Flower Kings albums countdown thread! (Countdown underway)

[KevShmev]

Okay, let's give this a crack.  We will count down the Flower Kings albums in order of preference.

I will count down all 15, but I will do this a little different and ask everyone to send their top 10.  I think this will make it a little easier since I think there are likely some who can do 10, but maybe haven't heard all 15 in order to rank them all.

The rules:
-Albums must be listed from 10 to 1 in order (in reverse order), with no ties.  No having three albums at number 3 or anything like that.  DO NOT list your albums with the points total. List them in your order (I will figure out the points on my end).
-Any list submitted with the albums not numbered will be ignored.
-Anyone wanting to submit a list must do so by the end of day, Saturday, May 13th.  I will then begin the countdown shortly thereafter.
-The list will be tallied numerically in a simple way. On each list, whatever album is at number 1 gets 10 points, number 2 gets 9 points, number 3 gets 8 points, etc.
-PROOFREAD YOUR LISTS BEFORE SENDING THEM.  Any list with the same album mentioned twice will be not be counted.

Feel free to post in this thread as well that you have PM'd me, if for no other reason than to bump this back up for others who may want to participate who may not have seen the thread yet.

This ranking engine link below works great if you have too much difficulty making one on your own. You can input all of the albums you want, and then you pick your favorite of every 1 on 1 matchup and then it spits out your list.

https://rankingengine.pubmeeple.com/

The albums are:

Back in the World of Adventures
Retropolis
Stardust We Are
Flower Power
Space Revolver
The Rainmaker
Unfold the Future
Adam & Eve
Paradox Hotel
The Sum of No Evil
Banks of Eden
Desolation Rose
Waiting for Miracles
Islands
By Royal Decree

And before anyone asks, no, Roine's solo album The Flower Kings is not a Flower Kings album and cannot be included in this. Same goes for Manifesto of an Alchemist, which is also not a Flower Kings album. Putting either of these albums in your top 10 will disqualify your list.  This is not up for debate. 

[Mladen]

There are several albums I haven't heard, but I'm still joining in on the fun. And also ruining the fun a bit, since my tastes might be controversial. 

[Zydar]

Nice! I'm gonna have to take my time with this one (unlike the previous countdowns) to get reacquainted with the albums.

Don't think I'll be using the ranker though, since it's only 10 albums to rank.

[DTA]

Sent. I’m curious to see how this plays out

[ReaperKK]

Jeez there are that many TFK albums? I'm only familiar with Stardust We Are, I'll be watching but not participating

[BRGM]

This will be fun, I've sent my list 

[HOF]

I’ve heard 9, but that won’t stop me from submitting a list. Too bad about The Flower King, but it is what it is.

[The Letter M]

I've sent my list. Even though I used the sorter, the end result was pretty predictable. I suspect there may be some consensus with most of the top 5 but it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes down since not everyone participating has head all 15 as I have, which I'm sure will skew the results a tiny bit.

-Marc.

[RoeDent]

Sent mine this morning. I did use the matchups thing as a curiosity and, a couple of adjustments aside, it felt pretty accurate.

[KevShmev]

Alright, six lists already (which includes mine). Will be interested to see if we get to 10-15. I am hopeful. 

[Zydar]

Okay, my list is now sent!

[HOF]

Will be sending. Pretty easy for me to identify my top 5, but there’s not a lot separating them from each other to me, and I’m not sold on my initial order. May also try to sample the ones I don’t know before submitting.

[RoeDent]

Jeez there are that many TFK albums? I'm only familiar with Stardust We Are, I'll be watching but not participating

I believe they now have over 24 hours' worth of music in their discography.

[Zydar]

And I believe 7 of their 15 albums are double albums too

[Mladen]

Hopefully the new one isn't. I like the band, but I could use a break from the double album onslaught. 

[TAC]

Gonna have to sit this one out.

[hefdaddy42]

This would be incredibly hard for me, and I frankly don't have time to do a re-listen in time, especially given that half of them are double albums.

[The Realm]

Sorry, I can't participate in this one. Not a band I am overly familiar with.

[Metro]

Not a fan, personally. If you end up short on lists, I could rank the albums based on how much I like the album art 

[HOF]

So I just picked up Paradox Hotel for the first time on the strength of hearing Monsters & Men and Jealousy. CD came in today, and the drums are just credited to "Marcus." Nothing in the liner notes or packaging says his last name. It's the same way for the rest of the band too, but I already know who those guys are. Anyway, who is Marcus, LOL?*

*I could Google this, but that would take some of the fun out of it.

[The Letter M]

So I just picked up Paradox Hotel for the first time on the strength of hearing Monsters & Men and Jealousy. CD came in today, and the drums are just credited to "Marcus." Nothing in the liner notes or packaging says his last name. It's the same way for the rest of the band too, but I already know who those guys are. Anyway, who is Marcus, LOL?*

*I could Google this, but that would take some of the fun out of it.

Marcus Liliequist. He actually appeared on Tomas Bodin's solo album I AM a year before TFK's Paradox Hotel. He also appeared on Circus Brimstone's Brimstoned In Europe (this is an all instrumental spin-off of TFK), Roine Stolt's 2005 solo blues-rock inspired album Wall Street Voodoo (a personal favorite, also features Neal Morse), Tomas Bodin's follow-up to I AM aptly titled YOU ARE (released as Eggs & Dogs), and Karmakanic's 2011 album In A Perfect World.

Marcus had more releases with TFK members than he did with TFK proper! I haven't heard much from him in the past decade though.

-Marc.

[HOF]

So I just picked up Paradox Hotel for the first time on the strength of hearing Monsters & Men and Jealousy. CD came in today, and the drums are just credited to "Marcus." Nothing in the liner notes or packaging says his last name. It's the same way for the rest of the band too, but I already know who those guys are. Anyway, who is Marcus, LOL?*

*I could Google this, but that would take some of the fun out of it.

Marcus Liliequist. He actually appeared on Tomas Bodin's solo album I AM a year before TFK's Paradox Hotel. He also appeared on Circus Brimstone's Brimstoned In Europe (
this is an all instrumental spin-off of TFK), Roine Stolt's 2005 solo blues-rock inspired album Wall Street Voodoo (a personal favorite, also features Neal Morse), Tomas Bodin's follow-up to I AM aptly titled YOU ARE (released as Eggs & Dogs), and Karmakanic's 2011 album In A Perfect World.

Marcus had more releases with TFK members than he did with TFK proper! I haven't heard much from him in the past decade though.

-Marc.

 

Gracias! The last name is familiar, but I don’t have any of those other releases so don’t think I would have any familiarity with his playing.

How are Bodin’s solo albums? Have never heard much about them.

[Stadler]

Gonna have to sit this one out.

You and me?

[KevShmev]

I will copy and paste what I said in another thread (with slight tweaking):

For anyone who does want to try to get into this band, I think the key is focusing on one album at a time.  Because there is so much material, best to keep it simple.  When I got into them, I had bought I think three of their studio albums and, while I liked this song here and that song there, I was having trouble really grabbing on to them completely because I kept bouncing all around from album to album.  Once I streamlined it and narrowed my focus to one album at a time, I was then able to get into them a big way (obviously, as they are a top 5 all-time band for me now).

I rarely get to Unfold the Future because it is so long (it begins with a 31-minute song and then still has 110 minutes of music after!!), but I have been giving it a bunch of spins in the last week, as is on deck for me to review off site, and I have been reminded just how remarkable it is from start to finish. I don't love everything on it, and still feel that Disc 2 wipes the mat with Disc 1, but if you dedicate time to listening to just that record, it is a beast of a record.

[Qrusher14242]

Sent.  The First 3 were easy but was hard to rank the rest. I haven't listened to Royal Decree enough for it to get too high a ranking yet.

[HOF]

Having a hard time deciding on the exact order of my top 5. Will say that Paradox Hotel is a really pleasant surprise. It’s going to be up there a bit.

[HOF]

Sent my list in!

[425]

I will copy and paste what I said in another thread (with slight tweaking):

For anyone who does want to try to get into this band, I think the key is focusing on one album at a time.  Because there is so much material, best to keep it simple.  When I got into them, I had bought I think three of their studio albums and, while I liked this song here and that song there, I was having trouble really grabbing on to them completely because I kept bouncing all around from album to album.  Once I streamlined it and narrowed my focus to one album at a time, I was then able to get into them a big way (obviously, as they are a top 5 all-time band for me now).

This is what I’ve been doing slowly, over the course of years now, and I also really recommend it.

A consequence, though, is that I’m only really familiar with eight of their albums, with a ninth on deck. So I probably won’t submit a list because of how wonky mine would have to be. But I will follow along. And Kev, if you find yourself in need of more lists and don’t mind me submitting a sort of weird one, let me know and I can do it.

[Mladen]

I've also been doing it over the years. I started in 2009 and I'm still going through the discography. Four more albums to go. 

[Zydar]

I got into them at the end of 2020 (thanks to Kev), so I'm very new to their stuff. I remember working a lot from home during lockdown, and listening to TFK every day during a period of a few weeks. Can't say I've got a full grasp of all their albums yet, since it's pretty overwhelming getting into double album after double album. But focusing on an album at a time, as you said, really helps to digest them all. I think I know them well enough to be able to participate in this countdown.

[The Letter M]

Since we're all sharing our TFK-discovery stories, I got into them the same time I discovered Transatlantic, naturally, which was around 2005. The band's first new album after I became a fan was Paradox Hotel, which I didn't love at first, especially after loving double albums like Stardust We Are and Unfold The Future. Getting in between their 8th and 9th albums seems like a lot, and it was a big catalog to digest even back then, so I cannot imagine discovering their discography within the last few years and having ALL that music to get through. In 2006, it was jaw-dropping just how much music they had produced in a bit over a decade, but they have definitely slowed a bit in the back half of their career, with two five-year breaks in the last 15 years.

-Marc

[hefdaddy42]

My first exposure to the band was when a friend lent me the DVD Meet the Flower Kings! which I loved.

[HOF]

My first TFK album was The Rainmaker shortly after getting into Transatlantic (it was their newest release at that point). I picked up Stardust We Are a few years later but then that was it until about 2017-2018 I think when I starter getting really into prog again after several years away. The layoff had less to do with the size of their catalog and more to do with feeling like I’d heard the band and didn’t need a ton more. But eventually musical curiosity got to me, and I started digging into The Flower King and then Retropolis and then went back and rediscovered how great Stardust We Are is. I’ve been slowly getting everything else, but I’m still missing a few. I kind of like the fact that there are still more TFK albums out there to explore whenever the mood hits me.

[RoeDent]

I probably first heard about The Flower Kings when I first heard about Transatlantic in 2010. But it wasn't until 2013 that I chanced upon The Sum of No Evil in a market music stall while I was on holiday. A few months later I picked up Stardust We Are. I loved (and still love) both albums but they kinda fell off my radar for about 4 years, especially as this was the second hiatus period. Then they announced the first Kingdom of Colours box set, and more significantly I found one available at my local music shop. So I made it my mission to save up and get it, which I did in March 2018, and it was onwards and forwards from there! The second box followed in January 2019, and the new albums as they came out.

[RoeDent]

Bumping this as the deadline listed in the thread title is today. I hope we have enough entrants that it goes through. If you don't find it meaningful, give me the scores and I'll happily host the countdown, no matter how many lists we have. I just want more Flower Kings talk in here.