Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

darkshade wrote: Devil's Playground took a little longer to click than The Truth Will Set You Free..., partially because I almost always listen to UtF straight through, as I do with all the TFK albums. Being a 2 1/2 hour long album, by the time DP came on, I was kind of waiting for the album to end (and then of course there was still 10 minutes afterwards (@ MattGuitat - I hope you bought the special edition with the bonus track at the end!)). Well, the other day, I decided to listen to the last 3 songs of the album (Solitary Shell - Devil's Playground - Too late for Tomatos) which is still like 40 minutes of music Solitary Shell gave me shivers when I did the album run a few days earlier, so I thought I'd start there, and after that came Devil's Playground. It was the most fun I had listening to one of their epics in a while, as I'm still going through all their albums. The epic song is really one of their best, and a great closer to the album, while Too Late For Tomatos is a great "epilogue" if you will. DP is pretty heavy for the band, reminded me of Karmakanic, but also gets jazzy like The Tangent, (another band Ive been listening to extensively) so it was quite a great time listening to it. This makes me want to listen to UtF, but I know I still have to go back to The Rainmaker as I'm still not familiar enough with that album.

I'm not sure if i got the special edition as i got it from LaserCD. I hope i did cause I love hearing bands improv.

i still have to get UtF.  i'm waiting till i really have the energy to really dig in.  i'm sure it's a grower.  i have heard Truth.  very good.

Edited by Nov - March 06 2012 at 03:27

Back to the beginning for me.  Time to spin The Flower King.

MattGuitat wrote: Alright, just got Unfold the Future from my mailbox, and the next hour belongs to the Flower Kings

zumacraig wrote: MattGuitat wrote: Alright, just got Unfold the Future from my mailbox, and the next hour belongs to the Flower Kings  you mean 2 hours!

How is Tomas Bodin's "I AM"? I bought it today blindly, which I don't usually like to do, but I couldn't help myself. I couldn't remember anyone's feeling about the album, but do remember that it's his most popular, and was recommended it before. I won't get around to listening to it until tomorrow, so I should expect some comments here before then.

It's got the Paradox Hotel rhythm section, so it should be interesting.

Matt, how did you like Unfold the Future?

darkshade wrote: How is Tomas Bodin's "I AM"? I bought it today blindly, which I don't usually like to do, but I couldn't help myself. I couldn't remember anyone's feeling about the album, but do remember that it's his most popular, and was recommended it before. I won't get around to listening to it until tomorrow, so I should expect some comments here before then. It's got the Paradox Hotel rhythm section, so it should be interesting. Matt, how did you like Unfold the Future?

Well, you'll get mixed opinions, but for me it's the best FK side project album ever.  No joke.  I guess I feel that way about it because it has so much of the FK vibe about it, and many of the other projects don't have it nearly as much.  It's just symphonic rock bliss, with an emphasis on the rock.  I also like they lyrics and relate to them in a big way.  Plus, it's a 60 minute long piece, divided into three tracks on the CD.  How could it not be good ? 

The biggest issue most people seem to have is the vocalist.  I think he's very good, but there are some parts in the beginning where he is deliberately screechy and off-key.  I say deliberately because Tomas has said (on TFK yahoo group) that he asked the guy to sing that way.  It was what he wanted for those particular parts.  But later in the album the guy proves he is a good singer, though I get the sense that he is more of a metal singer than anything else (though there are some spots where he sound uncannily like Roine........but I have confirmed that Roine does not sing on the album at all).  In any case, his vocals grew on me and it is easily my favorite FK related album.

MattGuitat wrote: Nov wrote: MattGuitat wrote: I'm really curious to hear The Devil's Playground though, cause they're really arent any versions on youtube. That track took a while for me to get into  I bought UTF when it came out and it was a daunting prospect when I already had several other TFK albums to get used to. I think we've all had this experience with TFK where you know it all sounds great but you do wonder if you're ever going to actually know the music  Anyway, I was so blown away with TTWSYF at the time that the rest of the album was kind of over-shadowed and The Devil's Playground seemed pretty quirky............ ..........until I saw them in London on the UTF tour and they opened with this track. MY GOD!! I was blown completely away and have loved it ever since. Jonas's bass-lines during the closing guitar solo are literally worth buying the whole album for! Incredible stuff. If UTF was just TTWSYF and TDP it would be considered one of the best prog rock albums of all time in my opinion. But then you still get all this other great stuff!! It's frustrating when you read all these threads form Yes fans on this forum bumping their gums and moaning about the band about this and that and I'm like "LISTEN TO THE FLOWER KINGS INSTEAD!!!!" coz TFK have certainly been better than Yes have been since 1977. Must have been great! What was the setlist?