Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

dennismoore wrote: Dear Asian girl with waterbag & fish over head, I believe Horizons was looking for a "legitimate" copy of Banks of Eden.  Horizons is a stand up guy and doesn't engage in such shenanigans as illegal downloading, as that is all one could do at the moment since the album hasn't been released yet! Yet, Darkshade has turned this thread on its ear by releasing a review and asking all kinds of questions from us about the record... before it has been released! @Darkshade, can you burn us all some copies while we wait for our official CD when it is properly released??? So at that point we can tell you what we think of the new record!    umkay???    In the meantime, I suggest we all chill and listen to: The FlowerKings - The Chicken Farmer Song!!!!

was zoltan in AoM?  i like his jazz album.

I know Flower Kings, have listened to a couple of songs, but I didn't liked it at all.
Where should I begin? I think I'm going to give a new try to these guys.

The "bring the darkness down" section of "Numbers" is officially one of my favorite heavy moments in all of TFK.

TheWatcho wrote: I know Flower Kings, have listened to a couple of songs, but I didn't liked it at all. Where should I begin? I think I'm going to give a new try to these guys.

The most popular album to start with is Space Revolver, it's got a little bit of everything that TFK had done up until that point. It's a consistent album, lots of great songs, and it's the kind of album where, if you don't like it, you're probably not going to like anything else by them. It has some of their best songs like "I Am The Sun", "Rumble Fish Twist" and "Monster Within". It also has Dennis' favorite TFK song, "The Chicken Farmer Song".

I also think The Sum Of No Evil is a good one to start with. There's no filler tracks, and every song kicks ass. Great melodies throughout, a little heavy at times, and rockin' moments throughout, with a little jazz-fusion sprinkled here and there. Every song stands out on this one.

These next 2 albums are double albums, around 2 1/2 hours of music each.

My personal favorite is Unfold the Future, and is in my opinion, their best album. It has 2 mammoth epics "The Truth Will Set You Free" and "The Devil's Playground", both of which are two of the best epics from any band. The album also has a large slant towards jazz music, which I really like. There's also beautiful moments like "Solitary Shell" which always gives me goosebumps, and great prog tunes like "Fast Lane" and "Silent Inferno".

Another good starter might be Stardust We Are, which also has "In The Eyes of the World" and the title track, the latter is seen by many as the band's greatest piece of music (I don't, but it's top 10 TFK material for sure). SWA is a classic TFK album, with a lot of great moments, but it's a long, long album, you might want to hold off on this until you get a little more familiar with the band.

All their albums have some of the band's best material, but I think those 4 albums I mentioned are good for TFK newbies. They're the first 4 albums I got by the band, and it worked for me!

Enjoy!






Edited by darkshade - June 20 2012 at 12:43

dennismoore wrote: M27Barney wrote: Anyway - my two penneth The only fly in the ointment for me is the lyrics....Roine really ought to find another metaphor for man killing man/woman than using that fecking biblical character Cain.....his obsession with the Gideon Bible is beginning to peck my fookin head, he's been in the same room with Neal Morse too too long....The link to Genesis (in the bible, not Peter Gabriels lot) is cliche... His reference to evil (it's always a woman - another nod to the misogynists who wrote the christian canon) , this time your riding a lizard - (it's usually snakes (another biblical (Genesis) theme) that Roine maligns, this time it's bloody lizards), maybe he had a bad memory as a child where his mother lets the pet python or komodo dragon say hello to him in his cot or summat..... He should get his metaphors from more modern sources but once again I reckon that he's a creationist, aye he's a sublime guitarist but quit with the christian polemic in every FK CD. Blimey!!!!    What in the name of the bloody Queen is a "penneth"? Can't you English types talk proper English??? I agree with you COMPLETELY about Roine's constant & overuse of the same Biblical themes. It is time for him to learn some more metaphors and change up his rhetoric.  The only thing worse would be to write a song about a "prodigal" son who was lost and was found, I wonder if Neal Morse could beat that one to death a few thousand times more. Even if I was a raving Evangelical (I am a recovering Catholic & Born again type...) I would like a little variety in my words.  You are so spot on it is not funny. We all know by now that the world is full of evil people & violence and the whole greed thing.  We don't need that in EVERY single prog song.  Roine needs to really work on that and change things up...   Hmm, perhaps he could do....  The Chicken Farmer Song Part II.         That's why I love YES.   "Shiny, flying purple Wolfhounds"  What the hell does that mean?  I have no clue, don't care. It is awesome!!!!!  (By the way, I actually do know what it means... - http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3468) Has anybody received the LP version yet?

Maybe the FK's next effort should be a tripple CD - musically exploring the "Foundation" Trilogy by Isaac Asimov....

Catcher10 wrote: Gave it my first listen yesterday......I need to spend more time on it. I found myself wandering on  Numbers....I don't like much For the Love of Gold, it has too much of that Kaipa sound, which is ok, but I did not care for it. Overall my first take is its decent.....but its not better than Adam&Eve or Sum of No Evil, which to me have that classic TFK sounds. Hopefully this weekend I will get into it more......It has not grabbed me like the others. Based on this I don't think I will get the vinyl, right now at least.