Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Roland113 wrote: happy solstice

Woohoo, Merry Christmas to me.  Destined Solitaire by Beardfish and Nght by Gazpacho (and Night is an actual physical copy, I've only had a digital one to date).

 . . . oh and welcome to the two new guys.  

ProgKev wrote: For me Whirlwind is a best effort by TA. Easiest to digest and full of diversity. Classic prog, a bit of psychodelic moments, stunning jam song that reminds me of Run Like Hell..instant classic. That album had grown on me after a show in Poland where they played Whirl in It's entirety. What a blast I had. Roine proved that he's one of the best guitarist's around. Today I gave a listen to Black Forest by AoM and IT requires some time for me to get into that album and band. Vocal is quite weird tbh. But solo's on Elegy and Kingdom Of Heaven are truly beautiful. And that funky bass in ' quite little town'..Intriguing indeed. PS. Metry christmas everyone!

@Zumcraig - Well, refering to the lenght of Transatlantic songs, I am pretty sure that this is mostly Neal's influence. I remember one interview, where he stated that for him Transatlantic is a place where he's able to put all epics he creates. Actually, he even said something like " Song below 10 min shouldn't be considered prog " . Sounds funny, doesn't it ? Anyway, I adore almost every song made by Transatlantic, so I have nothing against it. But for example, new solo record by Neal Morse is cool apart from last song ' World Without End' , which is 33 minutes long but has so many dull moments, and it sounds as if they were made just to increase the lenght of the song. Total exaggeration ! I wish he had focused more on songs like ' Thoughts Part 5 ' .. . Well I guess  when TA is making 30 min epic it sounds magnificent, mainly because it consist's of ideas from four great Prog Musicans. It would not have been possible to write such epics without that kind of collaboration. But to give yourself completely into pieces of music made by TA.. well,it requires some time. But  it's well worth it :)

P.S - Wow and so many nice presents you all were given ! My list of gifts is shorter than yours but still quite enjoyable :

Steven Wilson - Get All Ya Deserve DVD
Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning 2x LP
Opeth - Heritage 2 x LP
Riverside - Reality Dream BOX ( whole discography without ADHD)
DT - Scenes From Memory CD
Depeche Mode - Ultra ( 1 x LP )
Pink Floyd- DSOTM ( 1 x LP )
Marillion - The Thieving Magpie ( 2 x LP )   .. I will never get use to the absence of Fish. His voice is a massage to my ears lol.

And I hate Christmas somehow. I promised to myself not to eat to much, and as always I have eaten all the food that I had, and my fridge is bloody empty. Also stomach ache included.. Wrr !

Zuma-  I hate Tales.. Never got into that album. I've tried so many times and I finally gave up. I think that this conceptual journey wasn't made for me lol. How nice that I can always play "Fragile" or " CTTE" :P

And when it comes to Marillion I have all albums with Fish plus recently received live show and I absolutely adore all of them. But you know, it's still naivy-young-neo-prog, so it's not for everyone of course. You need to have a spark of childhood in yourself haha ! But funny thing is that I don't know any single album Post-Fish except " Sound's That Can't Be Made " which is kinda boring for me. Listened to that album for 5-6 times and I don't remember any single moment.

And Opeth now - It is  absolutely worth buying and giving Heritage a spin. For me it's a best Opeth album ever. You know, some people had problems to get use to the lack of growls etc. But now, that album grown in the eyes of the fans I guess. Akerfeldt has done something that he should many years ago. He finally released himself from a scheme of making an album which looks like Morbid Angel Sounding Riff/Prog-Soft-Mellow Moments/Growls/Clean Vocals ... He stated many times that he is not into Death Metal anymore for so many years, and he had a dream to do what he loves. And I am happy that he did something he was looking forward too. I've been listening to Opeth for almost 10 years but they never sounded so fresh. Some people did attack " Heritage " for being quite chaotic album, but as far as I am concerned, Akerfeldt had so many ideas that he wanted to finally put into an Opeth album. He mixed so many styles from 70` . Psychodelic Rock , Prog-Folk in roots of Comus, odd Goblin rip-off sick riffs,  he implemented a lot of atmosphere taken straight from cinematic horrors and also added a spice of acoustic guitars . Also two bonus songs are incredibly well-done. Very mellow and soothing,.. I think that next Opeth album might be one of the best Prog albums in XXI century. Beside Steven Wilson's " Raven That Refused To Sing " haha.  Propably two of my favourite artists. It's funny, when I think that Steven accused Roine that he is the main cause for the Death of Prog, and I still love both artists :)

Cheers :)

Just stopping by to say, I LOVE MEET THE FLOWER KINGS !!! The epics are played quite well, a little more energy than their studio counterparts, with some variation and improv too. Love it. Love it. Been listening to the entire catalog chronologically in between my crazy Frank Zappa marathon (seriously, it's been taking up 90% of my listening time over the last couple of months). MTFK is my only live album of theirs, I've been meaning to get another. Recommendations???

hey darkshade!  hope you are well.  i'm basically on a TA kick right now.  been watching youtube clips and listening compulsively.  i so hope i get to see them live someday.  i think i'm going to have to get all of the live albums.  i can't get over how good they are live.  

Ytse_Jam wrote: darkshade wrote: Just stopping by to say, I LOVE MEET THE FLOWER KINGS !!! The epics are played quite well, a little more energy than their studio counterparts, with some variation and improv too. Love it. Love it.  I read a couple of reviews saying that the band in Meet The Flower Kings seemed a bit 'tired'. Personally, i liked the excerpts from youtube and i'm going to buy the dvd soon... About Momentum, to me is one of Neal's greatest releases, really enjoyed the epic track and Thoughts pt 5. The other songs are pretty cool too, and I definitely prefer it over Sola or Testimony.

*grins* 

i'm warming up to the first TA album.  it's taken a while, but it's definitely worth it.  i'm still surprised by each change.  next is some serious attention to whirlwind.  i love that 'T4'  that would be a cool name for the album.

what are y'all looking forward to next year?
Dream Theater
Transatlantic
Agents of Mercy
3rd World Electric

i'm sure they'll be some surprises.  i'm really hoping for a roine solo album at some point.

@darkshade, what's the new zappa?