Annual TFK recap thread - another year with no new Flower Kings album but once again there was plenty of new material released by TFK family members. Almost so much that I had trouble keeping up with it; seemed like a new CD was showing up in my mailbox every other week for a while there. (yeah I know, it is so difficult the problems we Flower Kings fans have to deal with - lol)
So let's recap them in the order they showed up:
January
Michael Stolt - En hedonist utan skam
Not a prog album, a rock album from the former TFK bass man. Lyrics in Swedish. Guests include Roine, Marcus Liliequist, and Tomas Bodin from TFK - Michael has a great voice and I really enjoyed all the songs on this one, songs sound personal and a lot went into creating this. Great solo by Roine on the first song which is probably my favorite
Zoltan Csörsz - The Red Flower - DVD -
https://vimeo.com/channels/theredflower
This was put together by Zoltan from video he shot while with the band in the 2002-2003 years. As a big fan I enjoyed it. There is some fun stuff with the band like the scene of them rehearsing "Serious Dreamers" in a hotel room. Most of the concert footage isn't super high quality. One camera usually just a static shot (a nice change from today's concert movies) but the performances are fantastic. Probably just hardcore fans would be interested in this. I doubt I'll watch it too often but the more footage of the band from these years the better I say.
February
The last 3 Kaipa Remasters were released. Solo, Hander and Nattdjurstid. I already had Solo from the Decca years box set so I didn't get this one. I'm sure most here are familiar with it. Classic stuff. I did pick up the other two and....well, Kaipa was another one of those 70's bands that had an identity crisis as the decade changed. Stolt was gone at this point and they decided to explore a different sound and to be charitable the results are mixed. Hander is the better of the two with some keyboard driven songs sort of like Asia and a few instrumentals that remind of the Kaipa of old. But gone are the Hammond organs, replaced by Prophet 5. Nattdjurstid changes direction to an even more synth pop or new wave techno sound. The Camelesque instrumental "Identitetskris" being probably the best track. Solo is a must have but the other two are for completists only. I do think a decent re-imagining of a proper Solo followup could be made by combining the best tracks from these two and also from Stolt's Fantasia band. They shared band members so it makes sense, I'll have to try this sometime. Will the second Fantasia album ever be re-released?
March
The Syn - Trustworks (Jonas produced and plays bass on one song and additional guitar and keyboards on others)
Long in the works new Syn album with Steve Nardelli joining forces with Moon Safari. What a great album this is. I really loved this one. Great songs, Moon Safari shines. A fun and positive listen. For me this is one of my favorites and got a lot of plays throughout the year.
June
Charlie Faege & Tricky Dogs - Long Away and Far Ago - what a cool find this one was. Roine had mentioned it on his Facebook page and he plays guitar on one long song. Channels a blend of Bowie, Dylan, Young, Zappa with very personal and moving lyrics - If this had been released in the early 70's it would be a cult classic by now, maybe in 50 years it will be.
The Fringe - (Jonas with Randy McStine and NDV)
proggy rock with a strong emphasis on rock - catchy songs with some pop elements -real 90's power trio stuff!
This one may have slipped through the cracks amongst the other releases at this time but it is worth getting for sure. The last song "Yours to Steal" is the highlight for me with a searing guitar solo by McStine.
Steve Hackett - The Total Experience Live in Liverpool DVD/CD/Bluray
Roine on bass and of course Nad Sylvan on vox. After a string of just Genesis Revisited concerts and live releases we got another one but also featuring Hackett solo including new pieces from Wolflight. The new songs are much improved in their live forms and the classic material is played and sung masterfully as you might expect. Fun to see Roine on bass; he gets some highlight time on After the Ordeal trading guitar with Steve. The blu-ray looks great although like most concert films the editor feels they must change angles every 2-3 seconds creating a schizophrenic effect that goes against the mood of the music. Not as bad as the unwatchable KaLIVEoscope but still can someone please sit these editors down and force them to watch The Last Waltz or some other classic concert and show them it doesn't have to be cut like that.
Anderson / Stolt - Invention of Knowledge (Roine, Michael, Jonas, Felix, Lalle Larsson, Nad Sylvan, Daniel Gildenlöw )
Could it possibly live up to the expectations from Yes and Flower Kings fans? For most people the answer was a resounding YES - easily Jon's best album in a decade or more. There is a whole other long thread on this one so I won't rehash it. I think this album will stand the test of time and be one that Yes and TFK fans will like to revisit often.
July
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane Re:visited (Re:mixed & Re:lived)
Remix of their classic 2002 album - I thought the first one sounded great so wasn't sure about the need for this. But this sounds great as well to my ears. But why not use this opportunity to also include the Japanese bonus track "Thorn Clown" on this remix? - this would give more people a better reason to re-purchase it. Double CD also includes a full performance of Remedy Lane from 2014 concert. Also very interesting and personal liner notes from Daniel.
Also PoS documentary "I Set Myself on Fire" : http://mapenzifilm.se/0-prologue-2/
Where "The Red Flower" was mostly live footage with some band goofiness thrown in, this is the opposite, not a lot of live footage but very in depth interviews with band members and behind the scenes filming revealing inner turmoil in the band as members leave, return, are fired, hired. Highly personal and revealing documentary. I wish Red Flower had some of this going into the reasons Zoltan left the band. But this is not just for PoS fans. I think anyone interested in music or who is or was in a band will be fascinated by this.
Andy Tillison - Machte Es Durch - solo album from Andy where he plays nearly everything (so no TFK connection per se, but I always consider Andy to be in the Flower Kings family) , I expected an ambient Tangerine Dream type solo album like Fog, there are some songs like that but also more songs that in slightly different forms could have been Tangent songs (The Pursuit of Oil) and how can you not love "Music Inspired By "Music Inspired By The Snow Goose"" - of course we are all so happy Andy 'made it through/Machte Es Durch' his health ordeals and is back making great music - long may it continue!
Karmakanic - Dot - Disc includes DVD with live performances of about half the songs that are on the Live US CD. interviews with all the players, very interesting part with Jonas going through the main epic part by part breaking down the composition - very cool to see and see the creativity that went into it and to see such a happy result. Great release, the epic takes up most of it; not a fan of the children singing section but if a Dad wants to put his kids on his album who is going to tell him no. I really love that epic and the last two songs.
August
An Endless Sporadic - Magic Machine - music prodigy Zach Kamins second prog effort - Jonas on bass, Roine Stolt guests as well as Jordan Rudess and Navene K - Per Jonas comments "it was by far the hardest recording I´ve ever done on bass from a technical point of view, damn, I was sweating!!!!" I hadn't bought the first one so I thought this would just be some math rock shredding thing but it is much more melodic than I anticipated, all the songs flow so well and the compositions are top notch. After hearing this I rushed to buy the first one which Roine produced, that one is good as well but this second one really takes it to another level in composition. highly recommend.
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Originally Posted by yesstiles
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