Flower Kings Official Thread

[HOF]

Stardust We Are and Flower Power vinyl arrived a few weeks ago!! 

I still need to bust out all of the CDs with the remasters of the first four and give them a listen.

Let us know how you feel about the remasters. I’ve heard Retropolis on Amazon, but feel like I’d need to A/B the CDs to know if there was a real difference. Did sound nice.

[KevShmev]

Stardust We Are and Flower Power vinyl arrived a few weeks ago!! 

I still need to bust out all of the CDs with the remasters of the first four and give them a listen.

Let us know how you feel about the remasters. I’ve heard Retropolis on Amazon, but feel like I’d need to A/B the CDs to know if there was a real difference. Did sound nice.

The bitch is the new computer I got a year and change ago does not have a CD drive, which means I will have to put the CDs in my old iMac, which I still have hooked up downstairs, and rip all of the new remasters to that, and then transfer them to my external hard driver, and then transfer them to the new computer.  One of these days I will get the urge to do it. 

[The Letter M]

Both Space Revolver and The Rainmaker re-issues are now available for preorder at the usual places, both on CD and double vinyl LP (w/CD).

-Marc.

[ErHaO]

Stardust We Are and Flower Power vinyl arrived a few weeks ago!! 

I still need to bust out all of the CDs with the remasters of the first four and give them a listen.

Let us know how you feel about the remasters. I’ve heard Retropolis on Amazon, but feel like I’d need to A/B the CDs to know if there was a real difference. Did sound nice.

The bitch is the new computer I got a year and change ago does not have a CD drive, which means I will have to put the CDs in my old iMac, which I still have hooked up downstairs, and rip all of the new remasters to that, and then transfer them to my external hard driver, and then transfer them to the new computer.  One of these days I will get the urge to do it. 

Perhaps buying an external USB CD/DVD drive will be a solution, I believe they are quite affordable (ASUS models for example).

[KevShmev]

Perhaps buying an external USB CD/DVD drive will be a solution, I believe they are quite affordable (ASUS models for example).

I've thought about it, but I simply don't buy enough physical product anymore to really need it. 

[RoeDent]

Both Space Revolver and The Rainmaker re-issues are now available for preorder at the usual places, both on CD and double vinyl LP (w/CD).

-Marc.

They're getting these out quickly! About as quickly as the original albums came out... 

That's what it feels like anyway. One of the wildest things to me is how they released Flower Power, an album lasting around 2hrs 20mins, then 9 months later they released Space Revolver, about 76 minutes. You're talking over 3½ hours of music in the space of a year.

[KevShmev]

And don't forget that the first Transatlantic album came out in that space between Flower Power and Space Revolver.  Yes, Neal Morse did a lot of the heavy lifting on that record with regards to songwriting, but Roine's contributions are there, and his playing is all over it.

[The Letter M]

And don't forget that the first Transatlantic album came out in that space between Flower Power and Space Revolver.  Yes, Neal Morse did a lot of the heavy lifting on that record with regards to songwriting, but Roine's contributions are there, and his playing is all over it.

AND Roine even went and did his own mixes of the album as well! The late 90s/early 00s for Neal and Roine were a very busy and productive time, probably their golden age between their respective bands and Transatlantic.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Still working my way through them all, but I have to say that I am not a fan of the way Roine changed some of the new "remasters" of the first four albums.

The Road Back Home sounds way too different. The keys are a lot lower in the mix at times, and some of them even sound a bit different, making me wonder if he had the new keyboardist re-record some of them.

And he completely removed the vocal effect in the first verse of Psychedelic Postcard.  Yeah, that effect is weird as heck, but it is part of the song, and taking it out completely is jarring. And while Hasse's lead vocals are good in that song, it feels like many of the original harmonies in the song are lessened to backup vocals underneath his lead vocal.

Also, he completely emasculated Stupid Girl. The remix sounds lifeless and boring.  What was he thinking??

Way too much revisionist history with these, to say the least.

Thank goodness I still have my originals.

[The Letter M]

Still working my way through them all, but I have to say that I am not a fan of the way Roine changed some of the new "remasters" of the first four albums.

The Road Back Home sounds way too different. The keys are a lot lower in the mix at times, and some of them even sound a bit different, making me wonder if he had the new keyboardist re-record some of them.

And he completely removed the vocal effect in the first verse of Psychedelic Postcard.  Yeah, that effect is weird as heck, but it is part of the song, and taking it out completely is jarring. And while Hasse's lead vocals are good in that song, it feels like many of the original harmonies in the song are lessened to backup vocals underneath his lead vocal.

Also, he completely emasculated Stupid Girl. The remix sounds lifeless and boring.  What was he thinking??

Way too much revisionist history with these, to say the least.

Thank goodness I still have my originals.

Thanks for that review of the remixes/Remaster. I was afraid he was going to tinker around too much. Saves me money from having to buy the first six albums again! They never sounded like they desperately needed updating anyway.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Thanks for that review of the remixes/Remaster. I was afraid he was going to tinker around too much. Saves me money from having to buy the first six albums again! They never sounded like they desperately needed updating anyway.

-Marc.

Nope, they didn't.  The debut getting a little extra oomph in the bottom end department is nice, but everything else was unnecessary.  I still have PTSD from how badly he butchered the remixes of Stupid Girl and Ghost of the Red Cloud.  Two of my favorite TFK songs, but neither would be if those were the versions I heard first.

[Fritzinger]

I have complained about this for some time now but this seems like a good moment to bring up Roine’s butchering of The Devil’s Playground again. Maybe someone needs to tell him to just leave the songs as they are.

[KevShmev]

I have complained about this for some time now but this seems like a good moment to bring up Roine’s butchering of The Devil’s Playground again. Maybe someone needs to tell him to just leave the songs as they are.

The thing is, I will always support the right of the artist to do whatever they want with their art, their work, but we, the consumers and the ones buying the art, have the right to express our dissatisfaction with it, and/or not buy it.  I won't buy anymore of these "remasters" by the band, and really the only reason I bought the first four is because I am a fan of buying vinyl, especially when the albums have covers I really like, and the first two albums and Flower Power are all some of my favorite album covers ever, so I am happy to have them on vinyl.  I just didn't need any remix or remaster of the music because the first four albums all already sounded great.  Okay, the debut needed a bit of a kick when it came to the low end, which it got, but the other three already sounded flawless.

And while I, again, do support Roine's right to remix or do whatever he wants with his music, I do take a bit of umbrage with the way they are presented on YT.  All of the new versions have been uploaded on the band's official YT page, with (2022 Remaster) listed for each, but not a word about the ones that were remixed, which feels a bit misleading.

[425]

I can definitely sympathize with fans who are unhappy with the changes, but at the same time I can also sympathize with an artist who is really unhappy with or even embarrassed by a choice he made 25 years ago.

Personally, I'm happy these albums are getting re-released in any form, since they've been largely just totally unavailable for the last several years (after the quick sell-out of the very limited Kingdom of Colors boxes). If it takes a remaster for Roine to feel comfortable with a re-release, that's okay with me.

[HOF]

I don't mind him changing things if that's what he wants to do, but it does stink that the new versions will likely replace the old for streaming purposes, and it's going to be hard for any new fans to ever find a copy of the originals if they want them. Wish he would have done a two disc set for these with the original mix and the new mix in a 2-disc set like Marillion did with Radiation or King Crimson did with their Steven Wilson remixes.

[KevShmev]

The Flower Kings have been one of a few bands to get a lot of play with me the last few weeks, and listening to those early albums was a reminder of how all-world they were then. Those first five albums are as good as any bands first five albums...ever.  Just an amazing run.  Plenty of greatness since, especially on Paradox Hotel, which is still my favorite TFK album on a lot of days, but that early run is just something that is impossible to equal. 

[DTA]

I listened to the new Stupid Girl after reading this thread and I actually kinda like his new interpretation of it. I do miss the excessively loud xylophone in the chorus but the new mix brings out some different things that are un-hearable in the original. What an incredibly catchy song though. They really did have the perfect blend of pop sensibility, insanely catchy melodies, and expansive, gorgeous anthemic prog themes on those first group of albums.

[NoseofNicko]

Forgive me if this has been talked about before but does anyone have the Stardust We Are 2022 reissue CD and if so do you have any issues with it? I read that there are glitches throughout, is that true? I was planning to buy it this Saturday but now I’m not sure.

[KevShmev]

Forgive me if this has been talked about before but does anyone have the Stardust We Are 2022 reissue CD and if so do you have any issues with it? I read that there are glitches throughout, is that true? I was planning to buy it this Saturday but now I’m not sure.

I haven't gotten around to listening to the CDs yet, but my issues are with songs being remixed for the worse.  The remix of Ghost of the Red Cloud makes me want to not even bother with the rest of the album.  Thank goodness I still have the original.

[Zydar]

Forgive me if this has been talked about before but does anyone have the Stardust We Are 2022 reissue CD and if so do you have any issues with it? I read that there are glitches throughout, is that true? I was planning to buy it this Saturday but now I’m not sure.

I've noticed that too, it's pretty much all over the album.

It's been discussed in the Flower Kings Facebook group, where Roine commented "Mixes and remasters derived from almost 25 year old tapes ........go figure".

https://www.facebook.com/groups/908494075873543/permalink/5371603292895910/

[KevShmev]

Roine also said the remasters are much better in his humble opinion...shocking.   I find it curious that he keeps referring them to as just remasters and not remixes as well.  Saying they are just remasters implies that these are updated and better sounding versions of the original versions and mixes (which many are not).

[RoeDent]

Trying the altered tracklist version of Desolation Rose as suggested by Letter M in the discography thread. It flows wonderfully, especially ending Disc 1 with White Tuxedos; stroke of genius, my friend!

However I still have trouble with how to end the album. For me Silent Graveyards is such an effective ending with Hasse's almighty scream to the heavens above bringing an end to the Bodin era. I decided to put The Final Era third-to-last preceding Blood of Eden and Silent Graveyards

[The Letter M]

Trying the altered tracklist version of Desolation Rose as suggested by Letter M in the discography thread. It flows wonderfully, especially ending Disc 1 with White Tuxedos; stroke of genius, my friend!

However I still have trouble with how to end the album. For me Silent Graveyards is such an effective ending with Hasse's almighty scream to the heavens above bringing an end to the Bodin era. I decided to put The Final Era third-to-last preceding Blood of Eden and Silent Graveyards

Whoa, hey, thanks! It's been YEARS but I'm glad you're checking it out. And as much as I did like Desolation Rose, I don't find myself reaching for it much lately. I guess I haven't been in a very TFK mood this year since BRD came out. I may revisit the band very soon though, and give them a proper discography spin.

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Been a while since this thread had a post, but I just noticed that Roine Stolt and Zach Kamins have shared posts on Facebook regarding the upcoming sets of shows. It looks like Zach will not be joining TFK for this year's shows, and will be replaced by Daniel Lantz for the first handful of shows, then by Lalle Larsson in the fall. Zach has also said in his own post that he will not be on the upcoming TFK studio album either, which is the worse news for me. I guess it was a miracle that the same line-up recorded 3 albums together but any more than that seems like a curse. 

Roine's post - https://www.facebook.com/100000224097006/posts/pfbid034XEPUU93hxVpY6yhzw17CGivTqh8XxgiQ3nWzH48VDSYrZv4SMgYs4oVWYzVMNMPl/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Zach's post - https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02wRwqqDooUAvWZTQKbS9m4mhwEcoDCN72qQoWor9SUnq6rU8jugfbmbNdgphYnFqnl&id=20803122&mibextid=Nif5oz

-Marc.

[Fritzinger]

Sucks that bands are not able to afford their own shows. They should be making money for the music they give us. Instead they can't even play with their own bands because it's too expensive. Meanwhile, Selena Gomez has gained over 15 million new followers on Instagram because of some mindless gossip about that Bieber girl.

[KevShmev]

Been a while since this thread had a post, but I just noticed that Roine Stolt and Zach Kamins have shared posts on Facebook regarding the upcoming sets of shows. It looks like Zach will not be joining TFK for this year's shows, and will be replaced by Daniel Lantz for the first handful of shows, then by Lalle Larsson in the fall. Zach has also said in his own post that he will not be on the upcoming TFK studio album either, which is the worse news for me. I guess it was a miracle that the same line-up recorded 3 albums together but any more than that seems like a curse. 

 

Jeez, for all of the people that have went, somehow Hasse remains!   

And when did Jonas officially leave the band?  I thought he and Michael Stolt shared bass duties on the last album, and now all of a sudden he is just gone?  Will this be like Tomas where he is gone and no one bothers to say why?

[The Letter M]

Been a while since this thread had a post, but I just noticed that Roine Stolt and Zach Kamins have shared posts on Facebook regarding the upcoming sets of shows. It looks like Zach will not be joining TFK for this year's shows, and will be replaced by Daniel Lantz for the first handful of shows, then by Lalle Larsson in the fall. Zach has also said in his own post that he will not be on the upcoming TFK studio album either, which is the worse news for me. I guess it was a miracle that the same line-up recorded 3 albums together but any more than that seems like a curse. 

 

Jeez, for all of the people that have went, somehow Hasse remains!   

And when did Jonas officially leave the band?  I thought he and Michael Stolt shared bass duties on the last album, and now all of a sudden he is just gone?  Will this be like Tomas where he is gone and no one bothers to say why?

IIRC, he was busy touring with Steve Hackett, but I'm not sure if that extends through the upcoming shows for TFK. Has it been said whether or not Jonas is participating on the upcoming tour?

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

IIRC, he was busy touring with Steve Hackett, but I'm not sure if that extends through the upcoming shows for TFK. Has it been said whether or not Jonas is participating on the upcoming tour?

-Marc.

I saw this tweet:

https://twitter.com/TheFlowerKings/status/1637516543759196160

No mention of Jonas.

[The Letter M]

IIRC, he was busy touring with Steve Hackett, but I'm not sure if that extends through the upcoming shows for TFK. Has it been said whether or not Jonas is participating on the upcoming tour?

-Marc.

I saw this tweet:

https://twitter.com/TheFlowerKings/status/1637516543759196160

No mention of Jonas.

I guess his leave has been extended. Looking at Hackett's tour dates for 2023, it looks like Jonas will be fairly busy (assuming he is still touring with Hackett).

Also interesting to note that the new album is slated for early September. I guess we won't get any more info on that til at least June or so, with the typical Inside Out 3-month marketing campaign.

-Marc.

[hefdaddy42]

Slight title change for the thread.

[KevShmev]

I guess his leave has been extended. Looking at Hackett's tour dates for 2023, it looks like Jonas will be fairly busy (assuming he is still touring with Hackett).

Also interesting to note that the new album is slated for early September. I guess we won't get any more info on that til at least June or so, with the typical Inside Out 3-month marketing campaign.

Makes me wonder if touring with Hackett pays better than touring with the Flower Kings.  Hackett looks to have a pretty full slate of dates this year, so it could definitely be a financial decision on the part of Jonas, as I cannot imagine he has gotten rich being in the Flower Kings.

[The Letter M]

I guess his leave has been extended. Looking at Hackett's tour dates for 2023, it looks like Jonas will be fairly busy (assuming he is still touring with Hackett).

Also interesting to note that the new album is slated for early September. I guess we won't get any more info on that til at least June or so, with the typical Inside Out 3-month marketing campaign.

Makes me wonder if touring with Hackett pays better than touring with the Flower Kings.  Hackett looks to have a pretty full slate of dates this year, so it could definitely be a financial decision on the part of Jonas, as I cannot imagine he has gotten rich being in the Flower Kings.

And I think Jonas has been a part of more projects and bands than Roine has in the last decade, including Kaipa, The Tangent, The Fringe, and of course Karmakanic, as well as a bunch of one-off groups like The Sea Within, The Backstage, and Tillison Reingold Tiranti. And this is just recorded material, I'm not sure who else he's played with live beyond Hackett, but I'm sure the Hackett shows definitely pay more and have a larger draw than TFK so I don't blame him.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

And I think Jonas has been a part of more projects and bands than Roine has in the last decade, including Kaipa, The Tangent, The Fringe, and of course Karmakanic, as well as a bunch of one-off groups like The Sea Within, The Backstage, and Tillison Reingold Tiranti. And this is just recorded material, I'm not sure who else he's played with live beyond Hackett, but I'm sure the Hackett shows definitely pay more and have a larger draw than TFK so I don't blame him.

Yep, he keeps pretty busy, and I get it if he likes bouncing from project to project rather than sitting around and waiting for Roine to come up with a time table for the next TFK album and tour.  I would imagine Roine is the only one who makes any real money from the albums and tours.

[HOF]

And I think Jonas has been a part of more projects and bands than Roine has in the last decade, including Kaipa, The Tangent, The Fringe, and of course Karmakanic, as well as a bunch of one-off groups like The Sea Within, The Backstage, and Tillison Reingold Tiranti. And this is just recorded material, I'm not sure who else he's played with live beyond Hackett, but I'm sure the Hackett shows definitely pay more and have a larger draw than TFK so I don't blame him.

Yep, he keeps pretty busy, and I get it if he likes bouncing from project to project rather than sitting around and waiting for Roine to come up with a time table for the next TFK album and tour.  I would imagine Roine is the only one who makes any real money from the albums and tours.

Might also be a situation where Roine just wanted to tour with his brother again. They are getting on in age.

[Nick]

Eh, I think you guys are both just overlooking the obvious. Steve Hackett's band is a huge step in financial stability and prestige above The Flower Kings. I'm sure Jonas has to give full commitments to that and can make other things work if the pieces fall right. On TFK side, they are in a delicate enough situation that trying to work around Jonas puts a hardship on every other facet of booking and making things happen, so forge ahead, if Jonas can join, great, and if not, plan B.