Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

^

^I rate GftO 3 stars, but really do not enjoy it, the first few minutes of Awaken and from Parallel.

^great idea!

From top of my head, my top 10 any genre:

- Come Taste the Band - Deep Purple
- Meddle - Pink Floyd
- The Yes Album - Yes
- Who Are You - The Who
- Crime of the Century - Supertramp
- Obscured by Clouds - Pink Floyd
- Stormbringer - Deep Purple
- Thick as a Brick - Jethro Tull
- Trespass - Genesis
- Zappa in New York - Frank Zappa

These are my top 20:

1. The Perfect Element, Pt. 1- Pain of Salvation
2. Scenes From a Memory- Dream Theater
3. Foxtrot- Genesis
4. Snow- Spock's Beard
5. Crimson- Edge of Sanity
6. ?- Neal Morse
7. Still Life- Opeth
8. BE- Pain of Salvation
9. Bridge Across Forever- Transatlantic
10. Selling England By The Pound- Genesis
11. Sola Scriptura- Neal Morse
12. The Shaming of the True- Kevin Gilbert
13. Symbolic- Death
14. Remedy Lane- Pain of Salvation
15. The Sum of No Evil- The Flower Kings
16. Abbey Road- The Beatles
17. Close To The Edge- Yes
18. Images & Words- Dream Theater
19. Script For A Jester's Tear- Marillion
20. V- Spock's Beard

I know I probably forgot many....

Originally posted by The Quiet One ^wow! never thought you were such a big fan of Script, I really love that album too. Seems I need to listen to Pefect Element, Part 1 someday...

You don't have that?!!?!?!? Quick! Run to your local record store and buy it before it's too late!!!!



In all seriousness, it is an excellent concept-driven album. Just everything there is perfect IMO. It was #2 for a while, but after listening to it some more recently, I bumped it up one.

Originally posted by natewait I used to be a big Pain of Salvation fan and would have put The Perfect Element Part 1 in my top 20 easily...but I've kind of fallen out of love with them, especially after being pretty disappointed by Scarsick. I think it is about time that I revisit them and remember what I used to love about them so much...

Scarsick is a really poor album. I almost don't consider it to be part of their discography. There's just something about PoS that is so unique that no other bands can capture. I would say it's probably the contrast between beautiful vocal harmonies, metal riffs, and sheer magic that I find to be so present on TPE.

None of this is on Scarsick, however. It has some cool moments, but the absolutely awful and immature lyrics in addition to the lack of what made me become a PoS fan in the first place doesn't appeal to me at all.

Dial Emma..............

Originally posted by M27Barney   I am a little prone to exaggeration.....

How to list my top 20 albums?  I'm not sure I can do it as it changes fairly regularly.  However, I will list 20 in no particular order that have stood the test of time for me and/or I just think are brilliant.

Asgard - Arkana
Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans
Comus - First Utterance
Genesis - Nursery Cryme
Present - Triskaidekaphobie
ELP - Tarkus
Rush - Permanent Waves
Scorpions - Lonesome Crow
Jesus Christ Superstar (original recording)
Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
Flower Kings - Retropolis
Flower Kings - Unfold The Future
Klaus Shulze - Mirage
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Tomas Bodin - I AM
Gentle Giant - Acquiring the Taste
Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
Frank Zappa - Lather
IQ - The Wake
Deus Ex Machina - De Republica


I've tried to put in a lot of variety here, but as others have stated there are so many more I could add that are on the same level as these in my mind.  And, to be honest (and true to this thread) just about every Flower Kings album could easily be included (only Adam & Eve really is a lesser album to me, though even that one has it's great moments for me).  Even though they are the only band mentioned more than once, I could easily have added more Yes albums, more Genesis albums, more ELP albums, more Gentle Giant albums, and more Zappa albums.  The ones listed of those bands are just my favorites, but all have other albums I would consider top 20 depending on my mood.





Edited by infandous - November 19 2009 at 13:13

Welcome to this thread Mark. As for the full circle idea, I only sort of buy into this. "Retro prog" has been around since the 90s (The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard for two examples) and I think it will always have a market in the prog world. However, as a virtue of being retro prog, they can't actually progress too much. As for prog in the more general sense, I think it's turning more to metal and heavy stuff. Bands like Radiohead, Dream Theater, Opeth, Muse, The Mars Volta and a few others are actually pretty popular even outside of the prog world. Most people I know who flirt with prog have gotten to that point through metal.


Now for the top 20 list. This'll be tough and not entirely accurate.

1. Amarok - Mike Oldfield (undisputed champ since I discovered it in June/July)
2. Ommadawn - Mike Oldfield
3. Larks' Tongues in Aspic - King Crimson
4. Godbluff - VDGG
5. Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
6. Animals - Pink Floyd
7. Pawn Hearts - VDGG
8. A Passion Play - Jethro Tull
9. Paradox Hotel - The Flower Kings
10. The Whirlwind - Transatlantic
11. Relayer - Yes
12. Islands  - King Crimson
13. The Flower King - Roine Stolt
14. Canto di Primavera - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
15. The Seventh House - IQ
16. Shadowlands - Glass Hammer
17. The World that We Drive Through - The Tangent
18. Voyage of the Acolyte - Steve Hackett
19. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Genesis
20. Signals - Rush


A few things. Yeah, that list isn't accurate at all. It's a very rough idea of things that I really like but I wouldn't be surprised if half of those albums didn't make my actual top 20 and I'm sure the order is pretty messed up (except for number 1). I was scrolling through my library to see what my top 20 would be. When it got to The Flower Kings I had to push the page down key 6 times on a full screen to get past TFK. I have 1.6 days of TFK music on my computer. Jeez.

Also, a little bit ago we were talking about Hasse as a vocalist. I think I said I didn't like him at all. That's just not true. Roine sings his parts better than Hasse sings his, but they sing on opposite ends of the spectrum. Hasse is crucial for some songs because Roine just wouldn't work at all.


And one last comment, I swear. I'm currently listening to the new The Tangent album. I'm not sure on my feeligns about it but it definitely significantly increased the amount of cussing in my music collection.


Edited by TheCaptain - November 22 2009 at 20:20