Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Whoops

Anyway, the 100th page is no less than this great thread, and, of course, band deserves. Ever since I really moved into TFK, as a direct result of this site, they've given me nothing less than absolute pleasure. Soon,. I'll get round to completing my reviews as well

Wow, we made it!  Now we just need a Flower Kings album to talk about.................

Well, at least we'll have the next Agents album, which from the reports sounds like it will be quite good!












Edited by infandous - July 21 2010 at 11:19

Congrats all, this has been a labor of love and dedication of a certain band.  Thank you Roine and company for giving us enough to talk about for one hundred pages.

Indeed, we're finally there!!!!  

Edited by Roj M30 - July 22 2010 at 02:47

Hmm, now I'm waxing poetic.  How I got into The Flower Kings. . .

So, I quote smoking in 2006, March to be exact, at that point I was listening to a lot of electronica.  As 2006 progressed I grew a little bored with electronica and started listening to some of my older music, most notably Genesis and Dream Theater.  At some point in December, I realized that I had gotten my pipes back.  The toll of smoking for years had finally been paid and I could sing again without fear of coughing horribly every other note.

This marked the end of electronica as my primary genre, I could sing and sing I would.  So as I mentioned, I was litening to a lot of Genesis and Dream Theater at the time, and iTunes was convinced that 'if you like Dream Theater, you might enjoy Spock's Beard and The Flower Kings.  I promptly ignored iTunes for the next few months, until I was browsing through the used CD's at my local CD shop (since closed :(. 

I remember the sense of excitement when I saw "Retropolis" in the used bin for $5.  I had to try it.

The rest is history, so to speak.  I loved the CD, the title track really impressed me, there was a touch of eletronica / trance in the middle of the song which was a nice nod back to what I used to listen to, but there was so much more laced throughout the song.  I also immediately loved "There is More to this World" and especially "Flora Majora".

To this day, "Flora Majora" and "Retropolis" hold sentimental places in my heart.

Back in 2003, my dad noticed that I was really getting into music, and wanted to show me some of his favorite bands. He showed me Gentle Giant, Yes and Genesis, and I was hooked almost immediately. My dad was thrilled.

Since I loved this music so much, I went online to find out if there were modern bands making the same kind of music. I stumbled across Transatlantic and decided to download a song from Transatlantic and each of the bands that the members were from (seeing that it was a supergroup). That led to the followed CD I burned (picking songs completely at random).

1. Dream Theater- The Glass Prison
2. Marillion- Quartz
3. Spock's Beard- Thoughts
4. The Flower Kings- I Am The Sun (Part 1)
5. Transatlantic- Duel With The Devil

I showed the music to my dad, and he was most impressed with Spock's Beard and The Flower Kings, so we went out to the music store that same day and bought The Light by Spock's Beard and Back In The World of Adventures by The Flower Kings. I absolutely loved Back In The World of Adventures, and was hooked from that moment and began buying all the rest of their albums. Within a year I had all their albums (up to Unfold The Future since that was the most recent CD at the time).

The Flower Kings are definitely one of my top 5 favorite bands and have brought so much happiness in my life. They were one of the main bands that got me into modern prog and began my addiction of trying to seek out new bands. It is pretty amazing that the song I randomly downloaded (I Am The Sun) is now one of my all time favorite prog songs.

Check out this article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/22/prog-rock-genesis-rush-mostly-autumn

Pretty good write up.  However, you will all note that in talking about Transatlantic they mention every member and their associated band...........EXCEPT Roine Stolt and The Flower Kings.  I guess some bands are still "underground"

Roj M30 wrote: natewait wrote:    It is pretty amazing that the song I randomly downloaded (I Am The Sun) is now one of my all time favorite prog songs.   Just be thankful you didn't download Magic Pie or Kingdom Of Lies first!!!!

  I think I'm one of the few that actually likes "Magic Pie" though I'll certainly admit, it is not very representative of The Flower Kings, though in all honesty, I think that's why I like it.  I don't think I'd listen to the song if it wasn't by them.

Roj M30 wrote: Just be thankful you didn't download Magic Pie or Kingdom Of Lies first!!!!

I love both of those songs

natewait wrote: Roj M30 wrote: natewait wrote:    It is pretty amazing that the song I randomly downloaded (I Am The Sun) is now one of my all time favorite prog songs.   Just be thankful you didn't download Magic Pie or Kingdom Of Lies first!!!!  That's a good point! Things could have turned out quite differently if I downloaded different songs by them. But something tells me I would have found the Flower Kings eventually