Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

infandous wrote: darkshade wrote: infandous wrote: martinprog77 wrote: zumacraig wrote: btw-is ritual any good...the singer from kaipa's main band? they are a fantastic band . try to get their last album [  The Hemulic Voluntary Band.] is their best  I second this.  Get this album, it's excellent. What would you recommend for a Kaipa newbie? I sampled a couple of the 70s albums, but nothing grabbed me. I'm looking to get into one of the first 2 albums from when they got back together, with Roine and Jonas on them. Which would be a good one to start with? I suspect everyone will suggest you get Keyholder, and I would concur.  I also like Notes From the Past quite a bit.  After that, they get pretty repetitive and less interesting to me.  Some people have raved about the most recent one, but I just can't get that into it after multiple listens.  It just seems like the exact same formula as NFTP and Keyholder, but the compositions don't hold up as well, and Roine's not on it.  Unlike The Tangent, I think Kaipa has suffered without Roine's input, and apparently he left because the other original member (who writes all the music) was no longer interested in his input (which he was on the first two albums after the two of them decided to restart Kaipa). The 70's Kaipa is a different beast.  I think of them as Sweden's answer to Camel.  Pretty mellow prog, with heavy Swedish folk influence.  I think "Inget Nytt Under Solen" is a very good album, though most people seem to think the debut is the best from them (which I still have not picked up......really want to though).  I have to say that Swedish is not a very good language for symphonic prog IMO, unlike, say, Italian.  Normally I have no problem with non-English vocals, but the one I've heard in Swedish don't work for me.  Despite that, I still enjoy the two albums of theirs I have.  If you want to hear how good Roine already was as a teenager, get one of those (he was 17 when they recorded the first album).

Keyholder it is.

The 70s Kaipa I heard definitely had a Camel vibe to it, and while I like Camel, they're not one of my favorites of the classic prog bands. I'm sure I'll revisit those albums one day, as Ive learned that anything involving Roine & co. usually takes time to appreciate.

infandous wrote: darkshade wrote: zumacraig wrote: I still haven't gotten Whrilwind yet! WHAAATTTT???? Do yourself a favor and get it RIGHT NOW!!! Make sure you get at least the 2CD edition. You're missing one of the best songs/albums ever made by any of the 4 musicians involved! Yeah, I second this also.  How could you not have this????  I don't think we should allow you to post in here anymore until you have it

darkshade wrote: The Whirlwind holds a special place in my heart, because I bought it when it came out, and it was the album that sparked my obsessive interest with all related bands (besides Dream Theater, who I've liked for almost a decade now---side note: BC&SL got me back into DT after a 2 year hiatus from prog rock, and is the reason I even knew (and cared) that TA were coming out with a new album). I had known Transatlantic for years, (I had SMPTe on my iPod as far back as 2005, and at least liked All Of The Above and My New World), and had given The Flower Kings a multitude of tries in the past, but something clicked with The Whirlwind, I fell in love with it, and after having the album for a few months, I began to explore all the bands that came from it (again, besides DT), and all bands and artists related to them. And here I am now, posting feverishly on the TFK appreciation thread, having bought dozens of albums now, all thanks to The Whirlwind.

Yes, I know I probably shouldn't have revealed my dark TA secret :-)

I'm way behind on tangent and kaipa too. I do have pinup guru. Good stuff. It does take time to get into this music, but it's worth it. I've been digesting Adam and Eve for months and it's great. Last several pages have been a fun read. Y'all rock!

Looks like Banks of Eden pre-orders sold out!

Roine Stolt wrote: CD Pre-Sales "Banks Of Eden" have hit our poor web shop like blitzkrieg - like no other product. WOW ! Had we known TFK is still this popular we may have come out of our exile earlier. Good thing is - we can order more CD's.

Roland113 wrote: infandous wrote: darkshade wrote: zumacraig wrote: I still haven't gotten Whrilwind yet! WHAAATTTT???? Do yourself a favor and get it RIGHT NOW!!! Make sure you get at least the 2CD edition. You're missing one of the best songs/albums ever made by any of the 4 musicians involved! Yeah, I second this also.  How could you not have this????  I don't think we should allow you to post in here anymore until you have it The joy of this thread is that for every opinion there is an equal and opposite opinion.  "The Whirlwind" has yet to really connect with me.  I pre-ordered it, opened it lovingly and listened to it once and thought to myself 'wow, that must be too complex to get on the first listen'.  So I listened to it again and thought 'Ok, I'm still missing something here'.  Third listen was kind of like 'ok, I'd really like to relate to this album now'. . . and pretty much every single listen after that was me forcing myself to listen in the hopes that I hadn't just wasted money on it.   I dunno, you've all inspired me, maybe I'll give it another listen and see if I can't get the same level of joy that everyone else does.  I wouldn't be too worried that you haven't picked it up yet.

To be honest, it took me several listens before I decided I liked it , and a few more before I decided it was really good.  I still can't say I love it, but it is a good album.  A big part of it for me is that it's so long.  Being presented as a single piece, it takes a while to really absorb it all.  I had the same problem with Unfold the Future (though The Whirlwind can't compare to that one).  Personally, I don't think they'll ever top the first TA album, or All Of The Above.

I haven't actually listened to The Whirlwind since the first DVD package came out.  I watched the DVD once, listed to the audio a couple of times, and haven't listened to it since.  I'll have to pull it out again soon.  It is a really, really good album, but I don't think it reaches the greatness of any Flower Kings or even the first TA album (though I have to say, I like it a good deal more than the second TA album.....which is still a really good album, just my least favorite).




Edited by infandous - May 30 2012 at 09:05

darkshade wrote: Looks like Banks of Eden pre-orders sold out! Roine Stolt wrote: CD Pre-Sales "Banks Of Eden" have hit our poor web shop like blitzkrieg - like no other product. WOW ! Had we known TFK is still this popular we may have come out of our exile earlier. Good thing is - we can order more CD's.

Barah86 wrote: Just listened to The Flower King for the first time, it was amazing! I loved it...

It is a gorgeous album.

Even though I look at it as sort of a prologue to the TFK discography, I also look at it as Part 1 of a trilogy consisting of TFK/BITWOA/Retropolis; they have similar sound (even TFK which is more guitar-oriented than the following 2), and are mostly dominated by Roine's vocals.

I also can't get into neo-prog.
Bands like Marillion, IQ, and such, just don't do it for me.

I "kind of" like IQ's Frequency album, but I never feel the urge to put it on.

I also don't get when people say "Transatlantic/TFK/Neal Morse/Spock's Beard are neo-prog", when they are listed under Symphonic Prog here, yet I like them, but never really liked any proper neo-prog band Ive heard.

Harry Hood wrote: darkshade wrote: Even though I look at it as sort of a prologue to the TFK discography, I also look at it as Part 1 of a trilogy consisting of TFK/BITWOA/Retropolis; they have similar sound (even TFK which is more guitar-oriented than the following 2), and are mostly dominated by Roine's vocals. They also share a chronological narrative.

Yes, I forgot to mention that. Thanks Hood!