Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Darkshade.........the new TA just seems like one long cliche to me.  I know a lot of people felt that way about The Whirlwind, but I actually still like that one (not as good as most FK albums, but I get enjoyment out of it).  The new Yes.....I've heard 2 full songs and a few clips and decided that was enough for me to ignore it completely.  I haven't really liked anything from Yes since the Keys albums though.

Tom, I only have the previous Abel Ganz and the new one (which I still haven't listened to yet, maybe this weekend).  The previous one was folky symphonic and just lovely.  The vocals on that one were a bit rough on a couple tracks, but they have a full time good vocalist on the new one (he sang one track on the previous album, and he sounded good on that............also, Alan Reed sings the epic on that previous album and sounds excellent).  They've been around a long time (since early 80's) and I guess have changed their sound a bit over the years.


I don't ever seem to get tired of prog though, not sure why.  I HAVE gotten burned out on FK/Neal Morse axis of music from time to time over the years, and even symph prog as a whole a couple years ago (I just listened to a lot of Avante/RIO and eclectic stuff instead).  But I always seem to find my way back in relatively short order.  I do listen to other stuff though, so it's not they only music I listen to (though most of the time it is).  I should probably check out more live Phish stuff.........I only have A Live One, but that was probably my favorite thing I heard by them back when I was checking them out.  I've heard a few other live shows over the years but can't really remember much about them now.


Edited by infandous - September 05 2014 at 09:10

Roj wrote: If you fancy a longer piece Silent Inferno from Unfold The Future is pretty dark.  It's also brilliant .

Roland113 wrote: M27Barney wrote: I've ordered the new Abel Ganz - well I had too - stick it on me MP3 player - ready for Tenerife next week...   <SPAN style="TEXT-TRANS: none; : rgb255,255,255; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !imant; FONT: 12px/14px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; : none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb0,0,0; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">How is Abel Ganz?  I've heard the name in a few circles but haven't really listened to them,  What do they sound like?</SPAN>

Very Genesis influenced - Shooting Albatross is an absolute STONKER of a CD - one of the songs has one of the most haunting instrumental breaks I've ever heard (Sheepish) - it sort of reaches deep into my psyche and sort of makes me feel uncontrollably moved - very few tracks have that effect on me - The whole CD is superb and a proper Progressive effort with track lengths of 15:06 , 23:31, 12:55 and 15:38 - some gorgeous Hackett influenced guitar parts and loads of nice keyboard parts...

darkshade wrote: infandous wrote: Darkshade.........the new TA just seems like one long cliche to me.  I know a lot of people felt that way about The Whirlwind, but I actually still like that one (not as good as most FK albums, but I get enjoyment out of it).  The new Yes.....I've heard 2 full songs and a few clips and decided that was enough for me to ignore it completely.  I haven't really liked anything from Yes since the Keys albums though. Tom, I only have the previous Abel Ganz and the new one (which I still haven't listened to yet, maybe this weekend).  The previous one was folky symphonic and just lovely.  The vocals on that one were a bit rough on a couple tracks, but they have a full time good vocalist on the new one (he sang one track on the previous album, and he sounded good on that............also, Alan Reed sings the epic on that previous album and sounds excellent).  They've been around a long time (since early 80's) and I guess have changed their sound a bit over the years. I don't ever seem to get tired of prog though, not sure why.  I HAVE gotten burned out on FK/Neal Morse axis of music from time to time over the years, and even symph prog as a whole a couple years ago (I just listened to a lot of Avante/RIO and eclectic stuff instead).  But I always seem to find my way back in relatively short order.  I do listen to other stuff though, so it's not they only music I listen to (though most of the time it is).  I should probably check out more live Phish stuff.........I only have A Live One, but that was probably my favorite thing I heard by them back when I was checking them out.  I've heard a few other live shows over the years but can't really remember much about them now. It's hard to top their first 3 albums, but TA set the bar pretty high. I'll leave my comments once I've digested the album. As far as Phish, A Live One is your only exposure to live Phish? That album represents their 1994 sound, in which case, you may be interested in their 2012 box set "Chicago 94", which contains 2 full shows from that year, and they're some of their best performances. I've been digging what they've been doing this year, in 2014. Here is a couple of jams. The first one I was present for.

Thanks man!  I'll give those a listen.  I have heard some other live Phish albums, but I couldn't tell you what the concerts were or when (I used to work with a guy who was a huge Phish fan, and he would play their studio and live albums at the office in pretty much equal measure).  A Live One is the only one I've heard more than once or twice though.

right on there is a much needed listen TIMES of PROG, so I`ve load the 5cd player with NM=SS, TFK=TSONE, TA= TWW, PO90D=UD AND TFK=SR so I`m in for a porgtasic time wow wee yes...

well my listening as been tangent LDST/NAGATB/COMM, there three great prog rock albums by the tangent. I`ve not been looking into newer prog music lately why I just don't have an answer for you its just I haven't done so. I`ve been buying the music of the bands from my youth. both on vinyl/cd to in rich my music listening.

I agree that not all epics are strong, but I think Haken's are. Sometimes, it's good to just listen to the epic, especially when you've already listened to an hour of music prior to it.

The Whirlwind is one song, it keeps my attention throughout, whereas Garden of Dreams I have lost focus on it, but something brings me back. Octavarium keeps my attention all the way through, but The Revealing Science of God loses me at times. I consider all of them masterpiece epics. However, they all require a bunch of listens to totally grasp.

Some average epics would be that one from Frogg Cafe on Creatures, Yes' The Remembering (or The Ancient, I forget), Beardfish's Sleeping In Traffic (which I enjoy, but it's bloated, and is just a long song with a bunch of different songs and themes pasted together), and Dream Theater's In The Presence of Enemies.


Edited by darkshade - September 08 2014 at 17:23

I love The Whirlwind, but it will always be a bunch of separate songs strung together to form the entity. Ditto for PT's 'The Incident'. Same could be said for Supper's Ready, but at least that flows more smoothly.
Floyd's Echoes works as one entire song, albeit jammed out to make up the extended timing.
Oh yeah, in-keeping with the thread, TFK's 'Numbers', is a superb 25 minute+ stretch of prog bliss that makes perfect sense !!

Edited by Tom Ozric - September 09 2014 at 03:22

Garden Of Dreams and Tales are totally amazing epics...

According to their Website - Haken is pronounced to rhyme with Taken!!
I am going to see them in October with Son No two...acemans!!!