Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Anglagard:  I really love their two albums, think they are very good.  Not as good as my favorite Flower Kings albums, but  then, not much is.  However, if ever a band was to be considered overrated on the archives, Anglagard is it.  I will say that I don't find them derivative, but they do have a strong "retro" sound because of the instrumentation and production.  Having said all that, I didn't give either album 5 stars, but both are solid 4 star efforts to me.

Tom, Van der Graaf Generator is easily one of my top 10 favorite bands of all time.  Love all their albums from the 70's, though the new stuff doesn't do a lot for me (but is quite good for guy their age).

Prog metal is generally not my thing, but I like a few Pain Of Salvation albums (mainly Remedy Lane and BE) and I have a similar love/hate relationship with DT.  I actually don't care for their early albums at all, but love 6 Degrees, Octavarium, and most of Black Clouds.  The new one has grown on me, but it really feels like a band on autopilot.  The best thing about it is that they seem to have gotten rid of all the things that annoyed me about them (it is quite a relief that the psudo growls of Portnoy are gone), but at the same time feels like they are playing it totally safe.  When I'm in the mood though, DT (and Liquid Tension) fill my need for insane shredding.

Riverside I saw at Nearfest and thought the performance was outstanding.  Most of their studio stuff leaves me kind of cold, but I haven't heard much.  It's not really a priority for me though.

The new Opeth is wonderful, but their other stuff doesn't do much for me.  I'll have to try the more recent albums though, as after hearing Blackwater Park, Damnation, and Deliverance I just wasn't interested at all.  Someone sent me the new one to sample, and I really like it a lot.

As someone who usually prefers darker lyrics and music, it is interesting that the Flower Kings are my favorite band.  Of course, back in the 90's Yes was my favorite band who I listened to every day, so I guess I do have an appreciation for happier and more upbeat stuff too.

Of course, both The Flower Kings and Yes delve into darker material as well, though I find neither ever really get as dark as Porcupine Tree or Van der Graaf Generator or other "dark" bands.

What I love about the Flower Kings is that they fill so many musical needs, usually all on one album (or even, like with Garden Of Dreams, one song........though that song is pretty much album length).  In any case, I will never understand their relatively low ratings here.  All I can figure is that they are just popular enough to bring out the haters, but not quite popular enough to have that off set by the huge fans (unlike, for instance, Dream Theater, who also have their fair share of one and two star rating and reviews).

200 here we come!

To Be Fair - I've not heard any PoS - but have all the DT and RS Cd's - Riverside has a sort of ambience that a lot of bands lack - their simplistic ambience is a change from frenetic complexity that is the norm for progressive metal - I have to be in a certain mood to listen to Opeth...Anyway I'm currently very occupied with Anima Mundi and Nexus - I'm sure that I'll go through another metal phase before xmas....

Roland113 wrote: ^ Oh good, it's the Dark Side of the Moon Bomb . . . this should get us to page 200 real quick.

M27Barney wrote: Anyway - what is the REAL turkey in terms of the worst CD/Album produced by a certified Prog rock giant.... I go for any of Rick Wakemans - god bothering CD's...really truly fookin awful......

lazland wrote: M27Barney wrote: Anyway - what is the REAL turkey in terms of the worst CD/Album produced by a certified Prog rock giant.... I go for any of Rick Wakemans - god bothering CD's...really truly fookin awful...... Not all of them were bad. A lot of them, granted, but not all of them. Criminal Record was excellent, as were King Arthur, Journey, Henry, and No Earthly Connection. I also enjoyed the last one - very proggy.

I've been afraid to try Wakeman's solo stuff. I have Six Wives, and it's a cool 70's instrumental work with some great solos, but I haven't had the urge to try anything else.  I have heard King Aurthur and remember disliking the vocals intensely but thinking the music was pretty good.

lazland wrote: infandous wrote: lazland wrote: M27Barney wrote: Anyway - what is the REAL turkey in terms of the worst CD/Album produced by a certified Prog rock giant.... I go for any of Rick Wakemans - god bothering CD's...really truly fookin awful...... Not all of them were bad. A lot of them, granted, but not all of them. Criminal Record was excellent, as were King Arthur, Journey, Henry, and No Earthly Connection. I also enjoyed the last one - very proggy. I've been afraid to try Wakeman's solo stuff. I have Six Wives, and it's a cool 70's instrumental work with some great solos, but I haven't had the urge to try anything else.  I have heard King Aurthur and remember disliking the vocals intensely but thinking the music was pretty good. For a lot of us of a certain age (), the 70's solo output by Wakeman is remembered with great affection, and more than a little humour.

You're only 5 years older than me    I never heard any Wakeman (other than on Yes song played on commercial radio) until well into my late teens.  First thing was Journey (forgot to mention that above), and it was another, "loved the music, hated the vocals" thing.  It was introduced to me by a friend who was 16 at the time, and he thought it was great!  He also introduced me to ELP via Brain Salad Surgery, and Gentle Giant via a cassette of Playing the Fool (which he didn't like, but I grew to love over time).

zumacraig wrote: what i find interesting about all the dinosaurs is that they have been putting out mediocre to sh*t music 3 times longer than they put out good music.  every few years i cycle through trying to find bright spots in the big names post 70s output.  it's futile effort.   anyway, no doubt wish you were here is more prog than dark side  as far as crimson goes, they are definitely the litmus test for 'true' prog fans i've experienced.  robert fripp is so academic and arrogant.  if i ever met him, i'd say...'but you play rock and roll dude'.  most of their stuff is noise anyway.  i randomly was on a train with a bunch of guitar craft students and they were like a cult of fripp.  okay, i don't care for any of wakeman's solo stuff.  does anyone really listen to his stuff from the 80s and 90s?  he has put out piles and piles of sh*t!  another thing that amazes me is how much energy is wasted in producing horrible art! ramble over.

Edited by The Quiet One - May 02 2012 at 17:08

Yeah, I still don't 'get' most of King Crimson.

^ I've heard that before, the crazy bit that is.

That 'I don't get them' is an over simplification.  Red, I absolutely love, I really like 'In the Court . . . ' as well, "The Power to Believe" has some great points as well and there's a song or two on Thrak that I like.