The Flower Kings are :
Roine Stolt : Guitars, Lead Voice, Keyboards
Tomas Bodin : Keyboards
Hasse Fröberg : Voices
Michael Stolt : Bass Guitar
Jaime Salazar : Drums and Percussion
Hasse Bruniusson : Percussion and Odd Voices
The tracks are :
Disc One : FLOWER
1. Garden Of Dreams (59:57)
i) Dawn (1:33)
ii) Simple Song (1:48)
iii) Business Vamp (5:02)
iv) All You Can Save (5:02)
v) Attack Of The Monster Briefcase (3:04)
vi) Mr. Hope Goes To Wall Street (1:47)
vii) Did I Tell You (3:46)
viii) Garden of Dreams (2:39)
ix) Don't Let The d'Evil In (3:11)
x) Love Is The Word (2:49)
xi) There's No Such Night (2:43)
xii) The Mean Machine (2:41)
xiii) Dungeon Of The Deep (4:24)
xiv) Indian Summer (4:13)
xv) Sunny Lane (5:25)
xvi) Gardens Revisited (2:56)
xvii) Shadowland (2:03)
xviii) The Final Deal (4:10)
19. Captain Capstan (0:45)
20. IKEA By Night (0:04)
21. Astral Dog (7:58)
Disc Two : POWER
1. Deaf, Numb & Blind (11:10)
2. Stupid Girl (6:49)
3. Corruption (5:54)
4. Power Of Kindness (4:23)
5. Psychedelic Postcard (8:42)
6. Hudson River Sirens Call 1998 (4:47)
7. Magic Pie (8:19)
8. Painter (6:50)
9. Calling Home (11:19)
10. Afterlife (4:34)
In the latter part of 1998, Roine Stolt, a former member of Kaipa, got together with Jaime Saalzar, Hasse Bruniusson to record the album 'The Flower King'.
The trio was then joined by long time friend Tomas Bodin on keyboards and Roine's brother Michael Stolt on bass and vocals. So the group "The Flower Kings" was born.
The keyboard work of Bodin (and Stolt) is based around the 70's sounds, like the Hammond organ, Mellotron, Wurlitzer piano, analog synthesizers and the grand piano. This gives a warmth to the overall picture. Bodin is classically trained and his range is Wagnerian bombastic to minimalistic electronics or the lonesome Mellotron of the wastelands.
Bruniusson is the mysterious traveller with his strange electro-acousto-radio-gong set up of percussion. He performs with a brilliant technique his percussionscapes on blocks, bells, midi-drums, ddrums as well as pizza plates!!!
Unlike a lot of today's new prog and symph-rock bands, and much like the greats of the seventies like Genesis, Yes, King Crimson and Procol Harum, The Flower Kings music is mostly based on strong melody, rather than fancy arrangements. However with a drummer like Salazar in the band, there's always the hi-tech speeding fusion factor present.
In December 1994, inspired by rave reviews of 'The Flower King', they started to record their new CD 'Back In The World Of Adventure'. The idea was that the making of, and listening to this CD must be adventurous. The music, composed by Roine and sonically shaped by Bodin, Salazar, Bruniusson and Stolt grew gradually and developed over the years from prog and non-prog experiences.
"Back In The World Of Adventure" was released in Nov 95 and was received with even more enthusiasm from the prog world than the fist CD.
During 1995 the group also played live dates in Sweden and Germany. In Dec 95 the recording of the next CD "Retropolis" started. The idea was to include a lot of stock material from the 70's and 80's and the recording began. But during the recording, a lot of new material saw the light of day and also rearrangements of older stuff.
"Retropolis" turned out to be pretty complex and symphonic. It was released in May 96. Prior to the new release, the group played Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, and are booked for prog festivals during this summer.
Tomas Bodin has released his fist solo album, using members of The Flower Kings, and is working on yet another solo project. A video with live and playback sequences, interviews etc. is compiled for world-wide sales. Other projects include The Flower Kings and chamber orchestra on CD and video.
Disc One:
'The Garden Of Dreams' is a 59 minute + epic divided into 18 sections.
The opening track is 'Dawn', this short track starts with the sound of what sounds like an orchestra tuning up, before some nice keyboard sounds come in and then gradually build up with the help of some excellent drums and percussion, this comes to an end as you go into...
The next track is 'Simple Song', a soft, beautiful track with lovely vocals, acoustic guitar and mellow keyboards, builds up slightly as it goes into...
The third track 'Business Vamp', atmospheric sounds from keyboards and guitar, this is where the album starts to take off, with some stunning guitar and keyboard work, lovely instrumentals and a superb melody, finishes with some atmospheric sounds...
The next track 'All You Can Save', starts with some powerful vocals, acoustic guitar, atmospheric keyboard sounds, this then builds up, mainly due to Roine's powerful, but emotional vocal delivery. There's also a powerful guitar solo in Gilmouresque fashion, simply breathtaking...
'Attack Of The Monster Briefcase', now it's time for the keyboards to take over, the drums and percussion are wonderful, the keyboards are superb with some more stunning guitar work coming later with some nice acoustic guitar in the background...
The sixth track 'Mr. Hope Goes To Wall Street', time to speed things up a bit now, with some stunning keyboard work, but even though this track is only 1 minute 49 secs there's so much crammed into this track, with variations in tempo, direction and mood. There's also some nice intricate guitar and the keyboards are mellower towards the end of the track...
The next track 'Did I Tell You', fairly mellow track with some nice atmospheric keyboards, the guitar work is intricate, while the keyboards play softly in the background...
'Garden Of Dreams', this track reminds me a little of 10.c.c, just in the way the track is carried out vocally, this track is sung by Fröberg, the track's a little dreamy, but the vocals make it sound more like a film soundtrack...
The ninth track 'Don't Let The d'Evil In', as we go into this track, there's a crashing sound and then there's powerful sounds from guitar and keyboards. This is quite a heavy rocker with a catchy chorus. Once again there is some stunning guitar work towards the end of the track...
Track 10 'Love Is The Word', starts off with with some atmospheric sounds and is fairly heavy, before mellowing out for a Yes type vocal harmony with some nice guitar and keyboards in the background. Great bass, excellent drums and percussion and towards the end there's a nice acoustic guitar break, classical style...
The next track is 'There's No Such Night', carrying on into some atmospheric sounds, soft, mellow vocals which take on a more operatic tone. This is quite a mellow track, but is quite eerie and dark...
The twelfth track'The Mean Machine', starts off with some atmospheric sounds which in a way reminds me of 'On The Run', Pink Floyd. This carries on throughout the track...
The next track is 'Dungeon Of The Deep', starting off with the sound of thunder and rain, the keyboard sounds are quite haunting, with some spacey sounds too. There's also sounds of the ocean, birds, and a choir like voice coming in occassionally and then the track then goes into what sounds like a kind of Requiem. The track then ends with more sounds of Thunder and Rain...
'Indian Summer', starts off with some nice piano, the pace is quite slow and the echoey vocals are almost a whisper. But this is a nice track that is full of emotion, there's also more sounds of thunder and soft mellow keyboards in the background.
The fifteenth track is 'Sunny Lane', the intro is quite symphonic, then there's a change in direction with some jazz piano, the tempo is fairly upbeat and the track gives a feeling of uplifting as it progresses along. There's some tremendous keyboards and guitar work.
The next track is 'Gardens Revisited', starting off with some Mike Oldfield style piano, there's also some atmospheric sounds going on in the background. The guitar then comes in and follows the same theme gradually building up in strength to a stunning powerful solo.
Then some nice keyboards come in towards the end.
'Shadowland', this continues from the previous track and it's back for more melodic guitar, choir like keyboards, a lovely track that flows into...
The final track to this epic entilted 'The Final Deal', a great track that is sung emotionally by Roine and is a fitting end to this epic.
The nineteenth track is a 45 second instrumental 'Captain Capstan' which sounds like a merry go round that slowly picks up speed.
The next track 'IKEA By Night', is a 4 second drum solo.
And the final track on this first CD is 'Astral Dog', which for me sounds like Pink Floyd meets Joe Satriani meeets Jimi Hendrix.
This track starts off fairly mellow and with some Pink Floyd style rhythm guitar and then flows into a Joe Satriani style solo. There's some great bass and keyboards. But it's the guitar work that stands out, it's slightly jazz-rockish, but still an excellent track, after roughly 5 1/2 minutes the track changes direction and becomes more atmospheric for a short spell, before the guitar work come back for more of a Hendrix kind of feel.
Disc 2:
The opening track is 'Deaf, Numb & Blind', starts off with some nice synth sounds and then in comes some lovely guitar, powerful and dramatic. There are moments which have an Arabic influence. But throughout this 11 minute + track, there is plenty of variation with Spanish Guitar, Flamenco, Piano and Organ. There's a strong melody with some nice changes in tempo, and mood.
The next track is 'Stupid Girl' which opens with Sitar, the sound quality is quite muffled, but I am sure this is how they wanted it. It then turns into a groovy rock song, a bit like Groovus Maximus by The Electric Boys. There is also some Frank Zappa style sections incorporated and a Mahavishnu Orchestra style bass line.
The third track is 'Corruption', starts off with some nice keyboards, the verses and chorus are fairly laid back. But there's some nice instrumentation in-between, even though this is quite mellow too. There's some blues style guitar work towards the end.
The next track is 'Power Of Kindness' is an instrumental that reminds me a lot of Focus, the soft keyboards, which do have a similar feel to church music and then classical style acoustic guitar is added.
'Psycedelic Postcard', this is a kind of wacky track with distorted vocals, a bit similar to the track 'Carry On Up The Vicarage' done by Steve Hackett on 'Please Don't Touch', the music on the otherhand is more in the style of Genesis and Yes, although there are other influences here too.
Track six 'Hudson River Sirens Call 1998', is an atmospheric instrumental track. And some parts of this track I would say are quite eerie.
The next track 'Magic Pie', starts off very soothing and peaceful with some Beatles influences. Starting with some nice acoustic guitar, the vocals are soft and gentle, There's a nice melody and the chorus is quite catchy. There's also some nice keyboards and guitar work too. It does remind me a little of a track by Colloseum II. (now I have had time to dig the Colloseum CD out, the track is called 'Down To You and was actually written by Joni Mitchell)
'Painter', this track starts with some nice guitar work and keyboards. There's a nice vocal melody and there's some superb keyboards and breathtaking guitar work later on. This is basically a love song...
Angel paint my world in gold, justify the world, behold
Stand by me and make me smile, make us wonder for a while
Angel paint my world in green, open up a world unseen
Lay me down an wonder weeds, so love is all we really need?
And towards the end there's a nice acoustic guitar break.
The ninth track 'Calling Home', which starts quite loudly with some nice keyboards and guitar and then quietens down when the vocals come in, the drums play a military march type theme, but there's quite a bit of tension within the music. The music then changes direction and in come some nice piano and then another change and the music now flows along with some nice keyboards. Later on the tempo rises slightly with some superb keyboards and guitar followed by a stunning guitar solo. Then it's back to the main theme and the catchy chorus, and then the music then just gradually whittles along and then fades away.
The final track is 'Afterlife', an instrumental featuring some superb keyboards and guitar. There's also some atmospheric sounds in the background and the music gradually build up from the starts and reaches a crescendo after about 3 minutes, the music then just gradually fades away into the distance.
Not owning anything else by The Flower Kings, I cannot compare this to any of their other work, but one thing I can tell you is that this is an outstanding album or double album to be correct. The musicianship is first class as is the songwriting.
If you like symphonic progrock, bands who play strong melodies such as Yes, Genesis then I would suggest that you go out and buy this album straight away. All I have to do know is buy the rest of their albums.
Highly Recommended!!!
For more information write to :
Foxtrot Records, Box 15070, 75015 Uppsala, Sweden.
Fax : +46 18 507400
Website : http://www.users.wineasy.se/FlowerKings/
Email : flowerkings@foxtrot.se
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