Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

zumacraig wrote: Nov wrote: darkshade wrote: What would you recommend for a Kaipa newbie? Without a second's hesitation.......... KEYHOLDER It's one of my favourite albums from the past 15 years but I haven't really gotten into any of their other albums. Buy it!!  been listening to Notes.  it's pretty good, but i have a hard time with that woman's voice.  i need to check out key holder.

Huh, I love Aleena's vocals, and she only sings on one track on that album.  She does get a bit strained at times on that song, but I don't hear any of that on Keyholder, so maybe that will work better for you.  There is a lot more of both singers singing together on Keyholder, which is how they have done it ever since.

Looks like Roine is going to re-release the TFK back catalog... Found this on the DreamTheaterForums Flower Kings thread, which is almost as busy as this thread gets.

Pale Rider wrote: Just looking up some cool bonus material for the old TFK catalogue. New series coming this year - luxury pax. What do YOU think is cool - live material - demos - videos ? Let us know. Off tomorrow for extensive rehearsal of the TFK golden oldies but with a brutal backbeat. Motorhead won't live thru this.......

I don't know who Pale Rider is, but I just finished buying up all the TFK studio albums and 1 live album over the course of the last year and a half

Still, I'll consider buying these new editions if there's anything worth having. I'd be down for more jams from Unfold the Future, and maybe bonus songs that were recorded on any of the albums, but then left on the back burner (if those exists, since Roine seems to release everything under the sun lol).






Edited by darkshade - June 01 2012 at 17:07

darkshade wrote: Looks like Roine is going to re-release the TFK back catalog... Found this on the DreamTheaterForums Flower Kings thread, which is almost as busy as this thread gets. Pale Rider wrote: Just looking up some cool bonus material for the old TFK catalogue. New series coming this year - luxury pax. What do YOU think is cool - live material - demos - videos ? Let us know. Off tomorrow for extensive rehearsal of the TFK golden oldies but with a brutal backbeat. Motorhead won't live thru this....... I don't know who Pale Rider is, but I just finished buying up all the TFK studio albums and 1 live album over the course of the last year and a half Still, I'll consider buying these new editions if there's anything worth having. I'd be down for more jams from Unfold the Future, and maybe bonus songs that were recorded on any of the albums, but then left on the back burner (if those exists, since Roine seems to release everything under the sun lol).

dtfan92 wrote: I don't know if anybody else has known this, but it's about time BITWOA now has a 4.00 average on Prog-Archives!

WOOO!! I thought I'd never see the day. A Flower Kings album on Prog Archives with a rating of at least 4 stars! It's about damn time.



           4.00 | 255 ratings
Back In The World Of Adventures
                      1995

This calls for a celebration!





Edited by darkshade - June 02 2012 at 15:12

So looking at the ratings, this is how PA as a site ranks The Flower Kings albums:

1. The Flower King - 4.16
2. Back In The World Of Adventures - 4.00
3. Flower Power - 3.88
4. Stardust We Are - 3.87
5. Unfold The Future - 3.86
6. The Sum of No Evil - 3.81
7. Space Revolver - 3.78
8. Retropolis - 3.73
9. Paradox Hotel 3.68
10. Adam & Eve - 3.50
11. The Rainmaker - 3.49
12. Banks of Eden - unreleased

How do you feel about that?

Horizons wrote: Okay, i'm going to break down here. I've been getting into symphonic music after a while of disdain for it, and The Tangent has definitely been the reason for trying more bands from this genre and style. So let's try these Flower Kings out.  Which album should i listen to if i want more jazz influences and an album that isn't 2 hours long. Strong chorus or lyrical hooks would be amazing too. Thanks, cheers! - Austin.

A-HA, I knew you'd come around Austin

Unfortunately, the album you're looking for is 2 hours long. Unfold The Future.

But if you want one of the single disc albums with more jazz influences, I suppose Space Revolver may be the one, but it doesn't have as much jazz influence as UtF. The Sum of No Evil has a lot of fusion elements, especially after the first song, particularly in songs like Love Is The Only Answer and The Sum of No Reason. The Rainmaker has some jazzy stuff too, but it is seen as one of the weaker TFK albums (though still good).

I still say Unfold The Future is what you want. I say, just take it one disc at a time.

Austin, the albums Unfold The Future and Adam & Eve have Roine Stolt, Jonas Reingold, and Zoltan Czorsz from those first 2 Tangent albums, as well as Daniel Gildenlow. The Sum of No Evil has all those people except Daniel.

Horizons wrote: Okay, i'm going to break down here. I've been getting into symphonic music after a while of disdain for it, and The Tangent has definitely been the reason for trying more bands from this genre and style. So let's try these Flower Kings out.  Which album should i listen to if i want more jazz influences and an album that isn't 2 hours long. Strong chorus or lyrical hooks would be amazing too. Thanks, cheers! - Austin.

Edited by Nov - June 03 2012 at 06:10

darkshade wrote: Looks like Roine is going to re-release the TFK back catalog... Found this on the DreamTheaterForums Flower Kings thread, which is almost as busy as this thread gets. Pale Rider wrote: Just looking up some cool bonus material for the old TFK catalogue. New series coming this year - luxury pax. What do YOU think is cool - live material - demos - videos ? Let us know. Off tomorrow for extensive rehearsal of the TFK golden oldies but with a brutal backbeat. Motorhead won't live thru this....... I don't know who Pale Rider is, but I just finished buying up all the TFK studio albums and 1 live album over the course of the last year and a half Still, I'll consider buying these new editions if there's anything worth having. I'd be down for more jams from Unfold the Future, and maybe bonus songs that were recorded on any of the albums, but then left on the back burner (if those exists, since Roine seems to release everything under the sun lol).

Roine is Pale Rider (that's his FB account name, which oddly lists him as being from London, England).

Roine has said that for each Flower Kings release there is at least the same amount of unreleased music as there was on the actual album.  Some in demo form only, some partially recorded, some completely recorded with the band.  He has said he has hours and hours of unreleased material.  I know, hard to believe considering how much has actually been released.

Personally though, I'd be most interested in re-releases if they contained live stuff that has not been released before.

infandous wrote: Horizons wrote: Okay, i'm going to break down here. I've been getting into symphonic music after a while of disdain for it, and The Tangent has definitely been the reason for trying more bands from this genre and style. So let's try these Flower Kings out.  Which album should i listen to if i want more jazz influences and an album that isn't 2 hours long. Strong chorus or lyrical hooks would be amazing too. Thanks, cheers! - Austin. The current Tangent is really nothing like the Flower Kings, just keep that in mind.  However, the first two Tangent albums (as mentioned before, featuring 3 FK's members) are not too far off in style. THE jazz album for TFK's is Unfold the Future, and yes it's two hours long.  I suppose next best would probably be Space Revolver, as mentioned before.  Sum of no Evil as well, but I hesitate to recommend that one as it doesn't seem to rank very high for a lot of fans.

I'm the token Sum of No Evil fanatic around here