Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Amazon has been pretty annoying for me when getting stuff in the past, but I got my deluxe edition 3 days before it was even released from the official website

^ Gus,

Yeah, I'm in the same boat there.  I think the recession over the past year has nudged a lot of people into making choices that they'd rather not have to make.  I know that the influx of CD's into the Wright household has been stemmed dramatically this year over last.

^ Yep, here's what they did to me.

I placed an order for Artificial Paradise and Presets by Sylvan last January, using the 'free super saver shipping' option.  To qualify for the free shipping, both items ship by regular methods after waiting for a week.  So, they didn't place reserve stock and by the time that my order was being prepared to ship, Artificial Paradise was out of stock.  I was going to now have to wait six weeks to get the CD.  After considerable complaining they finally relented to send me Presets.  Sure enough, when "Presets' arrived, it wasn't actually 'Presets' by Sylvan but 'Reset' by The Presets.  At this point, I was pretty steamed.  When they credited my card, they made me pay for shipping the damn thing back to them.

It was at that point that I took my business away from them for about eight months.  I get a CD or two from them here and there but it's only cause they're so cheap.  I have no respect for Amazon what so ever and I pretty much expect them to treat me like crap. 

Anyway, listened to the Whirlwind last night, both the album and the bonus CD.  My first impression is that this is by far the most diverse and interesting album they have put out.  Many parts of it sound neither like Morse or Roine typical stuff, so I'm pretty impressed by that.  Of course, there are still Neal's "patented prog formula" moments, as well as Roine's.  But on the whole it sounds quite unique while still very obviously being TA (the rhythm section actually does that I think).  The large amount of Roine guitar solos makes me smile, what a great player.  Not to mention him getting a larger share of lead vocals, as well as lots of great harmonies by all of them.

Still, I found the first track to be kind of a let down.  It seems kind of weak and not "prog" enough to me, at least for a band like TA.  The last track I also feel is pretty anti-climactic for such a monster piece of music.  But on the whole, I think it's their best work.  Of course, I'm going to need to give it a lot more listens before I really make up my mind about it.

The bonus CD is, well, a bonus CD.  Spinning is pretty cool, and Pete's track sounds like a lost George Harrison song, but on the whole I find the extra TA tracks to be a bit lacking.  Again, have to give them more listens.  The covers are well done, though I can't help but think that Hogweed was just done better by Genesis (even the drumming at the end............though it's fun to hear Portnoy's go nuts).  I was really surprised how well Portnoy sings on A Salty Dog.  It's the first time I've ever heard that song, believe it or not, but now I'm curious to hear the original.

And Soul Sacrifice is just fantastic.  Best thing on the bonus CD.  Roine manages to sound like a young Carlos Santana and just rips up the solos.  The percussion is great and even Portnoy's drum solo is enjoyable (I'm not a huge fan of drum solos, and while I like Portnoys style most of the time, I wouldn't have thought he could do a drum solo I'd enjoy).

Anyway, more listens are needed, but I like it pretty well so far.

Originally posted by J-Man I don't give out 5 star albums too frequently, and save them for only true masterpieces, and I think I'm giving The Whirlwind a 5 when I get to it. Any thoughts?

You have my full support in giving it a 5. I know it doesn't feel like a 5 to me but it's definitely higher than a 4. Probably somewhere around a 4.27 if I could assign its decimal rating. It's a 4.38 now and it will most likely drop down a few tenths of a point as time goes on.
"Rose Colored Glasses" is the biggest problem I have with the album. It's merely an average track. "Dancing with Eternal Glory" also has some pretty big flaws. Those two would have to be seriously reworked. The reprisal of "Whirlwind" is dragged on too long for the grand finale. After all that happened I'd probably trim 5 minutes of fat from the whole disc, touch up a few sections of a few songs and it would definitely be a 5 in my book.

And I will NEVER rate something lower for the inclusion of bonus material. Aside from "Spinning" the TA originals on the bonus disc are pretty bad. I've also find "A Salty Dog" to be an inherently bad song that cannot ascend to the status of "good" without a fundamental change. If disc 2 were a release all by itself I would surely give it 3 stars for having plenty of great music which unfortunately gets offset by a substantial amount of okay to downright bad music. If The Whirlwind was released as a double album I would still give it 4 stars but I'd think it should be right around the 4.00 mark.

Oh, speaking of which, to those of you within driving distance of Pittsburgh, there will be a one day festival this year.  Howard (the promoter) hasn't announced the line up to date.  I think there's a good chance of seeing Transatlantic there.  The initial 3RP festival was where they reunited for a few songs on stage, this sounds like a perfect place for them to do a full show.  I'll keep you all posted as I head what bands will be coming. 

Originally posted by Roland113 Oh, speaking of which, to those of you within driving distance of Pittsburgh, there will be a one day festival this year.  Howard (the promoter) hasn't announced the line up to date.  I think there's a good chance of seeing Transatlantic there.  The initial 3RP festival was where they reunited for a few songs on stage, this sounds like a perfect place for them to do a full show.  I'll keep you all posted as I head what bands will be coming.

I will definitely try to make it but I have a hard time believing it could be this year. There isn't nearly enough time for promotion, planning and all that good stuff.

Well, I've only listened to it twice now, and it's somewhere in the high 3 star range.  I expect that will change, probably for the better.  It's a lot to take in all at once, and the shortcomings are usually what stand out for me early on.

One thing I find strange though.  I keep reading that the finale is "too grand" or "really over the top".  Frankly, my problem with it is that I think it's not over the top at all and I find this disappointing as the conclusion of such a huge epic.  I expected bombast and grandiosity to make ELP cringe   But instead, it just seems like a kind of by-the-numbers type of conclusion that lacks the dramatic impact I'd hoped for.  But again, I could change my mind after more listens.  It's just that I expect this band to be over the top and bombastic and grandiose and this album seems to have less of that than previous ones.  But that doesn't mean it's bad by any stretch.  In fact, as I mentioned before I was pleasantly surprised that it isn't a continuation of the previous two albums.

  

Originally posted by infandous One thing I find strange though.  I keep reading that the finale is "too grand" or "really over the top".  Frankly, my problem with it is that I think it's not over the top at all and I find this disappointing as the conclusion of such a huge epic.  I expected bombast and grandiosity to make ELP cringe   But instead, it just seems like a kind of by-the-numbers type of conclusion that lacks the dramatic impact I'd hoped for.  But again, I could change my mind after more listens.  It's just that I expect this band to be over the top and bombastic and grandiose and this album seems to have less of that than previous ones.  But that doesn't mean it's bad by any stretch.  In fact, as I mentioned before I was pleasantly surprised that it isn't a continuation of the previous two albums.

Agreed. One major flaw of Transatlantic is that they never know how to end their epics. The same can also be said (to a lesser extent) of The Flower Kings. I like my endings to be bursting at the seams with energy and not peter out at the end. Easily my favorite ending is from my favorite song/album Amarok by Mike Oldfield. The last 50 seconds' bombasticy (I play fast and loose with the English language. Deal with it) are what I expect at the ending of every song lasting over 20 minutes.

On an unrelated note, how about that jazz fusion band Mr. Stolt and Reingold have put together? It also has Zoltan Csörsz on a few tracks along with a Lalle Larson from Karmakanic. You can check out 3rd World Electric here.

Originally posted by TheCaptain Originally posted by infandous One thing I find strange though.  I keep reading that the finale is "too grand" or "really over the top".  Frankly, my problem with it is that I think it's not over the top at all and I find this disappointing as the conclusion of such a huge epic.  I expected bombast and grandiosity to make ELP cringe   But instead, it just seems like a kind of by-the-numbers type of conclusion that lacks the dramatic impact I'd hoped for.  But again, I could change my mind after more listens.  It's just that I expect this band to be over the top and bombastic and grandiose and this album seems to have less of that than previous ones.  But that doesn't mean it's bad by any stretch.  In fact, as I mentioned before I was pleasantly surprised that it isn't a continuation of the previous two albums.    Agreed. One major flaw of Transatlantic is that they never know how to end their epics. The same can also be said (to a lesser extent) of The Flower Kings. I like my endings to be bursting at the seams with energy and not peter out at the end. Easily my favorite ending is from my favorite song/album Amarok by Mike Oldfield. The last 50 seconds' bombasticy (I play fast and loose with the English language. Deal with it) are what I expect at the ending of every song lasting over 20 minutes. On an unrelated note, how about that jazz fusion band Mr. Stolt and Reingold have put together? It also has Zoltan Csörsz on a few tracks along with a Lalle Larson from Karmakanic. You can check out 3rd World Electric here.

Actually, I disagree about their other epics (well, Duel With The Devil also has a disappointing ending for me), and I definitely disagree about the Flower Kings endings (though there are a couple that could be better I suppose).  Never heard Amarok though, nor anything else by Oldfield.  One of those that I keep meaning to check out but am not all that enthusiastic about.  But I still need to give more listens to Whirlwind.  It's probably not a good sign that I didn't want to listen to it again last night (but then, I didn't put anything else on either, so I guess I just wasn't in the mood to hear any music).

3rd World Electric is great.  Possibly the most interesting FK side project yet (certainly the most different).  Weaveworld is also great, reminding me Derek Shirinian's solo albums, but much more enjoyable for my taste.  Lalle is a fantastic keyboard player.  And just about anything with Jonas is worth hearing