Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

well the BBQ is coming out this weekend as the sun is coming out maybe. queue the RIAN  

Tom Ozric wrote: I do love TFK - but 1 album alone, start to finish, is Prog overkill - and they just prove that you can have too much of a good thing.

can you feel it PROG...  well I`ve been on the cooking/dj tasks yesterday wonderous  time was had. the only downer was no prog... hoping to play prog later....   

okay I am going to have to say that Banks Of Eden is a modern day symph classic. I love it. Now I must go and lie down in a darkened room with a damp cloth on my head

Tom Ozric wrote: I do love TFK - but 1 album alone, start to finish, is Prog overkill - and they just prove that you can have too much of a good thing.

Couldn't disagree more.  Though I admit that a couple of those doubles are quite challenging to sit through from start to finish, but the singles I've never had any feeling of overkill whatsoever.  To each his own, I guess.

richardh wrote: okay I am going to have to say that Banks Of Eden is a modern day symph classic. I love it. Now I must go and lie down in a darkened room with a damp cloth on my head

I have listened to The Flower King album 3 times this week, for no reason, maybe the improved weather in the northeast US recently.

I have a bunch of parts from Humanizzimo stuck in my head.

I have such bad pre-listen anxiety when it comes to TFK and some other prog bands. I don't think it's real anxiety but it's weird. It takes me sometimes days to get around to an album, but I'll think about it for a while. Not usually like that with jazz, funk, metal, jam bands, etc... It's why I've only been listening to The Flower King, to warm me up, because it has been very long since I've been on a real TFK kick (like, since 2012)

So I've been cranking The Flower King for a couple of weeks, and I'm ready to jump into their discography again. The band has been on my mind lately, and I almost put on Unfold the Future, but chickened out and put on Beardfish. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll do it chronologically, but then I want to hear the new album (still haven't heard it, the CD has been sitting on my shelf for months).

What's a TFK album you would put on when it's been a long time since you last listened to them. The one that reminds you of why you enjoy this band so much?

I don't know if any of you guys have heard the Italian band The Watch.  They are a part-time Genesis tribute band that also write their own music and have several albums to their name.  After hearing a sample track I took the plunge and bought their album Vacuum.  All I can say is this is like a long lost missing Genesis album circa 1973-4.  The sound is Genesis, the vocalist is a Gabriel clone and the music is exceptional.  A huge plus is the top class modern production, sadly missing from those earlier Genesis releases.  There are no rip offs as such, just songs written in the Genesis style, which I can live with (some probably can't).  Particularly recommended to Rob, possibly slightly earlier than your favourite Genesis period Tom?

This persuaded me to get their latest album Tracks From The Alps.  It's good but not as good as Vacuum, and they have done it and commited the cardinal sin, yes the obligatory Apocalypse in 9/8 "borrow", a move already made famous by many prog bands.  Strangely though the latest album is less of a Genesis soundalike and I found myself likening it more to IQ.  Now I know IQ have always been heavily influenced by Genesis but in my view they don't sound like them.  Perhaps The Watch are progressing .