[Doc Sarvis]

Two words: Get it. Arguably my favorite FK since "Stardust We Are" and "Unfold the Future".

Anyone else heard it?

 

[jonnyhambone]

Nope. Haven't heard it and, in fact, I've heard of them enough that I feel like I should, and probably will, like them. Anyone have a good'n easy synopsis of what the Flower Kings sound like?..

 

[3DCadman]

Yes.
To be honest, I didn't like it at first. Didn't seem to have something I couldn't put my finger on. Not enough "prog"? I wasn't sure. So I put off listening to it for a few days.

Then, it began to sneak up on me. Now I really like most of it, but there's still some songs in there I don't like.

The obvious one "Bavarian Skies" was interesting only the first time, and I skip over it all the time now. "Life will Kill You" is simply annoying to me, as is most of the title track. All others though have grabbed me and I like them a lot.

I'm not ready yet to rank it up with "Unfold the Future", "Space Revolver" or "Flower Power" yet, but I like it.

Favorites: Hit Me with a Hit, End on a High Note, What If God Is Alone

Prog music is strange that way. You've got to let it sink in several listens before you can fully appreciate it. I can't think of any other genre of music that needs that kind of warming up to until you figure out you like it.

EDIT: Hey! 400 posts! wOOt!

 

[3DCadman]

I am now convinced that "What If God Is Alone" is one of the most beautiful songs the Flower Kings have ever recorded. Very moving too.

This CD gets better and better with each listen.

 

[3DCadman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnyhambone Nope. Haven't heard it and, in fact, I've heard of them enough that I feel like I should, and probably will, like them. Anyone have a good'n easy synopsis of what the Flower Kings sound like?..

I would say their closest relative in sound would be Yes, with a little Genesis mixed in. They get very jazzy on some albums (especially "Unfold the Future"). They can also be quite quirky, in a good way. They fall squarely in the "Symphonic Prog Rock" vein.

Their albums tend to have 3/4 absolute brilliant music mixed in with 1/4 throw-aways. That's what the skip button is for!

Roine Stoldt's guitar playing is awesome. It's not shred or speed style (Malmsteen or Pettrucci), but very tasteful, even bluesy at times, with soaring melodic solos mixed in most songs.

Their bassist is very good too, and has a very distinctive tone and very busy, like Chris Squire in Yes.

LOTS of keyboard playing, sometimes almost classical sounding. Lots of different sounds.

They are very prolific with their releases, so lots to choose from. I'd actually suggest, for starters try getting "Meet the Flower Kings" live CD of a few years back. You can even get it as a DVD concert/CD set, so best of both worlds.

 

[Doc Sarvis]

I would say that the bassist is among the very best in rock music today.

 

[catscratch]

New disk? Thanks for the heads-up, I'll check it out. I really liked some tracks from "Stardust..." though I can't say that I liked the album as a whole. I thought that when they were focusing more on mood/atmosphere and on Roine Stolt's guitar, they were doing great. But, when they got wound into that whole circus/carnival music vibe, it got very annoying.

Definitely a band with it's own sound, though. I wouldn't sum it up as "X parts of band A with Y parts of band B." They're pretty distinctive in their own right. And Roine Stolt is awesome!

On that note, Space Odyssey (yes, that's the band's name...

) is a lot like FK gone heavy metal. I believe that the FK drummer plays for them too. There are definite melodic similarities and a clear FK influence. Check out "Embrace the Galaxy" (OMG yes that's the CD name...

). It's worth a good listen, horrible title/lyrics aside.