Author Topic: The Flower Kings Discography: Desolation Rose (2013)  (Read 17969 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #70 on: March 18, 2014, 02:24:43 PM »
I just figured you'd know it because it's pretty obvious and you're clearly a big Flower Kings fan.  The only missing piece is being even casually familiar with early Genesis, since the "Watcher of the Skies" riff is pretty iconic in its own right.  It jumped right out at me.  I'll try to dig up time stamps in the next day or two.

I've never bought the "Heart of the Sunrise" - "21st Century Schizoid Man" connection.  Has anyone from Yes copped to it?  Because otherwise, it's four notes, completely different rhythms, repeated a different number of times, and even at that are still only the first notes in long runs which go off into different directions.  But hey, some people hear those two riffs and it jumps right out at them, too.  The "Watcher of the Skies" riff in the Flower Kings song is exactly the same riff.

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #71 on: March 18, 2014, 05:11:33 PM »
I have no idea what melody you are talking about.  A little help with a time stamp?

Crap.  It's not "Watcher of the Skies", it's "The Fountain of Salmacis", the song right before it in your Genesis chronology (last song from Nursery Cryme as opposed to first song from Foxtrot).

Listen to the opening minute or so of "The Fountain of Salmacis".  That keyboard line with the intervals which eventually becomes the backdrop for the verses.  Now go to 7:52 in "World of Adventures".  Listen to the keyboards behind the guitar.  He's playing around a bit, but twice he plays the exact lick, same key and everything.  That's what first caught my ear.

Now go to 0:27 in "Just This Once" and again listen to the keys.  Very similar.  Structurally the same.

Listening again, I consider the first one to be an homage.  On the first album, no one has heard of him or the band, and slipping the lick into the background is fun.  By the third album, it's not exactly the same notes and can be written off as coincidence, or maybe just derivative.  It's a weird lick, a Tony Banks lick, and when you've been playing a lick like that for so long, it's almost impossible not to play it once in a while when you're just jamming around, and those jams are what eventually become band compositions.

I'm not crying foul, and I wasn't before.  I'm just pointing them out.

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #72 on: March 18, 2014, 06:26:49 PM »
I have no idea what melody you are talking about.  A little help with a time stamp?

Crap.  It's not "Watcher of the Skies", it's "The Fountain of Salmacis", the song right before it in your Genesis chronology (last song from Nursery Cryme as opposed to first song from Foxtrot).

Listen to the opening minute or so of "The Fountain of Salmacis".  That keyboard line with the intervals which eventually becomes the backdrop for the verses.  Now go to 7:52 in "World of Adventures".  Listen to the keyboards behind the guitar.  He's playing around a bit, but twice he plays the exact lick, same key and everything.  That's what first caught my ear.

Now go to 0:27 in "Just This Once" and again listen to the keys.  Very similar.  Structurally the same.

Listening again, I consider the first one to be an homage.  On the first album, no one has heard of him or the band, and slipping the lick into the background is fun.  By the third album, it's not exactly the same notes and can be written off as coincidence, or maybe just derivative.  It's a weird lick, a Tony Banks lick, and when you've been playing a lick like that for so long, it's almost impossible not to play it once in a while when you're just jamming around, and those jams are what eventually become band compositions.

I'm not crying foul, and I wasn't before.  I'm just pointing them out.

I went back to Nursery Cryme thinking you meant "The Fountain Of Salmacis" but the Tony banks organ line in that is in duple meter where as Tomas Bodin's line in "Just This Once" was in triple.

Also, both keyboardists have the initials TB. Coincidence? Or just serendipitous?

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #73 on: March 18, 2014, 08:25:11 PM »
Neither.  Conspiracy.

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #74 on: March 18, 2014, 08:40:07 PM »
Neither.  Conspiracy.

At least TFK's bassist doesn't have the initials MR (Michael Rutherford)...although, their first bassist WAS named Michael, and Jonas's last name begins with an R.

And like Genesis, TFK have had plenty of drummers over the years. I think I'm reading in to this too much now.

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #75 on: March 18, 2014, 11:28:33 PM »
Actually, Genesis only officially had one drummer, Phil Collins.  The first album had a studio drummer because they didn't have a regular drummer, John Mayhew played on the second album, but was considered a tangential member of the group at best, and Phil joined on the third album.  After Phil left, they only made one album before calling it quits. Nir Z played drums on the last album, but was not considered a regular band member.  He's listed under Additional Musicians.

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #76 on: March 18, 2014, 11:47:10 PM »
Actually, Genesis only officially had one drummer, Phil Collins.  The first album had a studio drummer because they didn't have a regular drummer, John Mayhew played on the second album, but was considered a tangential member of the group at best, and Phil joined on the third album.  After Phil left, they only made one album before calling it quits. Nir Z played drums on the last album, but was not considered a regular band member.  He's listed under Additional Musicians.

Fair enough, but I always considered the drummers for their first two albums as official members. Then again, many fans don't really acknowledge Genesis' debut album all that much.

Anyways, back on the TFK train. Something that has bothered me for quite sometime is how often Hasse and Hans get interchanged. Is it like a knickname for Swedish people, like how people named Richard can be called Dick, or William get Bill, or Robert get Bob? I see both Froberg and Bruniusson get both Hasse and Hans as their first names in many places. Which is right for who? I think for Froberg, it's definitely Hasse, but for Bruniusson, I've seen both equally.

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #77 on: March 19, 2014, 07:08:51 AM »
Okay, to be completely fair, Phil Collins was the fourth Genesis drummer.  The original drummer was Chris Stewart, who went to school with founding members Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Ant Phillips, and Mike Rutherford.  But when they went to record the first album, producer/manager Jonathan King pushed to have him replaced because he wasn't good enough.  John Silver was brought in, played on the first album, and is listed as a band member, but he left shortly thereafter.  I guess that's why I don't really consider either of them actual drummers for the band.  John Mayhew played on Trespass, but he pretty much came out of nowhere and left again afterwards.  So again, an official member who really never gelled with the band.

As for the Hasse vs. Hans thing, I'm glad I'm not the only one who was confused.  I just figured I got the names mixed up, again, whenever I see them.

Online SomeoneLikeHim

  • The flame is gone
  • Posts: 1603
  • Gender: Male
  • The fire remains
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #78 on: March 19, 2014, 07:43:38 AM »
Something that has bothered me for quite sometime is how often Hasse and Hans get interchanged. Is it like a knickname for Swedish people, like how people named Richard can be called Dick, or William get Bill, or Robert get Bob?

-Marc.
Yes, that's it exactly.
"We can walk our road together, if our goals are all the same
We can run alone and free, if we pursue a different aim"

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Stardust We Are (1997)
« Reply #79 on: March 19, 2014, 08:51:55 AM »
I have no idea what melody you are talking about.  A little help with a time stamp?

Crap.  It's not "Watcher of the Skies", it's "The Fountain of Salmacis", the song right before it in your Genesis chronology (last song from Nursery Cryme as opposed to first song from Foxtrot).

Listen to the opening minute or so of "The Fountain of Salmacis".  That keyboard line with the intervals which eventually becomes the backdrop for the verses.  Now go to 7:52 in "World of Adventures".  Listen to the keyboards behind the guitar.  He's playing around a bit, but twice he plays the exact lick, same key and everything.  That's what first caught my ear.

Now go to 0:27 in "Just This Once" and again listen to the keys.  Very similar.  Structurally the same.

Ah, okay.  I totally hear what you are talking about.  Not a big deal to me; kind of cool, actually.  :hat

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #80 on: March 21, 2014, 09:59:13 AM »
Flower Power (1999)



Tomas Bodin - keyboards
Hasse Bruniusson - percussion
Hasse Fröberg - vocals
Jaime Salazar - drums
Michael Stolt - bass guitar
Roine Stolt - vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass guitar
Ulf Wallander - soprano saxophone

----------

Disc 1:

1-18.     "Garden Of Dreams" (Tomas Bodin, Stolt)
"Dawn"
"Simple Song"
"Business Vamp"
"All You Can Save"
"Attack Of The Monster Briefcase"
"Mr. Hope Goes To Wall Street"
"Did I Tell You?"
"Garden Of Dreams"
"Don't Let The d'Evil In"
"Love Is The Word"
"There's No Such Night"
"The Mean Machine"
"Dungeon Of The Deep"
"Indian Summer"
"Sunny Lane"
"Gardens Revisited"
"Shadowland"
"The Final Deal"
19.     "Captain Capstan"
20.     "Ikea By Night" (Jaime Salazar)
21.     "Astral Dog" (Salazar, Stolt)

Disc 2:

1.     "Deaf, Numb & Blind"
2.     "Stupid Girl"
3.     "Corruption"
4.     "Power Of Kindness" (Bodin)
5.     "Psychedelic Postcard"
6.     "Hudson River Sirens Call 1998"
7.     "Magic Pie" (Hasse Fröberg)
8.     "Painter"
9.     "Calling Home"
10.   "Afterlife" (Bodin, Stolt)

(all songs written and composed by Roine Stolt, except where noted)

----------

Now we move on to Flower Power, the band's 4th studio album and their 2nd double album.  It was also my introduction to the band back in the spring of 2000.  When I got the CD, I was immediately struck by how gorgeous the album cover is.  There was just something surreal  and almost hypnotic about it that grabbed me, and it remains my favorite album cover of theirs to this day, by a wide margin.

The music matches the greatness of the album cover.  In fact, some of those dazzling keyboard lines heard during the first half of Business Vamp sound like they were written to match the album cover.  Strange as that sounds, that is always the impression I get.  The subtitle on the cover of "Journey To The Hidden Corners Of Your Mind" couldn't be any more appropriate, as the Garden of Dreams suite that takes up most of Disc 1 pretty much runs the gauntlet and takes you to places you never thought you'd go in such a short span.  Is that a bit hyperbolic?  Probably, but nearly 14 years after first hearing the near-hour long suite, I am still blown to shreds when I listen to in full and the magnitude of its totality overwhelms me for the nth time.  Business Vamp remains, for me. the best five minutes of Flower Kings music ever, while All You Can Save has arguably Roine Stolt's best recorded guitar solo ever (although there are many top contenders for the throne).

The rest of the album is mostly really good as well, but, oddly, it took me nearly a year after getting these CDs to actually listen to anything from it besides the GoD suite. Tacking the two short songs and Astral Dog on to the end of the first disc was more than a bit strange, and the second disc mostly sounds like a bunch of songs that are in (mostly) no discernible order, aside from the obvious opener in Deaf, Numb and Blind (great song!) & the closer in Afterlife (which reprises the melody from the beginning of Garden of Dreams).  But, even though the flow is a touch lacking, especially when compared to Stardust We Are, which has an immaculate flow, the songs are still there.  I have always had major love for Psycedelic Postcard and Stupid Girl, and there is something about both Painter and Calling Home that I just really love.  In fact, while typing this, I realize, when the songs are this good, who cares about flow?! :lol  Even the Hasse Froberg-penned Magic Pie is fairly enjoyable, thanks to some out of this world playing by Tomas Bodin in the latter half of the song.  I wasn't a fan of that song for a long time. but Bodin's work in it finally converted me somewhat recently.  Basically, when I finally got into Disc 2, it was like finding money, money that had been under my nose for a year already! Haha.

Notable, too, is that was the last Flower Kings album that Michael Stolt appears on. Being that the band is so unknown that it is difficult to find any information on them, especially on events that predate my fandom, so I am unaware as to why he left the band, but if anyone has any inside information regarding it, feel free to share!

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #81 on: March 21, 2014, 11:00:37 AM »
Flower Power is still the one TFK double-album I have trouble fully digesting. I completely fell in love with Stardust We Are and Unfold The Future when I first heard them back around 2005. For some reason, they were so easy for me, and even after Paradox Hotel came out, which took me a couple years to really *get*, I still don't really *get* Flower Power. I mean, I enjoy "Garden Of Dreams" (abbreviated as GOD, I wonder if that was on purpose?), and many of the other shorter songs, but the album as a whole just doesn't gel with me yet. I've been hoping that while spinning their discography along with this thread will help me fix that.

As for Michael Stolt's departure, the most I could find online was that he left the group to pursue other musical ventures of his own. I'm not sure if anything like that ever happened, but when Tomas Bodin recorded his follow up to I AM, the album You Are by the band name Eggs & Dogs, Michael Stolt was his bassist and lead vocalist. Hasse Froberg, with Tomas Bodin, have also tapped Michael to play bass on a project with Opeth's drummer Martin Axenroth, vocalist Nathalie Lorichs (who has sung with Opeth), and guitarist Joakim "JJ" Marsh (Glenn Hughes band) titled Crime Of The Century. Because of the resurrection of The Flower Kings, work has been slowed down, but Tomas and Hasse are still working on this project, apparently. Hopefully more news comes about soon!

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #82 on: March 21, 2014, 11:25:32 AM »
Just chiming in to say that "Garden of Dreams" is pretty freakin' amazing, and yeah, it's weird that they put the three songs on the disc after it.  Okay, there's nothing wrong that; ultimately we're looking at a collection of songs taking up two CDs, and a part of that (a huge part) is the GoD suite.  It seems like that would occupy a single disc, then the other disc have all the "regular" songs.  That would be the prog way.  Obviously they weren't worried about that.  They had 160 minutes of time space to work with, and pretty much filled it all up.

Wait... you know, I've never checked.  AMG says the total album time is 140 minutes, and GoD is 60 minutes, so the other 80 minutes should have fit onto the other disc.  Of course, I'm sure they're rounding off the times, but if the other 13 songs fit on Disc Two, why not do it that way?  Whatever.

So anyway, this is yet another Flower Kings album that I put on, let it play through, think it's awesome, and hardly know any song titles.  I think "Stupid Girl" was the one with the Zappa-esque sounding break.  Or maybe I'm just making the association because of the title.

Other than that, I have nothing.  Great stuff, but I can't discuss individual tracks.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #83 on: March 21, 2014, 12:57:23 PM »
Actually, I did the math, and Astral Dog wouldn't have fitted on Disc 2. Granted, I think they could have tightened it up a bit and not let the latter half of the song drag on so much, and then it would have fitted, but as it is, it wouldn't have.  That, of course, leads to the argument of having to put everything they wrote on the album.  All three instrumentals on the second disc are enjoyable, but one (or all) of them could have been chucked and I probably wouldn't cared.  Ultimately, if you ignore the disc thing and think of Astral Dog as kicking off Part 2 of the album, it is just fine; it just seems weird that it was tacked on after Garden of Dreams on Disc 1.

Stupid Girl is unique as it is about the closest thing they've ever done on a proper studio album to a dance track.  Yet it still manages to rock. :metal

Offline kirksnosehair

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 8521
  • Gender: Male
  • Bryce & Kylie's Grandpa
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #84 on: March 21, 2014, 01:32:16 PM »
This is really a spectacular album.  There is just a tiny bit of bloat in the GoD suite, but other than that, the whole thing -both discs- is aces.  Seeing them perform it live on the "Meet The Flower Kings" DVD really gave me a whole new appreciation for it.   


Heh, I think I'll give this a spin at the gym tomorrow.  :hat




Great thread so far, Kev!  :corn

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #85 on: March 21, 2014, 01:32:25 PM »
In the end, how it's broken up by disc doesn't much matter to me because it's just an album on my iPod.  I know some people actually tag the tracks with "Flower Power, Disc 1" and "Flower Power, Disc 2" but that doesn't make any sense to me.  The tracks being divided up into discs is an artificial thing imposed by the medium, much as LPs back in the day were divided into Side 1 and Side 2.  Actually, then it was kinda cool because you could often tell they they'd taken some care to sequence the songs knowing which song opened or closed a side.  Anyway, here on my iPod it's the whole "Garden of Dreams" suite (individual tracks, but clean segues), then everything else, all one album.  As it should be.  Yay.

Offline The Letter M

  • Posts: 15490
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #86 on: March 21, 2014, 02:09:39 PM »
In the end, how it's broken up by disc doesn't much matter to me because it's just an album on my iPod.  I know some people actually tag the tracks with "Flower Power, Disc 1" and "Flower Power, Disc 2" but that doesn't make any sense to me.  The tracks being divided up into discs is an artificial thing imposed by the medium, much as LPs back in the day were divided into Side 1 and Side 2.  Actually, then it was kinda cool because you could often tell they they'd taken some care to sequence the songs knowing which song opened or closed a side.  Anyway, here on my iPod it's the whole "Garden of Dreams" suite (individual tracks, but clean segues), then everything else, all one album.  As it should be.  Yay.

Exactly the way I feel too which is why I don't get the arguments about "disc 1 vs disc 2" with albums like SDOIT.

-Marc.
ATTENTION - HAKEN FANS! The HAKEN SURVIVOR 2023 has begun! You can check it out in the Polls/Survivors Forum!!!

Online hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52776
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #87 on: March 22, 2014, 05:06:45 AM »
I'm a little behind the thread, just finishing Stardust We Are disc 1 now.  It's been too long, simply gorgeous.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #88 on: March 22, 2014, 09:17:25 AM »

Great thread so far, Kev!  :corn

Thanks! :coolio

In the end, how it's broken up by disc doesn't much matter to me because it's just an album on my iPod.  I know some people actually tag the tracks with "Flower Power, Disc 1" and "Flower Power, Disc 2" but that doesn't make any sense to me.  The tracks being divided up into discs is an artificial thing imposed by the medium, much as LPs back in the day were divided into Side 1 and Side 2.  Actually, then it was kinda cool because you could often tell they they'd taken some care to sequence the songs knowing which song opened or closed a side.  Anyway, here on my iPod it's the whole "Garden of Dreams" suite (individual tracks, but clean segues), then everything else, all one album.  As it should be.  Yay.

It's not an exact science, but the way I have the suite broken up into individual mp3s looks like this:

Dawn / Simple Song / Business Vamp
All You Can Save
Attack of the Monster Briefcase / Mr. Hope Goes to Wall Street / Did I Tell You
Garden of Dreams
Don't Let The d'Evil In
Love Is the World / There's No Such Night
The Mean Machine
Dungeon of the Deep
Indian Summer
Sunny Lane
Gardens Revisited
Shadowland / The Final Deal

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #89 on: March 22, 2014, 04:18:32 PM »
For things like Chicago's "Ballet for a Girl in Buckhannon", I use editing software to append things together, because I shuffle the album, and also have playlists which I'll shuffle, and the whole suite needs to be kept intact.  But I was pleasantly surprised that my iPod is able to just play through the whole thing seamlessly (that is, without annoying gaps or other bad segues).  And since I only ever listen to the whole album at once anyway, I just left it.

Offline jingle.boy

  • I'm so ronery; so sad and ronery
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 44539
  • Gender: Male
  • DTF's resident deceased dictator
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #90 on: March 23, 2014, 04:59:06 AM »
Just catching up now.  I listened to Stardust We Are on Friday while working, and found it enjoyable.  Unfortunately, being a double disc, I just don't have the time to sit down with it and really listen to it with my undivided attention.  Not sure anything really wow'd me.

On to Flower Power this morning.  My gut says 'twill be a similar experience.
That's a word salad - and take it from me, I know word salad
I fear for the day when something happens on the right that is SO nuts that even Stadler says "That's crazy".
Quote from: Puppies_On_Acid
Remember the mark of a great vocalist is if TAC hates them with a special passion

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #91 on: March 23, 2014, 08:58:13 AM »
For things like Chicago's "Ballet for a Girl in Buckhannon", I use editing software to append things together, because I shuffle the album, and also have playlists which I'll shuffle, and the whole suite needs to be kept intact.  But I was pleasantly surprised that my iPod is able to just play through the whole thing seamlessly (that is, without annoying gaps or other bad segues).  And since I only ever listen to the whole album at once anyway, I just left it.

Makes sense, but me separating the tracks the way I did is merely for the purpose of when I make CDs for my car, and since I rarely have time to listen to an hour-long song in one trip, this allows me to listen to whatever tracks I am in the mood for at any particular time.

Just catching up now.  I listened to Stardust We Are on Friday while working, and found it enjoyable.  Unfortunately, being a double disc, I just don't have the time to sit down with it and really listen to it with my undivided attention.  Not sure anything really wow'd me.

On to Flower Power this morning.  My gut says 'twill be a similar experience.

I do not accept excuses.  I'm gonna need you to do a better job of keeping up here, sir. :biggrin:

Offline jingle.boy

  • I'm so ronery; so sad and ronery
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 44539
  • Gender: Male
  • DTF's resident deceased dictator
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #92 on: March 23, 2014, 12:40:55 PM »
Ok... I'm sick as shit and spent most of the morning in bed with fever/chills/aches.  Not before I got thru the first half of GoD.  But so long as I'm not looking at the track titles while listening, I can't tell you what stuck out to me.  Nice stuff though.
That's a word salad - and take it from me, I know word salad
I fear for the day when something happens on the right that is SO nuts that even Stadler says "That's crazy".
Quote from: Puppies_On_Acid
Remember the mark of a great vocalist is if TAC hates them with a special passion

Offline Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #93 on: March 23, 2014, 03:30:46 PM »
Well, it's a start.  :P

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #94 on: March 23, 2014, 10:35:21 PM »
Yep, better late than never! 

Get better, jingle.boy! And when you do, get to listening. :coolio

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #95 on: March 24, 2014, 03:39:14 AM »
I love GOD, and mostly because of that, I rarely listen to the rest of the album. Normally, I would grab the CD and while I sometimes want to just start with disc 2, I'll put on Garden of Dreams everytime. After that hour long exploration of the mind, I never have the desire to listen to any more.
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #96 on: March 24, 2014, 12:17:41 PM »
That's pretty much why it took me so long to get into Disc 2; I never made it that far cause I was liking GoD so much!

In fact, I think when I finally did get around to Disc 2, like a year after owning it, when I finally took it out to listen to it, ya know that secure feeling the CD has in the case the first time you take it out, but is never like that again even if you put it back in and push it down as hard as you can?  It was still like that...a year later. :lol :lol

Offline kirksnosehair

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 8521
  • Gender: Male
  • Bryce & Kylie's Grandpa
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #97 on: March 24, 2014, 02:38:57 PM »
Ok... I'm sick as shit and spent most of the morning in bed with fever/chills/aches.  Not before I got thru the first half of GoD.  But so long as I'm not looking at the track titles while listening, I can't tell you what stuck out to me.  Nice stuff though.


I don't know how into DVDs you are, but if you really want to see what The Flower Kings are all about, get yourself a copy of "Meet The Flower Kings"


It's a "live" recording, but what they did was they invited about 40 or 50 people to sit in the studio with them and they played a metric shit-ton of music together - "live" - in front of the group of people.  It's a little strange in that none of the people ever clap or do anything, they just kind of sit there.  But it was that DVD that really opened my eyes to Roine Stolt's greatness.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #98 on: March 24, 2014, 04:33:36 PM »
I like that DVD, but it just doesn't look like a live release, and since I almost always think studio versions are better than live versions, especially with this band, I wouldn't recommend getting it until you've gotten most of their studio albums.  If I were gonna recommend a live DVD, I'd recommend Instant Delivery.

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Flower Power (1999)
« Reply #99 on: March 25, 2014, 06:39:46 AM »
I like that DVD, but it just doesn't look like a live release, and since I almost always think studio versions are better than live versions, especially with this band, I wouldn't recommend getting it until you've gotten most of their studio albums.  If I were gonna recommend a live DVD, I'd recommend Instant Delivery.

I really think both are great. Totally different, not only in terms of production and music, but too in how the band present itself. On Meet The Flower Kings they are just a bunch of goofy nerds on a stage, the silence in the room makes it even a little awkward at times. And on Instand Delivery they are a sharp live band, with some great stuff happening on stage (Hasse over-acting a bit). The difference in song lengths is noticeable too. 

I'd like to think of Meet... as their 'prog' release, and Instant as their more commercial release. But both are awesome.
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Space Revolver (2000)
« Reply #100 on: March 28, 2014, 12:21:31 PM »
Space Revolver (2000)



Tomas Bodin - piano, organ, synthesizer, Mellotron
Hans Bruniusson - mallet percussion, vocals
Hans Fröberg - vocals, acoustic guitar
Jonas Reingold - bass guitar
Jaime Salazar - drums
Roine Stolt - vocals, guitar, bass guitar
Ulf Wallander - soprano saxophone

----------

1.   "I Am the Sun - Part One"
2.   "Dream On Dreamer" (Tomas Bodin, Stolt)
3.   "Rumble Fish Twist" (Bodin)
4.   "Monster Within"
5.   "Chicken Farmer Song"
6.   "Underdog"
7.   "You Don't Know What You've Got" (Hasse Fröberg)
8.   "Slave to Money"
9.   "A Kings Prayer"
10.   "I Am the Sun - Part Two"

(All songs written and composed by Roine Stolt, except where noted.)

----------

Space Revolver is the band's 5th studio (and 3rd single disc) album, and features the first significant member change, as Jonas Reingold replaced Michael Stolt as the band's bass player.  It was a change for the better, as Reingold's bass playing is beastly more often than not. Michael Stolt did a very good job on the first four albums, but Reingold, who was clearly influenced by Yes' Chris Squire, took it to a whole new level, and the best examples of this on his record with the band are the ending of I Am the Sun - Part Two, Rumble Fish Twist and Monster Within. 

This also was the record where they really started to use Hasse Froberg more as a lead vocalist.  He only has one song where he does all of the lead vocals, You Don't Know What You've Got, but this is really where they started doing a lot of songs where Roine Stolt and Froberg shared the lead vocals. They had done it a few times on previous albums, like in songs like There Is More to This World and Stardust We Are, but A King's Prayer, Underdog, Slave to Money and Monster Within all saw Roine and Froberg sharing lead vocals.  This formula can sometimes be a bit hit or miss, IMO, but it worked great on this record.

Stylistically, this was still very much a TKF record, but they definitely veered out of their comfort zone more often than not here, and the rocking aspect definitely was way back up on this one, heard in the main riff in I Am the Sun - Part One, Monster Within, the first several minutes of Rumble Fish Twist and the ending of Underdog.  The band can definitely rock hard when they want to. 

As for quality, it is pretty darn high on this one, relatively speaking.  This usually runs neck-and-neck for me alongside Retropolis for best TFK single disc.  Monster Within is one of their most twisted and awesomely underrated songs ever, A King's Prayer is a wonderfully melodic tune with an astonishing guitar solo at the end, and I Am the Sun, which bookends the album with a Part One and Part Two (similar to DT's In the Presence of Enemies or Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond), is arguably their best "sidelong" epic ever.  If someone asked me, what is the best 25 minutes of TFK music ever, I'd probably say either the first eight tracks of Garden of Dreams or I Am the Sun.  If someone had never heard the Flower Kings before, and asked me where to start, you couldn't go wrong with this one.

Offline Mindflux

  • DT.net Veteran
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 2187
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Space Revolver (2000)
« Reply #101 on: March 28, 2014, 01:00:17 PM »

Stylistically, this was still very much a TKF record,

So a completely different band?

Offline kirksnosehair

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 8521
  • Gender: Male
  • Bryce & Kylie's Grandpa
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Space Revolver (2000)
« Reply #102 on: March 28, 2014, 01:57:04 PM »
I love this record!    Another TFK album that I usually listen to front to back without skipping anything.    It's funny how certain songs or albums can trigger memories.  When I first got into The Flower Kings, this album was their "current" release.   This is one of the more accessible TFK albums.  At least it was for me.  My only gripes with it are the over-driven vocals in "Monster Within" (an effect I've always disliked, regardless of band) and I'm not too fond of how long the ambient second half of "Rumble Fish Twist" drones on for.  That could have been 2 or 3 minutes shorter and it would have sounded fine.  Those are both pretty minor things, though.  The epic is breathtaking and I think breaking it up was a good idea. 


This is definitely a 4-star album  :tup    Also my favorite TFK album art.

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Space Revolver (2000)
« Reply #103 on: March 29, 2014, 04:29:08 AM »
This really is my favorite TFK single disc album, and high up there in overall favorite TFK album. Like Kirk said, way more accessible than other albums. For starters it's shorter, you could easily listen to this in a single run, but stylistically it's more accessible too. And I often see this as one of the best produced records in my collection. Whenever I've bought new speakers, or new headphones, I play this, it's so wide and open, there's a lot going on, but it's never dense. I Am The Sun is great, maybe even their best epic.
As a matter of fact, I think it's one of my favorite albums by any band ever. When I went away for a few weeks last year, with none of my own music on me, this was the first album I listened to when I got the chance.
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Offline KevShmev

  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 41963
  • Gender: Male
Re: The Flower Kings Discography: Space Revolver (2000)
« Reply #104 on: March 29, 2014, 10:03:26 AM »
I forgot to mention how funny the spoken word samples at the end of Underdog are, given that they are talking about a pizza. 

"How could you possibly fit all of that in your mouth?!" :rollin :rollin


Stylistically, this was still very much a TKF record,

So a completely different band?

 :facepalm: :lol