Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Hello All, hows it all hanging out? - For Fathers Day I got "From Land to Ocean" by Galleon , a hit from the first listen - excellent stuff and 100 mins of prog goodness.

infandous wrote: infandous wrote: Nov wrote: infandous wrote: Well, I'll have to hear some of the new Spock's to even consider spending money on it.........and even then, I'll likely pass (unless it sounds stellar to me......sorry, I find this rather unlikely at this point in SB's existence, but you never know I guess).  Maybe these reviews will convince you: http://www.dprp.net/reviews/201038.php For me it's easily the best post-Neal album and better than at least a couple of the Neal-era albums as well. Buy it  Well, they also gave the previous three SB albums recommended ratings..........and I didn't care for those albums at all (also, my favorite SB album, V, didn't get a recommended rating.....so I don't really trust their SB reviews so much).  I've also noticed that some of the newer reviewers on DPRP are not particularly good, which has brought my opinion of that web sites content down considerably.  Still, they are mostly pretty good, and I've read other quite positive reviews of the album here and other places. Again, have to hear some of it first before I even consider spending what little money I have on it.  Your recommendation is hardly a surprising one, by the way

Hi Mike !  If I may add, the latest Beard disk, X, really is the best of their post Neal efforts. It's one that I keep going back to, and it continues to grow on me. At this point It may actually be running in 2nd place behind "V"  as my favourite of theirs.  See if you can find previews somewhere before you consider buying it. you may be suprised.

Nov wrote: infandous wrote: Well, I'll have to hear some of the new Spock's to even consider spending money on it.........and even then, I'll likely pass (unless it sounds stellar to me......sorry, I find this rather unlikely at this point in SB's existence, but you never know I guess).  Maybe these reviews will convince you: http://www.dprp.net/reviews/201038.php For me it's easily the best post-Neal album and better than at least a couple of the Neal-era albums as well. Buy it

Well, they also gave the previous three SB albums recommended ratings..........and I didn't care for those albums at all.  I've also noticed that some of the newer reviewers on DPRP are not particularly good, which has brought my opinion of that web sites content down considerably.  Still, they are mostly pretty good, and I've read other quite positive reviews of the album here and other places.

Again, have to hear some of it first before I even consider spending what little money I have on it.  Your recommendation is hardly a surprising one, by the way

My choice would probably be the full I Am The Sun too.  That is just such an amazing piece, so diverse and with all the magical traits of TFK that we love.  Great themes, uplifting melodies, humour, superb musicianship, atmospheric and an incredibly emotional conclusion.  Like Tom, it's my favourite song ever.

I would go for 'The Flower King' by Roine Stolt, it really defined the sound of The Flower Kings for me. There's the semi-cheesy stuff, the up-lifting melodies, the great guitar work, the keys and the fantastic composition.

infandous wrote: Well, I'll have to hear some of the new Spock's to even consider spending money on it.........and even then, I'll likely pass (unless it sounds stellar to me......sorry, I find this rather unlikely at this point in SB's existence, but you never know I guess).

Maybe these reviews will convince you: http://www.dprp.net/reviews/201038.php

For me it's easily the best post-Neal album and better than at least a couple of the Neal-era albums as well.

Buy it 

I'm really looking forward to both the Beard and the Agent's of Mercy CD.  I half way expected to get X for Father's day but alas.  Once the hubub dies down I'll order the CD.  Shoot, I don't know if I've picked anything new up this year.  yet...

2010 hasn't been so bad for me. Not as great as 2009, but I haven't spent as much money, so that is a good thing. I've gotten less albums this year than I did last year, but every album I've gotten so far has been excellent. Here are the five albums that I feel are the best so far this year:

1. Spock's Beard- X
2. Mars Hollow- Mars Hollow
3. Unitopia- Artificial
4. Kaipa- In The Wake of Evolution
5. Pain of Salvation- Road Salt One

The big disappointment for me is that it doesn't seem that there will be a new Neal Morse album this year, which I guess is forgivable after the big Transatlantic reunion last year. I am really looking forward to the new Agents of Mercy, however, that should be out later this year. I wouldn't give up hope on 2010 yet.

Oh! How could I forget the excellent live album from Frost*- The Philadelphia Experiment? I think it is a must own for Frost* fans and it sounds awesome to me, and I am not usually a huge fan of live albums.


Edited by natewait - June 29 2010 at 15:10

I don't know about you guys but 2010 isn't really grabbing me new album-wise.  Now I've bought a ton of albums this year, but they're virtually all from 08, 09 etc.  There's just nothing I've really wanted to go out and buy instantly.  In fact I think I only have 2 new albums from this year:-

Thought I'd just say hello again and give a brief Nearfest review, even though there was no Flower Kings related music there (well, not really).

Hackett was amazing as always, with a stunning band and great set list.  Never get tired of hearing him play the solo to Firth Of Fifth.  But then, I never get tired of hearing him solo to anything.

Three friends was also amazing.  Hearing all that Gentle Giant performed by a very tight band with Gary Green's excellent guitar work to the fore was a real treat.  Much of the set was material the original band never played live, along with a few favorite that they did.  Excellent show and well worth catching if you like GG at all.

The Enid was absolutely incredible and the best band at the fest without a doubt.  If you like symphonic prog at all, you can't possibly dislike their latest album, which they performed in its entirety, pretty much as one long piece (though the album isn't one long piece I don't think).  Classical music with rock instruments (and some well done vocals) pretty much sums up their sound.  They had Timpani on stage (orchestra percussion instruments, if you didn't know) played by the bass player, but the rest was your typical bass, drums, guitars, and a slew of keyboards.  Anyway, great great stuff that I'd recommend to any sympho lover.

The rest of the bands were not as good as those three for me.  Riverside was pretty cool, though I find their music pretty samey and was getting a bit tired of it by the end of their one hour set.  But still a good band I hadn't heard before with some pretty good material.  Astra was fairly dull and repetitive, though I liked the spacey atmospheres somewhat.  But they really need to focus on songs more than grooves.  Forgas Band Phenomenon were all great players, playing a kind of jazz rock / Canterbury or something.  Fun to watch but not really something I want to listen to regularly.  Pineapple Thief started out as not very enjoyable (sounding a lot like Muse or Radiohead, though a bit less melodic than either) but pulled me in with their longer and more proggy pieces.  Lost me on the encore though, with another uninteresting alt rock type song.  Iona was quite beautiful with celtic and symphonic sounds, featuring a great female singer.  They were actually one of my favorites as well, playing high quality mellow prog.  Good stuff.

Finally, Eddie Jobson's UKZ project.  A good time, as they played some Crimson (Starless and Bible Black, Red), a lot of UK material which was nice to hear live, and even an ELP tune (Bitches Crystal).  Pretty good, though my girlfriend and I left about 2/3 of the way through because we were tired of sitting and were getting a bit burnt out from the constant prog onslaught of the weekend.  The band had two drummers, both great, which seemed like a good idea on paper, but in practice was mostly just really loud often drowning out the guitar and bass (and sometimes even the keys).  They did a drum solo as well, which wasn't really my thing, being a kind of "look what we can do" type of thing rather than a musical type of thing.

All in all, a great time seeing old friends and meeting some people I'd only met online.  Picked up the new La Maschera di Cerra album, Secret Green, the new Frogg Cafe album (which is incredible), the latest Hackett album (special edition with a live CD added, for only $15!.....easily his best album since Spectral Mornings)  and the latest Kaipa (kind of an impulse buy, but I'd been wanting to hear how they are without Stolt).

 


Edited by infandous - June 25 2010 at 09:11