The Flower Kings studio albums listening thread

[Garden Dreamer]

I wasn't aware there was bonus material from the Space Revolver sessions. What were the track names?

I was surprised to learn that also, check the album list I copied/pasted in post #7 and you'll see that they began having bonus editions with Flower Power. I see the next one up, "The Rainmaker", had 6 bonus tracks and considering it's possibly my least-favorite TFK, I wonder if I'd like any of the bonus tracks better.

[Garden Dreamer]

Here, I got the Space Revolver bonus track names off Wikipedia:

1. "The Meadow" 3:12
2. "A Good Heart" (demo) 5:21
3. "Dream on Dreamer" (alternative take - Tomas lead vocal) 2:17
4. "Venus Flytrap" 6:26
5. "Last Exit" 9:17

I'll post the names of bonus tracks for all the remaining albums. Looks like all my copies are standard editions.

[yesstiles]

Here, I got the Space Revolver bonus track names off Wikipedia:

1. "The Meadow" 3:12
2. "A Good Heart" (demo) 5:21
3. "Dream on Dreamer" (alternative take - Tomas lead vocal) 2:17
4. "Venus Flytrap" 6:26
5. "Last Exit" 9:17

Also:

She Carved Me A Wooden Heart 3:45
Space Revolver 7:25
Jupiter Backwards 6:20

[moecurlythanu]

Here, I got the Space Revolver bonus track names off Wikipedia:

1. "The Meadow" 3:12
2. "A Good Heart" (demo) 5:21
3. "Dream on Dreamer" (alternative take - Tomas lead vocal) 2:17
4. "Venus Flytrap" 6:26
5. "Last Exit" 9:17

Those are on the Japanese 2CD edition that I have.

[Vic2012]

I lost interest after Adam & Eve. A&E just does not do anything for me. Space Revolver is a big favorite. I'm probably the only one that defends The Rainmaker here. It's a fine album. It's a "compact" FK album. I like it a lot.

[miamiscot]

I like every album The Flower Kings ever did and am really surprised at how many people gave up on them after The Rainmaker. Space Revolver and Sum Of No Evil are my two favorites from them but the last two were both terrific as well. To all those who assumed TFK's late era records are crap: do yourself a favor and check them out!!!

I really hope Roine isn't done with them.

[Bartellb]

I gave Banks Of Eden another spin about a week ago at the gym. I skipped "Numbers" and started with the second tune. To me that's all super solid stuff from that point on (not that I dislike Numbers). None of the ambient diversions some folks have no patience for. Just well put together tunes, IMO. I was inspired to try to learn (one day soon) the bass lines to "For The Love Of Gold", "Pandemonium", and "For Those About To Drown". Barely a note wasted in any of those tunes.

Definitely some great songwriting. For Those About to Drown is one of their best. I like he last three studio albums as much as any earlier ones.

[yesstiles]

I like every album The Flower Kings ever did and am really surprised at how many people gave up on them after The Rainmaker. Space Revolver and Sum Of No Evil are my two favorites from them but the last two were both terrific as well. To all those who assumed TFK's late era records are crap: do yourself a favor and check them out!!!

Yep! "The Sum Of No Evil" and "Paradox Hotel" are two of their very best albums.

[Garden Dreamer]

Next up is "The Rainmaker" from 2001, one which tends to rank at the bottom of TFK album polls. While it's a single 75-minute disc like its predecessor, it's not quite as packed full of great musical ideas. It's not a bad album; if this is TFK's "worst" it's miles better than the worst of Yes or ELP. While it's the same lineup as Space Revolver (Salazar still on drums, but his last appearance), it steers away from the psychedelic influence of the previous few albums. There is also a subtle change compositionally as tunes that veer off into different sections return back to quote the main theme, whereas on Space Revolver a tune might go through a half-dozen different mood, tempo and instrumental changes and by the end of 12 minutes not resemble the opening of the tune at all. Whether this is a good thing or not depends, in some cases the tunes return to themes I'm not that crazy about.

No long epics here, but we open with the 11-minute "Last Minute on Earth" with its "big heavy riff" and more of an arena-rock sound. Strange opening with the sounds of Tibetan throat singers, though! Hasse handles most of the vocals and it's a perfect tune for his onstage hair-tossing. It veers off into crisp instrumental sections in 7/4 and 6/4, then some Roine vocals and Jonas playing a fretless line which I believe is a melody from Road to Sanctuary. Then the big riff returns bouyed with dramatic chimes, followed by a free-form ending.

"World Without a Heart" is a beautiful short tune with Roine singing and the fretless bass quoting the melody. "Road to Sanctuary" is next and is the longest tune at 13:50. Opens with a classic TFK sound, heavy on the keyboards and Roine tossing out a few licks. Hasse begins the vocals and later trades off with Roine, then the song veers off into different parts, ending with a classical guitar section with Roine singing and more instrumental parts to finish. Might be my favorite on the album.

The title track is a 6-minute instrumental with a cinematic feel over a marching drum beat, then Roine states the melody with some huge guitar tone. It morphs into an ambient section with string keys and no drums.

"City of Angels" is where things start to go bad for me. The verses sound good with Hasse singing and Roine tossing out some "Close to the Edge"-style guitar figures behind him. Then that chorus... sounds too much like "easy-listening FM" to me. It makes me think of Jefferson Starship's "Miracles", which I grew to loathe from hearing on the radio nonstop when I was working in a restaurant kitchen in college. Roine takes a verse, then back to Hasse, more instrumental parts with the fretless bass, then out with some nice guitar lines. Any part of the song that is not the chorus is decent.

Roine sings "Elaine" next, with acoustic guitar, fretless bass and sax giving a jazzy feel. Awkward lyrics, though. Another short tune with Roine on vocals, "Through the Walls". Has some decent lyrics lamenting the intrusion of technology but not much to it otherwise. Closes with the throat singing.

Up next is another "arena rock" tune custom-made for Hasse (Roine wrote all the material on this album), "Sword of God." Another one with a "big heavy riff" although at 6 minutes it stays pretty close to verse/chorus format without going off into typical diversions, and returns to the chorus to finish. Too much over-emoting from Hasse, though.

Things drag a bit with two short instrumentals - the 3-minute "Blessing of a Smile" is slow and atmospheric with the sax, then the 1-minute "Red Alert" sounds like it should have been the intro to a longer song. The album finishes with "Serious Dreamers", a 9-minute tune that also has a "lite FM" type of chorus that doesn't sit well with me. The song does get better when it veers off into instrumental sections, some good keyboard lines, then an IQ-like verse with Roine singing but unfortunately it's another tune that closes by restating the chorus.

I'm still not sure what it is about this album... as I said, it's not bad. If it was the only album they ever did, I would think it's pretty good. The writing is just not on a par with previous albums where the bar was set pretty high. Maybe the psychological effect of the album cover? Whereas the previous 3 reflected the psychedelic influence within, this cover reminds me a bit of Tormato!

Apparently there is a bonus edition too but I haven't heard any of those tracks. I rate this 3 stars out of 5.

[Garden Dreamer]

[miamiscot]

I really disliked The Rainmaker for a long time after its release but I persevered and the effort was well worth it! A true breath of fresh air from our Swedish heroes. Hasse's role increases here (again) and hints of R&B, Laurel Canyon with the usual mix of Yes/Genesis/Zappa influences make this an underrated entry in TFK discography.

Their best? Hell no! But still an appealing record.

7.5/10

[aith01]

"Serious Dreamers" is like Yes meets Steely Dan. One of my favorite tunes from TFK ever!

[SRS]

Absolutely love "City of Angels", "World Without a Heart", "Serious Dreamers" - I got into TFK when UtF was the brand new album so I bought this one as I was acquiring the back catalog. Quite a different feel on this one particularly in the keyboard department. Tomas really went with a different sound then the albums previous and since. It stands on its own and has a lot of strong writing. Their Tomato? I can kind of see the comparison.

The bonus tracks on the ltd edition seemed sort of rushed and sort of have a demo feel to them - they are:
Excerpt From Valkyrian (Bodin solo - not as good as you might expect, but might have been a good intro to Last Minute on Earth if developed more)
Mr. Hope Goes To Salzburg (short keyboard piece, probably could have been included on the album as one of those TFK in between songs)
One Whole Half (Karmakanic song)
Agent Supreme (didn't like this one too much at first but think it is ok, different)
Violent Brat (great Bodin solo song, should have been included, sort of like Rumble Fish Twist - but Tomas fleshed this song out more on his Pinup Guru album so I think that is why they didn't use it, wasn't quite ready)
The Woman With No Shadow (moody song with guest vocals I think by Merit Hemmingson) not really a TFK style song but interesting

[Plasmatopia]

Quite a different feel on this one particularly in the keyboard department. Tomas really went with a different sound then the albums previous and since.

I was thinking there was actually very little Tomas Bodin involvement on this album?

[SRS]

I was thinking there was actually very little Tomas Bodin involvement on this album?

In the writing department there is none. But the keyboard sounds he uses strike me as quite different. I seem to recall he used an entirely new rig for this album. Sort of like Wakeman on Tormato then, different key sound that wasn't used again.

[mozo-pg]

I only listened to Rainmaker a few times and gave up. I'm going to revisit it. The album artwork is nice.

[Plasmatopia]

In the writing department there is none. But the keyboard sounds he uses strike me as quite different. I seem to recall he used an entirely new rig for this album. Sort of like Wakeman on Tormato then, different key sound that wasn't used again.

My point was that perhaps Roine played most of the keys. No idea really, but I thought I'd seen reference to that somewhere.

[aith01]

My point was that perhaps Roine played most of the keys. No idea really, but I thought I'd seen reference to that somewhere.

I seem to recall reading this someplace as well. In an interview I think, Roine said that it was mostly just he and Hasse in the studio on that one during the writing and recording. But I could be wrong.

[SRS]

I seem to recall reading this someplace as well. In an interview I think, Roine said that it was mostly just he and Hasse in the studio on that one during the writing and recording. But I could be wrong.

That may be the case - I'm sure Roine played some of the keys on every album. What the ratio of Stolt vs. Bodin keys is on Rainmaker I have no idea but yeah could be more Stolt than Bodin -good point, maybe that is why it seems different to me.

[Plasmatopia]

Roine probably has different equipment in his studio than Tomas would bring along.

[aith01]

That may be the case - I'm sure Roine played some of the keys on every album. What the ratio of Stolt vs. Bodin keys is on Rainmaker I have no idea but yeah could be more Stolt than Bodin -good point, maybe that is why it seems different to me.

Roine probably has different equipment in his studio than Tomas would bring along.

Either way, I really like a lot of the songs on Rainmaker.

[Plasmatopia]

Either way, I really like a lot of the songs on Rainmaker.

Agreed. These days I can't say I revisit it much, but I probably enjoy 60% of it or so.

[yesstiles]

I love:

"Road To Sanctuary"

"The City of Angels"

"Serious Dreamers"

I also dig most of the shorter tunes and instrumental ones. I dislike the Hasse hair metal song as always. I do agree that the chorus of "City of Angels" is not good at all, but everything else in this long tune is sublime. And "Road To Sanctuary" has an absolutely sublime instrumental second half.

I'm not big on "Last Minute On Earth." It's in the same vein as other Flower Kings song I dislike such as "In the Eyes of the World." Just too arena rock for me, without any of those gentle melodic sections and too much anthem-vocals.

[Azol]

What bothers me most about my favorite TFK albums is that Flower Power (and to lesser extent, Stardust We Are) were terribly mastered on CD. The volume rises noticeably towards the final tracks of Garden of Dreams suite on CD1 (very loud mastering) becoming a harsh "wall of sound" on The Final Deal (look at this loudness war baby - attached below). While the music is great, audio makes me cringe each time, thinking "are they going to remaster this album someday or approach --ahem-- Steven Wilson?"

(Click on images to look closer)

Compare the last track of the suite (top) to one of the first loud ones (bottom) - things were getting louder and harsher towards the end of the suite. Surely, the whole of it was mastered damn loud anyway.
tfk.jpg

Here is how audio signal actually looks like (a fragment):
tfk2.jpg

[JJ88]

^Wilson blasted The Flower Kings big time in one interview. Stolt responded in kind.

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/fo....asp?TID=88744

Used to have quite a lot of their albums but most went years ago, got tired of the formulaic sound- The Sum Of No Evil was where I got off the bus. There used to be a very zealous TFK fanboy on here and another forum I went on. You'd really get pounced on if you said anything even vaguely critical! I remember even they were disappointed by The Sum Of No Evil. And then there was the late Arkangel3's infamous review of it...

One of their albums I do still get a lot of mileage out of is Unfold The Future, and I remember not getting into that one at first. The jazz-fusion influence on that makes it stand out from the crowd.