Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Roland113 wrote: Anyone else unimpressed by 'The Whirlwind'?  And for that matter, is there anyone out there that hated 'The Whirlwind' but loved 'Kaleidoscope'?

Hi Roland   :)

I still love Trans... but Whirlwind put me off SO much(Neal's arrogant judgmental preaching) that I have not even played K-Scope.  I have it but I can't bring myself for another disappointment.  True story.  maybe in a few years   LOL.

The Whirlwind grew on me, but I don't really think it reaches the level of "great".  I did give it 4 stars, because I think it is well constructed and aside from the final track, I didn't find the lyrics objectionable (but come on, what does anyone expect from Neal anymore?.......if you aren't expecting his usual god bothering, then you are obviously delusional ).  It also feels like more of a collaboration, and Roine's presence seems much stronger than on their other albums, IMO.

Kaleidescope has been the complete opposite for me.......the more I listen, the less I like it.  Just sounds like they are going through the motions, doing prog by the numbers, but not with any drive or emotion or creativity.  Just banging something out to please the hardcore fans.  Frankly, I have trouble paying attention to it as it just seems so bland.  The parts that stick out are just cliche to the point of making me groan.  Not a fan of it, and find it makes the Whirlwind seem like an absolute masterpiece in comparison (which it really isn't).


EDIT:  I just read my review of The Whirlwind........not sure I agree with it completely anymore.  I also realized I haven't spun the album in probably 2 years, maybe more.  So maybe it's not as good as I thought?   I'll have to break it out again soon, and see if it still holds up for me.




Edited by infandous - August 05 2014 at 13:02

One question Dennis.  VIP Member?  Enlighten us please .

Roland113 wrote: Good to know Mike, yeah, I'm not inspired by what I'm hearing. By the way, I still haven't forgotten about recording with you.  Give me another week or two to get things straightened out with the house and I should finally be ready.  Once everything's been cleared out, I'm turning the spare bedroom into an office with room to set all of the keyboards up.  I'm looking forward to spending a bit of time getting my chops up to speed. I may even pull out the old Arp string ensemble.

Sounds good.  Of course, now I'm looking at getting a new house......however, that will be a couple of months yet, possibly more, so we've got some time.  I've never really worked with a keyboardist before, oddly enough (well, a friend in high school played keys, and we did some writing and recording, but we were both pretty new to playing back then so I don't think any of it was all that good really.........he had actually had lessons from age 5, but started doing rock music about the same time I was starting to get competent on guitar).

Hey Guys!

^Don't even mention the word "mellotron" in Tom's presence .

The Mellotron wouldn't fit underneath my bed . . .

Tom Ozric wrote: I mean, I'm totally 'Black Sabbath's 2nd album' right now.     How could you say such a thing ????

I meant Tom as in Roland113, not you Tom Ozric!!  He has a bit of a dislike for mellotron in modern music.

Tom Ozric wrote: ^ Yeah, I can agree with that. Some of these modern plug-ins and samples of 'tron are so perfect, it's impossible to tell the difference from the real deal. This day and age, not a big deal if one can't get their hands on an unreliable beast that is high maintenance...and expensive. The classic sounds exist.

Precisely!

I've never even heard this band; where's a good place to start?