Author Topic: Flower Kings Official Thread  (Read 230880 times)

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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1085 on: August 14, 2018, 06:30:04 PM »
I haven't seen it, but I remember there being some tension between Roine and Tomas in the late 00's (it was talked about a lot on the TFK yahoo mailing list at the time), which I think was a big part of why they took a few years off.  They got back together for two albums in the early 10's, but my guess is that they had trouble getting along again over the long haul, which is why the band hasn't worked together again for nearly five years.  TFK was clearly the result of Roine's vision, but Tomas' input and playing was integral to the band. 

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1086 on: August 18, 2018, 08:09:59 AM »
A friend bought the remixed Unfold the Future and played Devil's Playground for me last night.

Ugh.

Seriously.  Ugh.

I cannot believe he cut out the section right around the 10-minute mark.  That section with the evil riff is one of my favorite moments of the entire Unfold the Future record. 

Plus, the remix took away a lot of the bite of the main riff.  Yeah yeah, everything is clearer and more stuff, previously buried, is fleshed out more, but the main riff sounds like someone turned his amp way down.

Major disappointment.

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1087 on: August 18, 2018, 08:20:27 AM »
A friend bought the remixed Unfold the Future and played Devil's Playground for me last night.

Ugh.

Seriously.  Ugh.

I cannot believe he cut out the section right around the 10-minute mark.  That section with the evil riff is one of my favorite moments of the entire Unfold the Future record. 

Plus, the remix took away a lot of the bite of the main riff.  Yeah yeah, everything is clearer and more stuff, previously buried, is fleshed out more, but the main riff sounds like someone turned his amp way down.

Major disappointment.

That's really bizarre. Were there any liner notes that mentioned why this part was cut out? Roine seems off his creative game lately. His recent releases have been lackluster and he just seems to have lost his ability to create meaningful productions anymore. I may like TFK as a whole more than SB/Neal Morse, and I always sort of made a parallel between Roine and Neal as the essential modern-day prog composers, but Neal has definitely kept his game on on point and evolved better than Roine has.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1088 on: August 18, 2018, 08:40:14 AM »
I've always liked TFK more than Spock's, but in the last 15 years, Neal has lapped Roine several times when it comes to making great records.  Paradox Hotel is the only TFK album (in the last 15 years) I would put in the same league with many of Neal's solo prog albums (The Whirlwind is a wash since they both had a big hand in writing it).

I actually made a similar observation last night to that friend, about how Roine's creativity seems to be dwindling or at least off his game.  The Anderson/Stolt album was somewhat of a snoozer, the Sea Within CD is just okay, and now this brutal remix of what was previously a great TFK song.  Bummer to see, but given his incredible and prolific creative output from 1994-2002 (TFK, TA, etc.), I can't quibble too much. 

Offline RoeDent

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1089 on: August 18, 2018, 09:24:42 AM »
A friend bought the remixed Unfold the Future and played Devil's Playground for me last night.

Ugh.

Seriously.  Ugh.

I cannot believe he cut out the section right around the 10-minute mark.  That section with the evil riff is one of my favorite moments of the entire Unfold the Future record. 

Plus, the remix took away a lot of the bite of the main riff.  Yeah yeah, everything is clearer and more stuff, previously buried, is fleshed out more, but the main riff sounds like someone turned his amp way down.

Major disappointment.

Yeah, there's a solid 6 minutes cut out of the remix. It's even more disappointing that the back of the box has the length as 25:26, so you think you're getting the full song.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1090 on: August 18, 2018, 11:10:48 PM »
That does seem odd.  Remixing the song and cutting part of it is just a horrible decision. I know, it's their song and they can do whatever they want with it, and we still have the original to get the whole song, but putting the original time length on there when it is cut down seems like false advertisement to me.  They should be better than that.

Offline Fritzinger

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1091 on: August 20, 2018, 04:20:59 AM »
A friend bought the remixed Unfold the Future and played Devil's Playground for me last night.

Ugh.

Seriously.  Ugh.

I cannot believe he cut out the section right around the 10-minute mark.  That section with the evil riff is one of my favorite moments of the entire Unfold the Future record. 

Plus, the remix took away a lot of the bite of the main riff.  Yeah yeah, everything is clearer and more stuff, previously buried, is fleshed out more, but the main riff sounds like someone turned his amp way down.

Major disappointment.


I was super happy when this album was announced for vinyl, and extremely disappointed when I realised they cut this part out. Can't understand this at all. Makes me super pissed.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1092 on: August 21, 2018, 12:19:57 PM »
As soon as the cut happened, I gave the "I'm out" hands signal and zoned out for the rest of the tune.  Once they cut that part out, that remixed version was dead to me.

Offline SwedishGoose

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1093 on: September 13, 2018, 04:41:49 AM »
ROINE STOLT’S THE FLOWER KING, ’Manifesto Of An Alchemist’

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156775457025439&id=289541335438

The album features a host of other musicians, including long-time collaborators Jones Reingold, Hans Froberg & Michael Stolt, as well as fellow The Sea Within member Marco Minnemann, Max Lorentz, Zach Kamins, Rob Townsend & Nad Sylvan.

‘Manifesto Of An Alchemist’ features stunning artwork from Shaun Beyond (https://www.instagram.com/shaunbeyond/), and will arrive as a limited edition CD digipak, Gatefold 180g 2LP + CD & as digital download. You can find the full track-listing below:
1. Rainsong
2. Lost America
3. Ze Pawns
4. High Road
5. Rio Grande
6. Next To A Hurricane
7. The Alchemist
8. Baby Angels
9. Six Thirty Wake-Up
10. The Spell Of Money

Arriving on the 23rd of November
« Last Edit: September 13, 2018, 04:49:37 AM by SwedishGoose »

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1094 on: September 13, 2018, 05:17:20 AM »
If Anderson/Stolt and The Sea Within never existed I’d be super excited for this but I honestly have no confidence in Roine’s songwriting anymore. Even his album production is dull as hell now. Listen to how vibrant and alive everything sounded on Back In The World Of Adventures and then how bland The Sea Within album sounds in comparison. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong and pleasantly surprised but I doubt it.

Offline RoeDent

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1095 on: September 13, 2018, 10:48:23 AM »
Your move, Tomas...

Offline Nick

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1096 on: September 13, 2018, 11:08:31 AM »
I really don't like this move. Roine has all these other projects, so why take on this drama with the name The Flower Kings when he obviously can't straight up use it with Tomas. It's been a long time (2005?) since an awesome solo album in Wall Street Voodoo, so why not finally release another of those?
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Online The Letter M

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1097 on: September 13, 2018, 02:27:33 PM »
ROINE STOLT’S THE FLOWER KING, ’Manifesto Of An Alchemist’

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156775457025439&id=289541335438

The album features a host of other musicians, including long-time collaborators Jones Reingold, Hans Froberg & Michael Stolt, as well as fellow The Sea Within member Marco Minnemann, Max Lorentz, Zach Kamins, Rob Townsend & Nad Sylvan.

‘Manifesto Of An Alchemist’ features stunning artwork from Shaun Beyond (https://www.instagram.com/shaunbeyond/), and will arrive as a limited edition CD digipak, Gatefold 180g 2LP + CD & as digital download. You can find the full track-listing below:
1. Rainsong
2. Lost America
3. Ze Pawns
4. High Road
5. Rio Grande
6. Next To A Hurricane
7. The Alchemist
8. Baby Angels
9. Six Thirty Wake-Up
10. The Spell Of Money

Arriving on the 23rd of November

Well, this was out of left field. I thought after Muse's next album in November, that was it for new music for me this year, but I guess I was wrong! Like others have said above, I'm a bit reluctant to be TOO excited about this, given Roine's recent track record, and personally speaking, I haven't been too excited by his last two released with Anderson and TSW (which I haven't given much of a chance to be honest). I'll still get this and hope for the best, but it might be a wait-and-see with regards to reviews leading up to the release. I just pre-ordered Steven Wilson's upcoming live album and will be pre-ordering Morsefest 2017 next week, so I've covered a lot of my music spending for a long time...

-Marc.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1098 on: September 13, 2018, 05:36:10 PM »
I didn't see this coming.  It's not the same without Bodin, but enough of the other band members are there to call this the Flower Kings.  Oh well. 

And I am with those who are somewhat pessimistic about this.  Roine used to be an auto-buy for me, but after Anderson/Stolt and the Sea Within (both kind of bland), this will be a "listen before I buy" record.

Offline gzarruk

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1099 on: September 13, 2018, 08:57:32 PM »
Could anyone please explain me what happened with all TFK drama? Just read about this album and it’s TFK but without being an “official” TFK album.  :huh:
It sounds like, "ruk, ruk, ruk, ruk, ruk." Instead of the more pleasing kick drum sound of, "gzarruk, gzarruk, gzarruk, gzarruk."

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1100 on: September 13, 2018, 09:26:51 PM »
Not much to it, based on what we know. Sounds like Roine Stolt and Tomas Bodin just don’t get along anymore.

Offline SwedishGoose

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1101 on: September 14, 2018, 12:15:57 AM »
Note.... this is not the Flower Kings. It's Roine Stolt's Flower King, so harking back to that first album before The Flower Kings were formed.
It will be an auto but for me I like both Anderson / Stolt and The Sea Within and about a week after release I will see Roine Stolts Flower Kings revisited/ Spock's Beard live twice.

Offline gzarruk

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1102 on: September 14, 2018, 06:51:39 AM »
Not much to it, based on what we know. Sounds like Roine Stolt and Tomas Bodin just don’t get along anymore.

So he’s out there doing anything he can, except an actual TFK album?
It sounds like, "ruk, ruk, ruk, ruk, ruk." Instead of the more pleasing kick drum sound of, "gzarruk, gzarruk, gzarruk, gzarruk."

Offline RoeDent

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1103 on: September 15, 2018, 09:31:50 AM »
It's obvious that there are legal goings-on involved here. Otherwise it would have been a proper TFK album, and they would have just said that Bodin had left the band. It's completely screwed up TFK discography, like Kaipa da Capo did to Kaipa's discography. Also, the name seems pretty desperate. It doesn't flow well as a band name. This album has a serious identity crisis going on about it.

Although it should be expected, considering how TFK's closest comparitor in the old-prog brigade, Yes, what mess they are in in terms of lineups and band members.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1104 on: September 15, 2018, 10:18:46 AM »
I am guessing that, even though the Flower Kings was Roine’s brain child, Bodin has rights to the name as well since he’s been on every album and never left the band, so I’m guessing Roine doesn’t want to deal with issues should he go forward with the band without Bodin.

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1105 on: September 15, 2018, 12:00:37 PM »
It's obvious that there are legal goings-on involved here. Otherwise it would have been a proper TFK album, and they would have just said that Bodin had left the band. It's completely screwed up TFK discography, like Kaipa da Capo did to Kaipa's discography. Also, the name seems pretty desperate. It doesn't flow well as a band name. This album has a serious identity crisis going on about it.

Although it should be expected, considering how TFK's closest comparitor in the old-prog brigade, Yes, what mess they are in in terms of lineups and band members.

Most definitely, I think this is just Roine's way to continue TFK work without the other half(?) of the TFK sound, but calling the band "Roine Stolt's The Flower King" is semi-brilliant in the way that it harkens back to the 1994 solo album, The Flower King, which, while laying the groundwork for the TFK sound as it would become, was an album entirely written by Roine, and performed without Tomas Bodin.

Depending on the album's sound and feel, this could be an indirect sequel to the original 94 album, sort of in the way that Kaipa Da Capo is the sequel to the 70's Kaipa band/albums.

Also, your comparison to Yes is pretty apt, and it's been one I've made before myself (alongside the Genesis/Spock's Beard comparison). While not as publicly known, I'm sure there's been drama within the ranks of The Flower Kings, but probably not as insane as some of the stuff that's happened with Yes. I think one thing I'm aware of is that Tomas and Zoltan did not get along well, which is why he left the band after Adam & Eve, but only briefly came back for The Sum Of No Evil. Other than that, I've never really heard of or read anything more than that, but maybe someone else here can fill me in?

I am guessing that, even though the Flower Kings was Roine’s brain child, Bodin has rights to the name as well since he’s been on every album and never left the band, so I’m guessing Roine doesn’t want to deal with issues should he go forward with the band without Bodin.

This definitely makes the most sense. I don't think there's ever been an official TFK album without Stolt AND Bodin on it, so they both might have stakes in the name, legally speaking. Naming this new project "The Flower King" is a bit of a middle-finger to Bodin, but it's a smart way to go about not having to use the actual band name while still (possibly) connecting it to the original solo album.

I recently tried to read a post on the TFK message boards (Garden Of Dreams) about how Tomas was upset that Roine was touring The Flower Kings music with different band members this fall, but every time I visit those message boards, I get ridiculous popups and malware redirects, so I've tried avoiding to read the posts there.

EDIT - Managed to read the post on the message board there on my laptop without getting popups.  Here's what Tomas has said about the tour:

Quote
For me such sad day.

The Flower Kings back on the road. And I have to read about it on the the internet.

Surly there must be better ways to tell a person, you’re not welcome anymore.

Basically I’m just sad. It feels like I have done more for the band, like I deserve some respect.

Best
Tomas



-Marc.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2018, 12:07:17 PM by The Letter M »
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Offline Fritzinger

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1106 on: September 16, 2018, 06:07:23 AM »
Wow, Tomas' message is really touching. I get it, you've built a reputation, a BAND with a friend and released tons of great material. You don't get along too well anymore, so you decide to call it quits. Then your friend just says f*ck you all I'll just do this thing by myself.
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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1107 on: September 16, 2018, 06:45:30 PM »
Wow, Tomas' message is really touching. I get it, you've built a reputation, a BAND with a friend and released tons of great material. You don't get along too well anymore, so you decide to call it quits. Then your friend just says f*ck you all I'll just do this thing by myself.

By himself...with 2 of the other 3 "core" members of TFK, Jonas Reingold and Hasse Froberg. Those two, along with Roine and Tomas, formed the main core of the band since Jonas joined way back in 1999. To say he is touring or releasing a new album "by himself" is a bit of a mislead.

It really does seem to be a bit of a "FU" to Tomas, but I doubt anyone here knows the true story (whatever it may be). We know that Tomas had issues getting along with Zoltan, despite being the member who brought him into the band initially (and praised his drumming). Perhaps it's Tomas' fault for not getting along with Roine these days? Who is to say...

Either way, we've got Roine releasing a new album with Jonas, Hasse, and his brother/former TFK member Michael Stolt, as well as upcoming touring member Zach Kamins on keyboards, this new group is pretty much The Flower Kings in spirit. A shame that Roine would carry on without Tomas, but perhaps Roine felt it necessary to keep moving forward, as he's continuously producing music and recording/playing with many people.

I think the last time Tomas released something was in 2015 (She Belongs To Another Tree, an electronic/ambient solo album), and that was roughly 6 years after his previous release with Eggs & Dogs (his then-new band) and their only release, You Are (the second in a trilogy that started with I Am, but never finished with He She It Is). Tomas was also working on a project with Hasse called Crime Of The Century, at least 3 years ago, but nothing has come of that since then. Perhaps a lot of roadblocks have appeared before him, but of the four core TFK members, he's been the only one not producing anything of note, which is sad - he's got a unique sound that I really enjoy and I'll miss his keyboard playing in The Flower King(s).

-Marc.
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Offline Nel

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1108 on: September 16, 2018, 07:16:16 PM »
My music library is already a clusterfudge of artist/band names so I think I'll just file this one into my database as a new Flower Kings album rather than "Roine Stolt's The Flower King".  :lol
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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1109 on: September 16, 2018, 08:53:12 PM »
My music library is already a clusterfudge of artist/band names so I think I'll just file this one into my database as a new Flower Kings album rather than "Roine Stolt's The Flower King".  :lol

I know what you mean. I've kept all "Neal Morse Band" releases under my "Morse, Neal" folder, though this one might be a bit tricky.

Part of me wants to put it in the "Flower Kings, The" folder I have, but I also could put it in the "Stolt, Roine" folder, which, honestly, is probably where it'll end up since the release *IS* named Roine Stolt's The Flower King.

Then again, I put the Circus Brimstone live instrumental album in my TFK folder, sooooo...

-Marc.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1110 on: September 17, 2018, 01:49:00 PM »
I had the Neal Morse Band stuff under a different name, but now that I am listening to most of my music in the car from my iPhone instead of CDR's and like hitting random play, I have the NMB stuff under Neal Morse as well, that way I can hit shuffle on Neal Morse and get anything from his solo career or the two NMB albums. Yeah, I could do a playlist and drag that to my phone, but I tend to swap songs on and off from my phone on a regular basis and do not want to have to worry with updating the playlist and then dragging the new one to the phone again.  It's just easier this way.

I am sure I will do the same thing with this new Roine Flower King album, assuming it is good enough for me to buy.  I will check it out first, but since he he is back to being the main lead vocalist, as he said on FB, I am sure I will like it.

Offline darkshade

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1111 on: September 20, 2018, 09:28:07 AM »
Dipped my toes into Kaleidoscope, never got into it much, but lately been feeling this kind of music again, and enjoyed the album the most since it came out. I enjoyed the first epic, Into The Blue it was? I don't remember. I thought it was strong, and I really liked Daniel's vocals. The other epic didn't do much for me, and the middle 3 tunes were OK but nothing crazy. Still my least favorite Transatlantic album by far, if not one of my least favorite albums by Roine/Neal.

I've been casually following this recent TFK news. Roine IS The Flower King, so I think he can do what he wants, but I think there's legal issues to why it's not called a Flower Kings album proper. I feel like he should have just called it Roine Stolt or "Stolt" or something like that, unless this is a follow up to Roine's 1994 solo album, but I don't think it will sound like it. In fact, I wasn't thrilled with the last TFK album, so my expectations aren't very high for RSTFK.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1112 on: September 20, 2018, 07:45:43 PM »
Kaleidoscope is good, but it's dwarfed big time by its three predecessors. 

I agree that Desolation Rose was not that great, but I blame that on Froberg singing the vast majority of the lead vocals.  With Roine back in the seat as the lead vocalist, I have  hopes that his songwriting will return to form. 

Offline RoeDent

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1113 on: September 23, 2018, 10:49:53 AM »
I've reached something of an impasse when it comes to Roine Stolt-led albums. I've got the first Kingdom of Colours box, and very little I've read so far both here and in other places suggests anything other than Roine's best material (as far as TFK goes) is contained within said boxset, and that the albums from Adam and Eve onward will be disappointing in comparison. And having read mixed-to-negative reviews of Anderson/Stolt and The Sea Within. Nothing has yet convinced me that I need those albums in my collection.

Is there anything positive that might help me change my mind here?

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1114 on: September 23, 2018, 09:01:17 PM »
I've reached something of an impasse when it comes to Roine Stolt-led albums. I've got the first Kingdom of Colours box, and very little I've read so far both here and in other places suggests anything other than Roine's best material (as far as TFK goes) is contained within said boxset, and that the albums from Adam and Eve onward will be disappointing in comparison. And having read mixed-to-negative reviews of Anderson/Stolt and The Sea Within. Nothing has yet convinced me that I need those albums in my collection.

Is there anything positive that might help me change my mind here?

While Adam And Eve isn't as well-received as the band's previous albums, it does feature more Daniel Gildenlow, so if you want to hear more of his input in the TFK-world, this is where to hear it. Better-received are the two albums following A&E, and they're two of my favorites, especially Paradox Hotel. After the heavily jazz-fusion-inspired and epic-heavy UTF and A&E, PH goes back to a double album formula full of great SONGS that don't rely on just long sprawling instrumental sections and improvisations - instead, the songs really breathe new life into the band and vice versa. It took me a long time to "get" the album, but once I did, it shot up to my personal number 3 TFK album and has sat there ever since (behind SWA and UTF). Almost every song is a joy, and in fact, the longest song is NOT my favorite (though good, it's one of their weaker epics).

For what followed PH, the reunion of Zoltan with TFK was celebrated with The Sum Of No Evil did go back to the jazzy-styled sounds but this one was a bit more prog-infused and goes right back to the classic 70's prog. It's a bit of a catch-all for all eras of TFK, with some literal throwbacks to earlier TFK music and lyrics (though small ones), and some great performances by the whole band. For me, after the wildly different PH, TSONE was a bit of a return to form, but both albums were great in their own rights.

After those two, the next two albums that came were a bit middle-of-the-road for me. I don't go back to them very often, but they're pretty decent. They released two albums after a 5-year-break and they're both kind of same-y to me, and both feature the same line-ups as well.

I'd say, if you're interested in completing the discography, get it for PH and TSONE, and maybe you might like some of Banks Of Eden and Desolation Rose.

It's interesting that, now, after another 5-year-break since DR, Roine has returned to making TFK music, albeit under a different band and without Tomas Bodin. I guess we'll have to wait and see how this new album will turn out. I'll agree that The Sea Within wasn't very gripping at first listen, but it's slowly grown on me. As for Roine's input on it, as near as I can tell, he co-wrote only 6 of the album's 12 songs, and is credited solely for one tune (the instrumental "Sea Without"), so only about half of the album was his input. With Anderson/Stolt, most of the music was written by Anderson with Stolt (and like half a dozen other writers involved) providing other input, but from the sound of it, it just sounds like he wrote what he played for the most part, and not the bulk of the music composition.

I think basing an opinion on latter-day TFK on Roine's two more recent releases is a bit unfair, though it's reasonable to feel reluctant to order Manifesto Of An Alchemist based on those two lukewarm releases.

-Marc.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1115 on: September 24, 2018, 05:51:06 PM »
The Sum of No Evil is a return to form stylistically, but the album itself is weak compared to their best works. Same for Desolation Rose. Those two and The Rainmaker are easily their weakest three to date.

On the flip side, Paradox Hotel is freaking incredible, and Banks of Eden is really good, too.  Those albums should be owned by any TFK fan.

Offline ronnibran

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1116 on: September 24, 2018, 07:56:50 PM »
I really need to check this band out more.  It's been ages since I've given it a try.  In the past year or so I've really grown to appreciate the more "Roine" sounding moments in the Transatlantic albums, so this would be a natural next thing to check out.

Offline Ben_Jamin

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1117 on: September 24, 2018, 08:39:01 PM »
I bought Instant DeLIVEry and I love that set. The Paradox Hotel songs work really well live. Pioneers of Aviation is an amazing instrumental song.
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Online The Letter M

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1118 on: September 25, 2018, 08:45:26 PM »
The Sum of No Evil is a return to form stylistically, but the album itself is weak compared to their best works. Same for Desolation Rose. Those two and The Rainmaker are easily their weakest three to date.

On the flip side, Paradox Hotel is freaking incredible, and Banks of Eden is really good, too.  Those albums should be owned by any TFK fan.

I think part of the reason I like TSONE so much is because it came out not long after I became a fan, and I was a fan of the band's earlier works (Stardust We Are and Retropolis, in particular). At that point in time (06-07), I hadn't grown to liking PH quite yet, so hearing an album that was stylistically similar to their earlier works REALLY appealed to me, and as a drummer, I enjoyed the return of Zoltan (who was one of my favorite parts of UTF). In retrospect, it is a bit weaker comparatively, but on its own, it stands the test of time for me - I still highly enjoy it, but I can see how others might not.

On BOE and DR, I think I like the latter slightly more, but that might be because of my tweaked tracklist that mixes in the bonus songs and makes the album a true double, with the instrumental stuff that didn't make the cut interspersed throughout the album, much like their older works that had instrumental pieces across their albums. And I think coming out not long after BOE, I didn't get BOE much of a chance to sink in, but DR really just hit me and kind of stuck with me harder than BOE. I'm sure in a few years, I'll grow to appreciate BOE more and more, but DR just slightly holds a higher place than it.

I really need to check this band out more.  It's been ages since I've given it a try.  In the past year or so I've really grown to appreciate the more "Roine" sounding moments in the Transatlantic albums, so this would be a natural next thing to check out.

The best way to start is chronologically. I'm sure that's what most folks might say, but if that's too time consuming, I would suggest their third album, Stardust We Are, or their fifth, Space Revolver. Both are top-notch releases and embody what I consider the best strengths of the band at their peak!

-Marc.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Flower Kings Official Thread (Career-spanning box sets now out)
« Reply #1119 on: September 25, 2018, 08:59:33 PM »
Zoltan's drumming was always killer and his drum sound was awesome; it's a shame the songwriting wasn't better when he was brought back into the fold for TSONE.  What's even more frustrating is the sound of the album is really nice - the bass and drums sound really deep and fat while not being overpowering; it's a great mix.