I picked up a copy of Flower Power yesterday (got it in the mail really) and am finishing my first listen this morning. Listened to disc 1 last night and was blown away. I need more listens to digest, but Garden of Dreams worked as a single epic in a way some CD length "songs" like SDOIT or The Whirlwind don't (those feel more like a collection of discreet songs). Not that there aren't discreet songs to Garden of Dreams, but they all felt like they were part of the whole on first listen at least. The ending is incredible. Never heard Roine sing that way (probably hasn't sung that way since he laid down the track!). I don't know why they felt compelled to include Captain Capstan and Ikea at Night as separate tracks (writing credits?), but Astral Dog is fantastic and a fun way to end the disc.
I'm only half way through the second disc. It really does feel like it's own separate album, and will take some time to digest. But I'm liking what I'm hearing so far.
Edit: Calling Home, which I think I have heard before, is wonderful.
I really think GoD is the best epic among all the big massive 35+ minute epics between Roine and co, Neal Morse and co, Dream Theater, etc... and surely by any band who's produced prog rock since the 80s IMO. It is just the most.... epic piece of music, and it really is one piece and moves as so, whereas SDoIT and The Whirlwind do have more noticeable changes if you're not looking at when the tracks change. I don't even know where one track ends and the other begins for most of GoD's length. While a little shorter, the live version from Meet The Flower Kings is essential listening once you've digested the studio version. It is very different, with added sections, extended solos, jams, and while I think the studio version is better, the live one is really interesting, and I love some of the funky sections added in, and some prefer it over the studio one.
As I've said, the first disc of Flower Power is the perfect single disc of TFK music, it really is its own album, with the 2nd disc having more of its own feel, with a few call backs to GoD, but the reprises are little more discreet. This is unlike their other double albums, where each disc is part of the greater whole.