Author Topic: Flower Kings Official Thread  (Read 230887 times)

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Offline darkshade

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #665 on: July 20, 2012, 11:38:46 PM »
The Flower King vs The Majesty Demos
Back In The World of Adventures vs When Dream And Day Unite
Retropolis vs Images And Words
Stardust We Are vs Awake
Flower Power vs Falling Into Infinity
Space Revolver vs Scenes From A Memory
The Rainmaker vs Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Unfold The Future vs Train of Thought
Adam & Eve vs Octavarium
Paradox Hotel vs Systematic Chaos
The Sum Of No Evil vs Black Clouds & Silver Linings (TIE)
Banks Of Eden vs A Dramatic Turn Of Events

Octavarium the song is better than all of Adam & Eve, and I found it difficult to choose between Paradox Hotel and Systematic Chaos, as they're in my bottom 3 for both bands, but I think I appreciate PH a lot more than SC, and PH is still growing on me, so I chose that.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #666 on: July 25, 2012, 10:32:55 AM »
You know what TFK record doesn't get talked about nearly enough? 

Retropolis. 

Seriously, that is easily one of their two or three best single albums; flawless from start to finish.  Okay, the 29-second Rhythm of Life opener is a bit out there :lol, but once the title track, one of the most epic prog instrumentals ever, kicks in, it is one helluva ride. :coolio

Offline darkshade

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #667 on: July 25, 2012, 12:44:21 PM »
Retropolis was the last TFK studio album I got (not counting BoE), after a year and a half or so of collecting their albums, so while I have listened to it at least a few times, it hasn't had a chance to settle in my mind, and it was purchased at a time when I hit TFK overload, so I can't recall most of it. Every time I feel like listening to TFK, I make sure I try and put that one on, because it's my least familiar album.

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #668 on: July 25, 2012, 03:00:10 PM »
Retropolis is the only other album that's reached towards the levels of UTF and A&E for me. there's two tracks that haven't completely won me over, but the rest is so so good. tracks 6 thru 10 are about as good as any 5 song stretch in their catalog that i've been able to find (to be fair, still a few unfamiliar albums).

Offline kirksnosehair

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #669 on: July 26, 2012, 08:37:00 AM »
Adam and Eve vs Octavarium (tie, I dislike both evenly)

 :omg: :omg: :omg:

a top 2 TFK for me vs a standout DT album (in its uniqueness AND awesomeness)


Aside from a few tracks, I never really cared much for Adam & Eve and on the rare occasion that I do listen to Octavarium I really only like about 3 tracks and that does not include the title track, which, to me, just feels like a bunch of random ideas they stitched together....

Offline Perpetual Change

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #670 on: July 26, 2012, 09:05:35 AM »
I'm just now discovering this band, though I've been a longtime fan of Transatlantic. So far, I'm enjoying the new record and also just got Adam & Eve 'cause it was second hand. I know it's not the most critically acclaimed, but it was the only one they had at the store and I do have an affinity for Gildenlol

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #671 on: July 26, 2012, 09:19:54 AM »
Retropolis was the last TFK studio album I got (not counting BoE), after a year and a half or so of collecting their albums, so while I have listened to it at least a few times, it hasn't had a chance to settle in my mind, and it was purchased at a time when I hit TFK overload, so I can't recall most of it. Every time I feel like listening to TFK, I make sure I try and put that one on, because it's my least familiar album.

I love the fact that so much of Retropolis is instrumental.  Only 5 of the 11 songs have vocals (even if two of the ones that don't are super short), and even better, almost all of the lead vocals are done by Roine Stolt. :)

Retropolis is the only other album that's reached towards the levels of UTF and A&E for me. there's two tracks that haven't completely won me over, but the rest is so so good. tracks 6 thru 10 are about as good as any 5 song stretch in their catalog that i've been able to find (to be fair, still a few unfamiliar albums).

No mention of track 11, The Road Back Home??  I absolutely love that tune; one of my favorites from the early TFK days. :coolio

I'm just now discovering this band, though I've been a longtime fan of Transatlantic. So far, I'm enjoying the new record and also just got Adam & Eve 'cause it was second hand. I know it's not the most critically acclaimed, but it was the only one they had at the store and I do have an affinity for Gildenlol

Unfold the Future is the other TFK record with Gildenlow, but is quite a hurdle to get over (double album, and the first song is 31 minutes), so I wouldn't necessarily get that one next just because it has Gildenlow.  I'd go for some of the other single albums, Space Revolver and Retropolis being the best of the remaining singles.

Offline kirksnosehair

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #672 on: July 26, 2012, 09:53:18 AM »
the KevShmev is a wise man  :hat

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #673 on: July 26, 2012, 11:43:11 AM »
I have my days. :biggrin:

Also, cool interview with Roine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok_-M8AkNko

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #674 on: July 26, 2012, 11:53:56 AM »
I love the fact that so much of Retropolis is instrumental.  Only 5 of the 11 songs have vocals (even if two of the ones that don't are super short), and even better, almost all of the lead vocals are done by Roine Stolt. :)

hrrmm. hadnt completely nticed that. maybe has something to do with my like. also, so many of the vocal melodies kill it on this one.

Retropolis is the only other album that's reached towards the levels of UTF and A&E for me. there's two tracks that haven't completely won me over, but the rest is so so good. tracks 6 thru 10 are about as good as any 5 song stretch in their catalog that i've been able to find (to be fair, still a few unfamiliar albums).
No mention of track 11, The Road Back Home??  I absolutely love that tune; one of my favorites from the early TFK days. :coolio

its one of the few that hadnt completely won me over. perhaps the vocal melodies didnt seem as sick and/or something about the buildup/dynamics. i'll give it a spin today and see if i can pinpoint or maybe see if it wins me over.

I'm just now discovering this band, though I've been a longtime fan of Transatlantic. So far, I'm enjoying the new record and also just got Adam & Eve 'cause it was second hand. I know it's not the most critically acclaimed, but it was the only one they had at the store and I do have an affinity for Gildenlol
Unfold the Future is the other TFK record with Gildenlow, but is quite a hurdle to get over (double album, and the first song is 31 minutes), so I wouldn't necessarily get that one next just because it has Gildenlow.  I'd go for some of the other single albums, Space Revolver and Retropolis being the best of the remaining singles.

but...but...but not only is he a DG fanboy, but UTF is also the most universally loved/heralded TFK album!

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #675 on: July 26, 2012, 12:05:34 PM »


but...but...but not only is he a DG fanboy, but UTF is also the most universally loved/heralded TFK album!

It is?  ??? ???

Also, regarding The Road Back Home, I absolutely love the synth solo in the middle of the song; very Tony Banks-esque!!
« Last Edit: July 26, 2012, 12:12:13 PM by KevShmev »

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #676 on: July 26, 2012, 07:43:54 PM »
i thought it was. maybe i'm wrong. i was under the impression it made most fans' top 3 TFKalbums lists on this forum.

shit, i still havent gotten round to spinning The Road Back Home today. shall do so shortly.

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #677 on: July 26, 2012, 08:23:57 PM »
okay. i just gave The Road Back Home a spin. paid all sorts of close attention. first off, it was probably the most ive gotten into it (still winning me over, perhaps). musically, its pretty deadly, save for the ending. it just feels like the grandiose ending wasnt dynamic/grandiose enough. as for the vocal melodies, nothing in the song seemed as strong/catchy as my favorite vocal tracks on the album.

Offline Perpetual Change

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #678 on: July 26, 2012, 08:28:17 PM »
HEY.

I'm not a Gildenlow fanboy, and I have plenty of nasty things to say about their last 3 albums and they way he's systematically dismantled the band to recreate it in his own image. But I do like his voice :)

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #679 on: July 26, 2012, 08:37:03 PM »
sorry, didnt mean to misrepresent you.
i'll double my fanboyism to make up for it.

Offline Perpetual Change

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #680 on: July 26, 2012, 08:41:40 PM »
Well, I don't know what's up.

I think you guys must be spoiled by all the great double albums this band have but out, because I am listening to Adam & Eve now and I think it's fantastic.

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #681 on: July 26, 2012, 08:52:02 PM »
Well, I don't know what's up.

I think you guys must be spoiled by all the great double albums this band have but out, because I am listening to Adam & Eve now and I think it's fantastic.

 :tup just wait til you check out the 2disc version  :hefdaddy

Offline Perpetual Change

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #682 on: July 26, 2012, 08:54:52 PM »
Oh, so I just spent $10 on half the album. Well, that's annoying.  :yeahright

Offline The Letter M

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #683 on: July 26, 2012, 09:02:00 PM »
Well, I don't know what's up.

I think you guys must be spoiled by all the great double albums this band have but out, because I am listening to Adam & Eve now and I think it's fantastic.

 :tup just wait til you check out the 2disc version  :hefdaddy

Oh, so I just spent $10 on half the album. Well, that's annoying.  :yeahright

 :rollin

To be fair, the 2-CD version of A&E is a (mostly) rare Japanese version of the album, which includes the bonus tracks from the 2-CD version of The Rainmaker, plus 3 more that were recorded before then (included a track titled "Space Revolver"), so you get 9 tracks total on it. They aren't from the A&E sessions and are quite a bit older than that.

The only TFK albums that AREN'T 2-CDs (in any version) are the first two, Back In The World Of Adventures and Retropolis. Also, there are Japanese versions (bonus tracks) of Flower Power, Space Revolver, and the aforementioned Adam & Eve, while the 2-CD version of The Rainmaker was an InsideOut European digi-book release.

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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #684 on: July 26, 2012, 09:03:53 PM »
okay. i just gave The Road Back Home a spin. paid all sorts of close attention. first off, it was probably the most ive gotten into it (still winning me over, perhaps). musically, its pretty deadly, save for the ending. it just feels like the grandiose ending wasnt dynamic/grandiose enough. as for the vocal melodies, nothing in the song seemed as strong/catchy as my favorite vocal tracks on the album.

Hmmm, well, at least you have a new appreciation for it. :)

Oh, so I just spent $10 on half the album. Well, that's annoying.  :yeahright

No, the bonus disc is only about half hour or so of music, most of which isn't as good as the regular disc, so I wouldn't sweat it. 

And glad you are enjoying Adam and Eve! :tup :tup

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #685 on: July 26, 2012, 10:12:14 PM »
ya, i kinda misrepresented the A&E album. but that second disc does kick some serious ass. the instrumentals are all cool as fuck, and i'm quite fond of Agent Supreme. its got all the bells and whistles, figuratively and literally. just fun.

nice to hear everyone's in an A&E mood...i love it, but i get the opposite impression on its universal level of appreciation from what i gathered of everyone's views on UTF.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #686 on: July 26, 2012, 10:15:19 PM »
Well, A&E is definitely a lower tier TFK record for me, but there are definitely some great tunes on there.

Offline darkshade

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #687 on: July 26, 2012, 11:41:24 PM »
I was talking up Adam & Eve around the time BoE came out, either here or on PA. I love it. Also, if you like Gildenlow's voice, I say, fuck it, and get Unfold the Future. Besides DG on vocals (mostly on disc 2), the album has 2 of their best epics, and another good epic in Silent Inferno. Most of the shorter tracks are very good to amazing.

Offline The Letter M

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #688 on: July 26, 2012, 11:45:23 PM »
Just had a thought... I like TFK's odd-numbered releases more than their even ones...

Evens:
The Flower King
Retropolis
Flower Power
The Rainmaker
Adam & Eve
The Sum Of No Evil

Odds:
Back In The World Of Adventures
Stardust We Are
Space Revolver
Unfold The Future
Paradox Hotel

Banks Of Eden

The bolded ones are the ones I *really* like, and the second group has more that I really like. My Top 3 TFK albums would have to be SWA, UTF and PH, and the "odds" have all three. Weird! Still need to listen more on BOE...

-Marc.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #689 on: July 27, 2012, 12:19:28 AM »
Imagine how difficult it would be to rank all of their discs (starting with BITWOA since, for the 883rd time, The Flower King is NOT a TFK record) if you broke all of the double albums up and had to rank the 15 full discs (4 double albums and 7 singles)... :biggrin:

Offline The Letter M

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #690 on: July 27, 2012, 07:17:19 AM »
Imagine how difficult it would be to rank all of their discs (starting with BITWOA since, for the 883rd time, The Flower King is NOT a TFK record) if you broke all of the double albums up and had to rank the 15 full discs (4 double albums and 7 singles)... :biggrin:

True, not necessarily a TFK "record", but definitely the start of TFK music. Some might not think of the Majesty Demos as a Dream Theater album, but it's the start of Dream Theater music, as was evidenced by their Silver Anniversary being celebrated in 2010 and not 2014.

Either way, ranking 15 discs would be insanely hard, but why would you split up a double album? I never got the point of ranking "Disc 1 against Disc 2", like DT's Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence - a records format shouldn't have any bearing on how it is listened to or ranked. If it were all vinyl, would anyone be asking "how would you rank all 60 sides of TFK music?" :lol

I see 11 albums, not 15 discs, but that's just me. If the format allowed them to fit all their music for one album onto one piece of music medium, then we wouldn't have discussions like "the first disc is better" etc. etc. that many people seem to have with double albums (like The Lamb, The Wall, Snow, Six Degrees, etc.)

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Offline darkshade

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #691 on: July 27, 2012, 11:00:45 AM »
Not to mention, the double albums have many themes related to each other, FP has the GoD main themes, Stardust has the title track themes, UtF has the jazz improvs and themes from songs in other songs, like the end of Black and White, or The Navigator/Solitary Shell connection. I try to listen to their double albums in one sitting, when possible.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #692 on: July 27, 2012, 11:58:41 AM »
Oh, I agree with almost everything you guys said, but I just think it would be interesting to take a whack at.  I know that Flower Power Disc 1 would stay number 1 on my list, Unfold the Future Disc 1 would be near the bottom, and I would have a very difficult time deciding which disc I preferred on both Stardust We Are and Paradox Hotel.

Offline darkshade

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #693 on: July 27, 2012, 12:02:08 PM »
I don't feel like ranking them all right now, but I'll do one of these for the double albums:

SWA1 > SWA2
FP1 > FP2
UtF1 = UtF2
PH1 < PH2

Offline The Letter M

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #694 on: July 27, 2012, 02:43:45 PM »
I don't feel like ranking them all right now, but I'll do one of these for the double albums:

SWA1 > SWA2
FP1 > FP2
UtF1 = UtF2
PH1 < PH2

Allllmost agree with you, but here's mine:

SWA1 = SWA2
FP1 > FP2
UtF1 = UtF2
PH1 = PH2

PH is just solid throughout, as is SWA, but I agree about FP and UTF.

-Marc.
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Offline Perpetual Change

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #695 on: July 27, 2012, 07:14:41 PM »
I really love the three track run from "A Vampires View" to "Adam and Eve". Those two songs and the piano interlude between them are all fantastic. And I absolutely love the lyrics.

Haven't really digested the longer pieces on the album yet but I will get to it. 

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #696 on: July 28, 2012, 12:20:15 AM »
Adam and Eve is one of those songs that has some cool things going on and was a good idea, but just wasn't executed as well as it could have been, IMO.  I love the bridge Roine sings in the middle, and a lot of the music is great, but those vocal melodies early on in the song are just hard for me to enjoy more often than not.

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #697 on: July 28, 2012, 01:32:20 PM »
I really love the three track run from "A Vampires View" to "Adam and Eve". Those two songs and the piano interlude between them are all fantastic. And I absolutely love the lyrics.

Haven't really digested the longer pieces on the album yet but I will get to it.

 :tup nice to see some title track love!!

Offline Perpetual Change

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #698 on: July 29, 2012, 08:44:16 AM »
This album continues to grow on me. The opening track is amazing, and Cosmic Circus is beautiful on a sonic level. Just listening with my eyes shut and some decent headphones on, I almost started crying because of how all these different sounds and instruments are intricately but flawlessly put together to create something so grand-sounding. Tomas Bodin is a special keyboardist. All of his arrangements are just so perfect with so much going on. I could listen to the entire album just focused on what he's doing.

I just love this album, though if there is a weakness for me it derives from the fact that "Driver's Seat" just doesn't pay off like the epic that opens the album up. Still, it's not bad at all. I like Adam & Eve much better than the new album so far.

I'm curious, what's the fan-consensus on "A Vampire's View"? I love it, and think it just sounds so good... but it does seem to be an odd-ball for TFK from what I've heard so far.

Offline pain of occupation

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread
« Reply #699 on: July 29, 2012, 01:47:28 PM »
i kinda wouldnt have minded if Driver's Seat had actually been broken into two tracks (which is kinda weird, cuz usually i want multi track songs and intros to songs to be joined into one track).

A Vampire's View is SO good. from what ive gathered, even those people not huge on A&E as a whole still acknowledge the brilliance of A Vampire's View.
I'd love to hear TFK do a few more of these mini-musical type tunes.