and legal way to preview music.  Basically you sign up and you can listen to any track that they have once for free.  If you decide that you like it then either buy a web subscription for a few cents or buy the mp3 for a buck if you want to listen to it again.  I bring this up here because I took a moment to listen to the new Kaipa album the other day.  Has anyone else heard this?  I wasn't impressed and don't see myself picking it up, despite the presence of one Jonas Reingold. On the other hand, I listened to "Land to Ocean" by Galleon (I know that Pablo had been talking about this a page ago).  That was really good stuff, I'm going to have to pick that up. Rock on Folks!  Have you heard any of the other modern Kaipa stuff?  I really like the first two of the their albums with Roine and Jonas, good stuff (Notes From the Past and Keyholder).  The third is not so good.  But I've heard many positive comments from FK fans about the new one and the previous one (FK fans not on this thread, obviously).  I was considering getting the most recent one, but now I'm not so sure based on your comments.  How much of it did you hear? As far as other modern Kaipa CD's, I have Mindrevolutions and I'd give it an 'eh' rating which translates to about two and a half stars.  Nothing that wowed me, nothing that inspired me to hit the skip button.  I haven't heard anything else by Kaipa. As for the recent one, Evolution or something like that I heard the entire album, though I only heard it once.  Again, it didn't impress me but it didn't make me ill.  It could be me also, I've been a lot harder to impress for the past year or so.  A lot of last year's releases didn't do much for me (IQ, Dream Theater, Satellite), though in fairness, there were ones that did grab my attention at the onset (Phideaux and Darwin's Radio), so take it as you will.

Tom, as you may have noticed from other posters, get Keyholder.  Get it soon.  You won't be disappointed.  Notes From The Past is the other one worth having.  I'll probably still check out the latest, as it sounds pretty promising.  Mindrevolutions is, from what I can tell, their worst album.  I gave it 2 stars in my review.  In contrast, I gave Notes 4 stars and Keyholder 3.5 stars (though I'd reverse that now I think.......wrote those reviews 3 years ago or so).  So yeah, get Keyholder, you won't be sorry.

 

I gave the new Kaipa a spin for the first time last night and was very impressed.  I took to it straight away, more so from first listen than the others I have of theirs, surprisingly.

Edited by Roj M30 - April 01 2010 at 02:59

Straight from the horses (Roine) mouth.  From the Flower Kings Yahoo group, basically brought about by a discussion of Paradox Hotel :

"Without going into further detail it would probably be
honest to say that TFK have been in & out of "decay" or "unity" for 
the last 10-12 years  - but at this now I'd say it's
not either way - it's just "on ice" for now.

Personally,looking from the inside, I wouldn't agree that TFK was at 
it's most "unity"  around Paradox Hotel tour,
but indeed some shows were really good -  the Tilburg 013 - "Instant 
Delivery DVD " comes to mind.
The album was an OK experience but studio had a few flaws and  f.i. I 
seem to remember  a bit of low interest from a few members
  in hearing some of the drumming that was done  for lengthy tracks 
like Monsters & Men  and Minor Giant  Steps,
so I personally felt that we weren't THAT close or much of a "unit" - 
it was still a bit of a ego trip.
I always devote 100% to ANY recording regardless of who wrote the 
song, but that's not  always what comes natural for everyone,
I'd say some ego clouded that period for me personally - but is now 
romanticised to be a golden era - it wasn't.

As for live - I suspect that the fact we tried to cut out the loose 
bits and jamming and concentrated on playing
"a show" as precise as possible, may cause some people to feel that we 
were "TFK best ever " or had most "band feel"
at the time.  Same show every night - after some time you get good at 
it - we were just a bit more professional than other times.
However in total there was no more or no less "band feel" than any 
other era at the time, just a different set ,
different line up,some of the band more enthusiastic,others less.

The constant turbulence of  drummers going in and out  does a bit of 
harm to the band feel,
also energy going elsewhere in times where focus needed to be  on TFK 
takes a toll after a while .

The multitude  of this weave is way to complex to fully understand for 
anyone outside the band and even hard for any member in the band.
Record companies,economics,egos,personal lives,luck,state of the 
recording and touring business,fans reactions,side projects,the 
internet gossip,
band history,band chemistry and possibly the stars positions have all 
an impact   even on prog luminaries like TFK.


I know anyone is entitled to their opinion  but personally I felt TFK 
golden years were maybe 1997-2002   and then that right feel came back 
while working on
"Sum Of No Evil" - that I personally remember as a very happy 
recording,very powerful,positive  and complex and where there actually 
WAS a real band feel and
  commitment (imho).

"Unfold The Future" also had a strong commitment, especially from 
Jonas & Zoltan  and Daniel added some too -
Space Revolver  and in particular  Flower Power and Stardust had some 
really good input from Tomas and we had good fun doing it,
it was a mindset of  wanting the band to elevate - for the good of all 
- band AND individuals.

Personally I do not feel that there is one single album or tour that 
is head and shoulders above any other -  just different - but SONE,SWA 
and UTF  are really strong
and innovative symph rock albums (including the crappy tune 
Christianopel....) and Space Revolver comes close. As for single songs 
I think "Love Supreme"  is
one of our best  epics , "Paradox Hotel" is a good album too - but I 
tend to agree that it could have been cut down to a fabulous single CD .

Probably this - (imho)  (in no order)

End On A High Note
Lucy Had A Dream
What If God Is Alone
Hit Me With A Hit
Pioneers Of Aviation
Paradox Hotel
Life Will Kill You
Blue Planet
Jealousy
Mommy Leave The Light On
Minor Giant Steps

Roine.  "

infandous wrote: Roine on Monsters and Men: "OK - if you really wanna know. I used to like the tune too , but fell out of love as we started to  record it  - With the drummer dissin' the tune verbally and  hearing over and over    how he hated to play to a click got me a bit  sad and with rest of band not even in the control room  caring to enthuse him or me I felt the song was deserted from square one. Maybe I'm too sensitive but  I just got a bad feeling about it . Furthermore it never reached the potential I felt it had, I   have to say thou that Hasse did some great vocals on it  later . Sincerely Bill Bruford."  (not sure why he signed it Bill Bruford  )

Of course Mr Stolte can produce what he likes ! That is not the gist of my argument!! - Sure I want artists of his ability to push themselves and "Monsters and Men" is sublime, and it saddens me to think that the muscians that produced it, didn't like IT !!!!

My alphabetic journey through my CD collection has brought me upon The Flower Kings.  I have jumped ahead to Stolt and I have started with his Fantasia album, which I have not listened to before now.  Next up with be Stolt's The Flower King, and than I will be jumping into The Flower Kings proper.  Hopefully, I will be able to post a thought or two along the way.

The First two CD's are of an excellent quality, though they are outshone by songs on later CD's, but the average quality of track is much higher than later CD's me thinks....

Roj M30 wrote: M27Barney wrote: A lot of people think that the FK's are just too much like 70's Yes/Genesis/ELP/Camel - thus are just dismissed out-of-hand.... Mind you Monsters & Men, Stardust we are and I am the Sun are on a par with ANYTHING the bands they are supposed to plagiarise produced - anybody disagree ??   I certainly agree with you wholeheartedly Rob.  You have named 3 of my favourite 4 TFK tracks (the other is Garden Of Dreams) and for me they are definitely as good as anything the 70s giants produced - in fact, better .   You're also spot on with the early albums, especially the debut which is a magnificent album from start to finish.  Quality all the way and I even like My Cosmic Lover .   Just chiming in to the Monsters And Men chat, this is just sublime, a gorgeous piece of music with the most stunning melodies imaginable.  It flows beautifully and as a result I find it more cohesive than a few other TFK epics.  M & M alone ensures Paradox Hotel earns a 5-star rating from me.  I think Marcus needs his ears testing.

Absolutely - Monsters & Men is an incredible piece of work.

Interestingly, Roine Stolt is not wild about "Monsters and Men."  He recently said on the FK yahoo mailing list that he feels the song didn't live up to its potential.