ROINE STOLT

I recently listened to this album for the first time for years, having subsequently followed the career of the Flower Kings. I had forgotten how good it is! We can hear TFK in embryo in most of the tracks, and in the mix of epic tracks with vocals and shorter instrumentals. The sound is a bit less polished than TFK, but it does not necessarily suffer for that. The opener, 'The Flower King is for me the highlight, with a memorable moment in the middle where the tempo speeds up and leads into an exhilirating guitar solo. There are meny beautiful peaceful moments in the instrumental tracks also. An excellent prog record in its own right, but of particular historical interest to TFK fans.

no one else i can think of could achieve such majectical magic and ceanic muscial perfection...what we have here is pure genius folks....each song somehow represents the themes of the ocean but it never actually uses any sounds from the ocean....its bizarre.....every song is still very melodic heavy at some parts even, and progressive....this is sheer gold what roine has achieved here....his guitar sound is very strong and powerful in this one...like on the opening track...it just sent shivers up my spine...this album deserves so much more recogniton than what it gones on this site!!!....what is wrong with u ppl!!!...hahah..i mean this is brilliance from beginning to end....shipbuilding is so memorable and melodic...comes across as cheesy at first for me, but grew on me, wreck of hms nemesis is kinda like a flower kings mini epic but reaches so many great soundscapes and oceanic themes that hits u right at the core....roine said in the booklet of the album...this may not be the greatest of efforts but TRUE.....and indeed it is true....it speaks the truth of what music indeed should be...compelling, memorable, powerful, and have a strong message that touches one's soul in a positive and deep way!!!

the album is an ABSOLUTE delight...if you like melodic technical and epic guitar than this album is for you!!!....i mean it still has a lot more than just guitar but the guitar is at the forefront usually, not always!!.....but anyways the is roine's first flower kings work and it changed progressive rock in a lot of way...his roots were in bands like yes, genesis, king crimson, and stuff like that....and now with this album prog rock was back in a whole new bright way...every track here, is touching, powerful, memorable melodic, virtuoso, and perfect, not a single moment wasted, although the less memorable tracks would be close your eyes and the sounds of violence...those may not appeal to all but i love them....the epic hummanizzimo is UNFORGETTABLE....so majestic in every way.............a lot more than just fancy guitar work in this one kids....it pure prog bliss from start to finish...this album changed me in a lot of ways and still does to this day

Marvelous! I have been always very skeptical about the Flower Kings album and overlook this album for year. Now I tried and feel like kicking myself. Truly piece of Eargasm.

Roine Stolt is no doubt one of the greatest modern prog icons nowadays. This solo album a prove of his geniosity. With just one spin, I got hooked and never let this go for about a week. I'm still listening to it while writing this review. What a charismatic guitar sound on this album! And the vocal melody! And he played all keyboard and bass! Along with Steven WIlson, Neal Morse, Paul Masvidal, Devin Townsend and Daniel Gildenlöw, he is one of the most influential our modern prog world IMHO.

Taking about this album, this is a guitar oriented, melodic, beautiful and represent the brighter side of symphonic/prog rock interpretation. The interplay of keyboard and guitar is just sound too good. After you listen to it, the sky would be a little less cloudy and the world would be much more beautiful. 15 years has passed and it still sound absolute perfect. Best song writing, music, production and mixing. I cannot seen any weak spot in the album.

You don't want to miss this. Wholeheartedly 5 stars. Truly symphonic masterpiece.

Can I scream now ? Oh yeah, I should, because this is, well, this is unexpected punch to my guts. As everyone here, I'm used to (if used to at all) symphonic Roine. But this is deep into 80's synth style. So there's no melody, no progressiveness, there's just barely recognizable Roine's voice, but nothing from his talent. This decade had to be really weird time for music, I'm glad that I didn't have to live in it. I suppose this is all you want to hear. I wondered if I should give one star because of what blasphemy this is (everyone has his demons of past, this would be Roine's).

3(-) for (well, for me) listenable, but not enjoyable album. No, I regret acquiring this. And I don't know if this can help someone, but I little bit like it. Last songs holds the flag of better music, but first presented here are terrible synth. Still, I won't give this one star, because this music can be listened, isn't "ugly". Just plain at the worst, better average at its best.

Back in the World of Blues

Roine's latest solo offering, Wall Street Voodoo, is no less than a fantastic return to the 70's classic rock style, where blues and hard rock are the prime exponents. This is something that Roine hadn't attempted for a entire album till this moment, however notable The Flower Kings songs like Paradox Hotel and Life Will Kill You are indicators of how the style of this album is, nothing alike their Prog-oriented stuff even if the songs in here are moderately long.

The line-up, like any line-up where Roine has been, is no less than highly efficient and capable of backing up what Roine has written for them to play. Mind you that having Neal Morse on board doesn't mean there'll be anything in the likes of either Spock's Beard, his solo stuff or Transatlantic. Wall Street Voodoo is a Roine Stolt original.

Roine's guitar is the main attraction, going through various tones and styles, yet all sounding very impressive like Mr. Flower King always manages to pull-off. The other attraction are the songs of course, but not a real attraction for Prog-fans, they're all either blues based or hard rock based songs which don't present odd time signatures nor flashy change of times, neither mind-blowing solos from any kind of instrument, neither there are epics, no, leave that for The Flower Kings. Wall Street Voodoo works as either a chilling rock album when you have experienced a Prog-overdose, or as a good rocking album to rock-out with. However with the already highlighted guitar by Roine you know this will not be any blues rock record, also keyboard players Neal, but specially Slim Pothead, have a lot to offer, using all vintage keyboards like the Hammond Organ and Mellotron all in a efficient and attractive way to sound the most 70's sounding as possible.

Delving a bit deeper about the songs, there's really no stand-out track since all of them are equally well composed, despite some might have catchier chorus' than others, or harder guitar riffs, but that's really something each listener will decide depending on their taste, unlike the objectiveness of the well written and played songs which cannot be questioned.

A solid effort that shows that Prog-artists can really pull-off other styles well, even if it's not outstanding. Wall Street Voodoo ends up being a nice crossover between Prog-alike-instruments and Blues/Hard Rock roots, which I recomended for 70's rock fans in general which like their rock focused on the guitar however with not predictable instrumentation. However if you're a Prog fan and looking for the best of Roine, either his own band The Flower Kings or his solo album, The Flower King, should be the ones to check out.

So we go back to 1994 and the Genius Roine Stolte's guitar sounds out the genesis of The Flower Kings......This CD has some exquisite guitar licks and basically the instrumentals are the the highlights. "The magic circus of Zeb" - marvellous guitar and Stolte also giving the keyboards a whirl to good effect. "The Pilgrims Inn" also show-cases some virtuoso guitar work and is an excellent instrumental effort. I also love "The sounds of violence" - sort of janty ELP stylee that is an instant hit with my ears. The one song with lyrics I love is "Dissonata", which has some yummy synth runs and Hackettesque guitar ghosting out and then POWER IN. The title track isn't the best but it's not as dissapointing as the Epic "Humanizzimo" which is definately a curates egg, nice bit of Church organ, but spoilt by the silly christian imagery. Now lets get things straight, Stolte should stick to his Hippy "Love & peace" message which always seems to accompany his music very well - Nothing wrong with Love and Peace - but why doesn't he mention the Flying Spaghetti Monster - which has been claimed (SIC) to touch its followers (PASTAFARIANS) with it's NOODLY APPENDAGES ?? Anyway - This is a four star jobby because of the FOUR excellent compositions. Peace.

This album is possibly contains the best instumentals Roine Stolt has ever released, solo or with the Flower Kings! Stolt shows in each song that he somehow has the ability to mold himself into pretty much the perfect guitarist, showing influences of David Gilmour, Steve Howe, and Brian May all in one breath. I'm a big fan of the concept album and although there are no lyrics in this album I still sense a concept is present. All of the song titles have something to do with the ocean, (except Cosmic Lodge, don't know how to explain that one,) and at times it is hard to tell that the song has changed, (kind of like Floyd albums,). Tracks that stand out to me are Bizarre Seahorse Sex Attack which is almost Zappa-like, the epic Wreck of HMS Nemesis, and the title track.

Well, I think it should be obvious after the previous reviews that this is NOT a typical Roine Stolt project. It can't really be called "prog", in the sense that most here would think of it (though there are quite a few bands on this site that I don't consider prog....but someone else obviously does). What you get here are basically blues rock songs, with a couple Beatlesque almost pop songs, and a track or two that border on prog (or is it just that they have mellotron in them? :)

If you like Roines guitar playing, and can enjoy 70's style blues/classic rock, then you should get this album. If you want to hear another Stolt patented prog release, then get the Live Circus Brimstone CD (excellent, by the way).

For me, the selling point of this album is all the great to excellent guitar solos. The vocals seem not quite up to par for Roine, and I usually enjoy his singing. The lyrics, while well written, sometimes seem sort of forced over top of the more basic rock structures. Neal Morse puts in some good performances however, singing the (not surprisingly given his singing style) more pop sounding songs. The rest of the band (whoever they really are) is competent and provide an excellent backing for Stolt's solos.

I probably would have preferred an instrumental album of this nature (or even just an instrumental or two to break up the vocal numbers), but the more I listen to it the more I enjoy it. It is not something I put on to get a prog fix, but the guitar solos are great to listen to and among Roine's best.

Personally, I'd say this is a 4 star album. But because of the nature of this site, I can only give it 3 stars. But if you like 70's blues rock and want to hear some great Roine Stolt lead guitar work, this is well worth having.

The Flower Kings first, or for a more accurate phrase, Roine Stolt's best solo album! This is a masterpiece of symphonic prog! The title track is to me the best in the album with it's hippie-like theme and catchy melodies. Dissonata is also pretty good the title sounds like a play on words to ELP's Tocatta but it sounds nothing like that. The Magic Circus of Zeb is an excellent instrumental and Close Your Eyes is a beautiful typical Flower Kings ballad. The Pilgrims Inn is an instrumental with hefty guitar parts by Roine which makes it stand out. Sounds of Violence seems a little un-needed at first but in the end you realize why it's there. Humanizzimo is the epic track. It reminds me of the Yes classic Gates of Delirium not so much because of the music but because of the tempo. It finishs with the Flower King reprise Scanning the Greenhouse which is just as good as the first. This is the album that started all of the Swedish bands excellent work and yes, it is a masterpiece!