Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

I'm digging the tune, its got a nice beat to it and just enough oddity to keep it interesting.  I'm enjoying this, thanks for sharing.

M27Barney wrote: What is the future of Symphonic progressive rock? Especially after the flokis got quite a kicking from the likes of Steve Wilson......The latest Riverside is more commercial than all their previous stuff......The Glass Hammer is satisfyingly proggy.....Ther last pendragon was very poor......The last Pallas - brilliant but could heve been absolutely stoopendous had they extended it out and put more pomposity into it.....Lets have a return of the 80 or even 160 minute epic......

Not sure it has a future.  Although, the way art is recycled constantly these days, I could be wrong.  I just wish something as innovative would happen with music now, like it did in the 70's with symph prog.  As much as I love it, I'm finding less and less of it actually moves me and keeps me coming back.

Going back to the Alzheimers prog epic question, my choice would be "All Of The Above" by Transatlantic. It was the first of their songs I heard (and still my favourite of theirs), and it got me into not only TA but also Neal Morse and more recently the Flower Kings.

AlanB wrote: Going back to the Alzheimers prog epic question, my choice would be "All Of The Above" by Transatlantic. It was the first of their songs I heard (and still my favourite of theirs), and it got me into not only TA but also Neal Morse and more recently the Flower Kings.

M27Barney wrote:  it may be that your on the slippery slope to singing into your hairbrush to "My heart will go on" by Celine Dion......

M27Barney wrote: CTTE may follow a pop song format but the Intro and clanking industrial solo to start off is as far removed from mainstream pop as can be........Still an all time classic.......I feel that people may be falling out with the over blown epic - all have a good luck at yourselves in the mirror and give yourselves a jolly good talking to - Like I said it may be that your on the slippery slope to singing into your hairbrush to "My heart will go on" by Celine Dion.....Immediately get into a darkened room and slap on an epic you know it makes sense......

Well, I was just being contrary to Dennis, but in truth I've never found CTTE to be that great of an epic.  The first time I heard it I was blown away, and I liked to for a good while, but Tales and Relayer just blew it away in my opinion.  I also would rank Heart Of The Sunrise above it in my favorites, as well as Siberian Khatru from that same album.  Of course, I also agree about the intro, as that whole solo lead in part is by far the best part of the song.

Well with the Neal Morse/TFK gig getting ever closer, I thought I'd invest in a couple of Morse cds in the hope that would accentuate my appreciation of his live show.  So....... a couple of weeks back I ordered Momentum and Testimony, the former on the grounds that being his latest release it has a good chance of featuring heavily in his set, the latter as it's a double cd and was cheap  (I love double cds ).

So, the verdict.  Well, Momentum is excellent.  That was a very wise choice.  The title track and Thoughts Part 5 hit the spot and World Without End, whilst flagging a little in the middle is overall extremely good and has more than enough to satisfy the appetite of any symphonic proggie. The main phrase of the epic is one that grabbed me right away, goosebumps a-plenty.  I'm impressed .

As for Testimony, this is more of a mixed bag.  Firstly, disc 1 is superb and reminded me heavily of SB from around then, sounds almost like a brother to Snow if you ask me, and that's a big compliment.  As a single album this would be outstanding.  However, disc 2 is a lot less my cup of tea.  Things get very religious and the constant biblical references , Jesus this, Jesus that, Oh Lord etc are just too much for me.  I appreciate Neal is telling his story, but for me it's just too over the top.  The music is ok but not a patch on disc 1.  Morse is sincere and I have every respect for him as a pretty good singer, a superb keyboard player and a brilliant writer.  I'm pleased he's found his place and if that's enough to make him happy in himself to keep producing music as he does, well that'll do for me.   I'll try and ignore the lyrics and concentrate on the music but doubt I'll be returning to disc 2 anytime soon.

Awaken is up there in anybodies top 10 of prog epics surely? Church organ and a full choir instead of mellotron....how much more pompous do you want to get.....also howe's 12 string solo is AWESOME....

Roj M30 wrote: Well with the Neal Morse/TFK gig getting ever closer, I thought I'd invest in a couple of Morse cds in the hope that would accentuate my appreciation of his live show.  So....... a couple of weeks back I ordered Momentum and Testimony, the former on the grounds that being his latest release it has a good chance of featuring heavily in his set, the latter as it's a double cd and was cheap  (I love double cds ). So, the verdict.  Well, Momentum is excellent.  That was a very wise choice.  The title track and Thoughts Part 5 hit the spot and World Without End, whilst flagging a little in the middle is overall extremely good and has more than enough to satisfy the appetite of any symphonic proggie. The main phrase of the epic is one that grabbed me right away, goosebumps a-plenty.  I'm impressed . As for Testimony, this is more of a mixed bag.  Firstly, disc 1 is superb and reminded me heavily of SB from around then, sounds almost like a brother to Snow if you ask me, and that's a big compliment.  As a single album this would be outstanding.  However, disc 2 is a lot less my cup of tea.  Things get very religious and the constant biblical references , Jesus this, Jesus that, Oh Lord etc are just too much for me.  I appreciate Neal is telling his story, but for me it's just too over the top.  The music is ok but not a patch on disc 1.  Morse is sincere and I have every respect for him as a pretty good singer, a superb keyboard player and a brilliant writer.  I'm pleased he's found his place and if that's enough to make him happy in himself to keep producing music as he does, well that'll do for me.   I'll try and ignore the lyrics and concentrate on the music but doubt I'll be returning to disc 2 anytime soon.

I think we pretty much completely agree about both albums, though I still need to give Momentum a few more listens, as I've only heard it twice so far.  I think the best thing about Momentum is that the Christian element is (finally) subdued.  Still present, but the lyrics are less blatant and more universal.

The thing about the first Testimony for me is that it doesn't really sound like everything else that Neal has done (which is good in some ways, bad in others).  There are brass instruments, and more stringed instruments and some of the instrumental sections are more like jams than your typical Neal bombastic prog.  So, in that way, I enjoy it.  On the down side, it's too long and like you say that second CD pours on the God and Jesus loving quite thick, especially the second half.  I do see the comparison to Snow, as it does follow a very similar trajectory concept wise, though I would say the music is not all that similar (aside from the Overtures, which certainly recall Snows overtures).

In any case, I wish I could be at any of these Neal and TFK shows.  Still no word on if they will be doing the same thing in the states, but I'm starting to think they will not be (though I could see that increasing the attendance, especially with Portnoy in tow and the TA material at the end).


Edited by infandous - February 21 2013 at 09:53

infandous wrote: I generally prefer just about all Yes songs in a live format.  Pretty much everything on Yessongs is better than the studio versions, and the two epics on Yesshows are superior to their album versions as well (though I still think the studio version of Gates is nearly equal to that live version).  I also prefer the live version of Awaken on Keys To Ascension over the studio version (by a LOT). In all honestly though, it's been years since I've put on ANY Yes album (probably about 2 or 3 years ago I listened to Tales).  I have listened to those albums so much, that I don't really feel the need to hear them again........that, and they just don't sound as magical to me anymore, probably because I can anticipate every single note and sound (I can run through just about any classic Yes epic in my head without missing a note).